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The Missing Star

by LUNATRAKTORS

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact disc with 24 page full-colour booklet of lyrics and artwork.

    Art and design by Lunatraktors. Manufactured by dBMasters, Faversham.

    Supported by South East Creatives and the EU Regional Development Fund.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Missing Star via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 600 

      £13 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Edition of 600 black vinyl records, with poster insert and individually hand-printed Missing Star tote.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Missing Star via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 12 days
    edition of 600 

      £20 GBP or more 

     

1.
Well first it was spending too much on campaigns, Saying out with the foreigners, the EU's to blame.
 Using Facebook to sell propaganda to us And a ten foot high lie on the side of a bus.

 It seems honesty’s all out of fashion These are the rigs of the times Times me boys 
These are the rigs of the times. 
Let’s take Brexit and COVID-19 on the chin;
 Every issue’s a battle that we’re going to win! 'Cause it's always the billionaire winners who choose 
The value of life that we all stand to lose. Because honesty’s all out of fashion… Now it’s clap to say thanks to the brave NHS. Well we may as well clap to save Tinkerbell next. No more pay for the nurses, no visors or masks, 
Just millions in contracts for the boys in first class, Singing honesty’s all out of fashion… Here’s to all the small businesses falling apart;
Living on credit’s a delicate art.
For three hundred a month on the dole, many thanks,
Pay the rent, pay the mortgage: it all pays the banks. Honesty’s all out of fashion… Now the very best dream that we could find Is to pop them all off in a high gale of wind And when they get up there, the cloud it will burst And the biggest old rascals come tumbling down first Singing honesty’s all out of fashion…
2.
My Witch 02:29
Your eyes bewitch my wit, your wit bewitch my will. Thus with your eyes and wit, you do bewitch me still – And yet you are no witch, whose spirit is not evil. And yet you are a witch, and yet you are no devil. Oh, witching eyes and wit, where wit and eyes may read A witch, and not a witch, and yet a witch indeed.
3.
4.
5.
Ready on your marks now
 We’re going to play a game Split everybody into teams Down the centre, right and left The rules change as we go along No need to think too much Just try your best Down behind the bike sheds And up the garden path Round and round the mulberry bush Change is coming change has come A return to the Golden Age When everything made sense – Just get it done We’re sick of fake news The media elites Who want to control us Who want our missing star We’re sick of experts Telling us what to think We’re sick of statistics Bring back our missing star We must all accept that sometimes Sacrifices must be made
 Then swept under the carpet, with the Missing files, expense reports, We’ve shredded all the evidence You didn’t need to know
 Mistakes were made The perfect time for social distance Wages locked down and apart
 Are all the children in their beds? Change is coming change is now
 Now’s not the time for politics 
Let’s end all the debates
 Let’s all move on We’re sick of education
 Hiding the truth about our past We held the wealth of nations The fates of millions in our grasp We’re-sick-of-disappointment Red tape and compromise Bring back the glory Bring us our missing star We’re going to level with you We are where we are It’s stretched us all to breaking point Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t.. We’re all in this together We’re taking back control Come join the dance We’re-sick-of betrayal We want our country back Bring back the glory Give us our missing star 
Lacrimosa dies illa Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
6.
Drone Code 01:46
7.
The Keening 06:30
8.
9.
10.
16,000 Miles 03:51
11.
12.
13.

about

Departing from the bare-bones approach of their first record, Carli and Clair add a variety of reed instruments, piano, whistles, tongue drums, and analogue synth bass. Looking for a more expansive sound, they found Space Sequoia studio, a hideaway in the ancient landscape of the Canterbury Downs. Co-producer and engineer Julian Whitfield introduced Lunatraktors to Geoffrey Richardson (Caravan, Penguin Cafe Orchestra), who provided strings for their reworking of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Lover Lover Lover’ (1974).

From Cohen’s ardent invocation to new translations of an Irish mourning song and the first book of Ecclesiastes, via cut-up lyrics from online Brexit commentary, The Missing Star covers a huge range of musical and lyrical terrain. ‘Mirie It Is (Anemoia)’ sets the oldest known scrap of English song – dated to the early 13th Century – against a ‘folk horror’ theme for bell and double flute. ‘My Witch’ turns a creepy 16th century love poem against itself. ‘Rigs of the Times’, ‘The Missing Star’ and ‘Unquiet Grave’ examine COVID, Brexit, Tory Austerity and the dysphoria of national identity.

Resistance to personal and political betrayal runs through the record, whether in the absurdist satire of ‘The Exciseman’, the gallows humour of ’16,000 Miles’, or the secret defiance of ‘The Blacksmith’. At a time when European solidarity is being corroded once again by toxic nationalism, when the right to roam is under threat, The Missing Star uses song to tread pathways through The Commons: a communion of unfamiliar voices, sharing grievances, laughing in the face of authority, and seeking transformation through compassion.

credits

released June 21, 2021

Produced by Lunatraktors & Julian Whitfield and released by Broken Folk Records.

The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Julian Whitfield at Space Sequoia Studios, Canterbury. Visit: spacesequoia.com

Carli Jefferson: Vocals, Drums, Hand Percussion, Bowed Cymbal, Tongue Drum, Clogs Clair Le Couteur: Vocals, Harmonium, Melodica, Whistles, Korg Monologue, Piano Julian Whitfield: Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Double Bass (Unquiet Grave)
Geoffrey Richardson: Strings (Lover Lover Lover)

All songs copyright Lunatraktors, except Lover Lover Lover by Leonard Cohen (© 1974 BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd / Sony ATV Music Publishing Acquisition Inc)

Design by Clair Le Couteur & Lunatraktors. Artwork by Carli Jefferson & Lunatraktors.

Special Thanks: Malin & Julian Whitfield and Bertie the dog, Joe Cushley, Geoffrey Richardson, Steve Stevenson, Mabelle Peñalver, Steve Webbon, Cath & Kevin Jefferson, Ann & Tony Thick, Sara & Alex Ratcliffe, Lara Clifton & Screaming Alley, Dana Goodburn-Brown, Lorraine Hirst, Daryl Easlea, Dan Chilcott, Fran Ter-Berg, Amy Zing, Johnny Redz, Marianne Dissard.

Additional Eyes & Ears: Pink Suits, Moon Sudzhadinova & Joseph Cornwell, Janice Biggs & Steve Webbon, Will Williams, Vanda Choco & Martin Šebestík, Ann & Tony Thick, Katie McGarry, Laura Jean Sargent & Simon Bryant.

Big love to The Preservation Room, Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate Pride, Ramsgate Festival of Sound, Hot Box Live Events and Elsewhere – it’s been even more challenging than usual putting on live events in 2020: without your support we wouldn’t have been able to make this record. Many thanks too for commissions from POW Thanet, Folkestone Museum, MSL Hastings, and the Lar Project.

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LUNATRAKTORS Waterford, Ireland

Broken folk experiments by Clair Le Couteur (vocals, drones) and Carli Jefferson (vocals, percussion). MOJO Magazine Top Ten Folk Albums 2019 & 2021. Weird musical performances in the Anglo-Celtic tradition.

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