James Leyland Kirby, the producer and sound-artist best known for his work as The Caretaker and V/Vm, will release a new album on October 19 under the name Leyland Kirby.

Kirby has become a real cult figure in recent years. He first came to our notice making bizarre audio collages and rave parodies under the name V/Vm, but it’s his work as The Caretaker that’s garnered him the most acclaim. Inspired by Kubrick’s film version of The Shining, The Caretaker’s haunting, often beautiful ambient creations examine the way that memory impacts on our experience of music; the albums Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom (1999), A Stairway To The Stars (2001) and Persistent Repetition of Phrases (2008) are modern classics. 

Time and memory continue to occupy Kirby, at least if the title of his new album, Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was, is anything to go by. For this project the Berlin-based Englishman is using his own handle, Leyland Kirby, and indeed the music seems more intimate, more personal and perhaps more romantic than that which he’s made under other guises.

It’s still a dark and imposing work: three long pieces spread over three CDs (yes, three CDs) or as three separate limited edition double vinyl albums; the accompanying artwork features a series of paintings by Ivan Seal. The album will be released via Kirby’s own label, History Always Favours The Winners. He has the following cheery words to say about the record:

"Here we stand, twenty years on from the first CD, and our optimism has gradually been wroded away colletively ‘Tomorrow’s World’ never came. We are lost and isolated, many of us living our lives through social networks as we try to make sense of it all, becoming voyeurs not active participants. Documenting everything. No mystery. Everything laid bare for all to see.

"Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was is the soundtrack to a world in decline, the heroism of modern life, a document of loss, an essay in gloom, delivered with a brutally honest appreciation of the pitiful truth."

A laugh a minute, folks, a laugh a minute. Earlier this year The Caretaker recorded an exclusive FACT Mix; we’ve just re-uploaded the mix, so if you missed it the first time around, grab it now: 

Download: The Caretaker – FACT Mix 45