After the last years’ John Foxx album, which was a spoken word effort of him reading several of his stories from the “Quiet Man” book, another project has drifted up into the light as of this morning. It’s a solo effort for this inveterate collaborator entitled “The Arcades Project” and it’s ambient piano work with a hint of “old electronics” to subtly color it.
The inspiration for this one was a formerly elusive book by Walter Benjamin of the same title. When he was a student, it was one of those books that was out of print and only made the rounds from person-to-person. The book was an examination of Benjamin’s thoughts on walking through Paris over a hundred years ago and how the encroachment of city life was already displacing the flâneur: the idle stroller with no destination in mind, drifting through the urban landscape to find what they may along the way.
John Foxx: The Arcades Project – UK – CD [2023]
- A Formal Arrangement
- Floral Arithmetic
- Daylight Ghost
- In All Your Glory
- Last Golden Light
- Momentary Paris
- Forgotten In Manhattan
- The Sea Inside
- Lovers And Strangers
- Starlit Summer Night
- Coincidentalism
- This Evening
The cover art looks like Jonathan Barnbrook is still designing the work. He definitely has a penchant for mixing fonts like that. The album will be released on March 31st, and because it is [gasp!] CD only, expect it to be available on that date. It can be purchased from the Foxx webstore at Townsend Records and is a modest £10.99/€12.99/$13.99 so if you’re of a Foxxian persuasion, hit that button. I’m still in the throes of home improvements, and have a family trip coming up in two weeks, but by March, I should be able to get a pre-order under the wire for this one.
Post-Punk Monk 
Not a huge Foxx fan but looks like I may like it, would prefer a try b4 you buy, like if this was on Bandcamp and I could stream a track or two that may tip the scales.
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Tim – After it goes on sale it will certainly be in John Foxx’s Bandcamp Store where this can easily happen.
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I did not know that, thanks for the heads up. I will stay on the lookout for it.
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Thanks for the heads up on this Monk.
Any Foxx release is a must buy for me. I enjoyed his ambient piano tracks with Budd and Garcia so it will be interesting to see what he produces on his own.
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AndyB – Plus, Budd is gone, so this would have been like unto a tribute from Foxx? I know after he died, I believe I read a quote from him saying that he had more recordings he could work on by Harold, just like when he was alive, but it remains to be seen if he thinks that is a good idea or not. This album may be his response to that notion.
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Intriguing!
That “Arcades Project” book was a big influence on me also.. it nicely weaves together situationism, psychoanalysis and modern social nostalgia/history..
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Logan Sky – Well what’s that saying… great minds think alike? I’ll admit that it was a new one for me, even though I’m probably one of the few Americans who’s known of George Melly’s “Revolt Into Style” much less read it! Clearly, I need to have a word with my loved one, who can get me almost any book; being in charge of the interlibrary loan program at a local college.
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