Arianne Churchman & Benedict Drew - The Tree of the Left Hand LP

Arianne Churchman & Benedict Drew return with their new LP, The Tree of the Left Hand, released in April 2025 on the UK's venerable folk/experimental/everything label-and-art-project Folklore Tapes. Love's Devotee is proud to be the sole US distributor for this release, which is sold out from the label. Not sure how long these will last... 

Following on from ACBD's 2024 double LP release May on Love's Devotee, The Tree of the Left Hand finds the duo ploughing further into the sonic, psychic and psychedelic fields of Albion. Ecological themes continue to reverberate throughout their music, in this case the tree which could be seen as a symbol of strength, resilience and a vibrant existence that is at least partly, literally, "underground". Enough of my editorializing, here's what Folklore Tapes has to say: 

"The Tree of the Left Hand is a journey through folk magic and theory fiction, delving into the folklore and mysteries of trees and woods, searching for future possibilities. We begin at the Tree, through mycelium networks the tree draws up its nutrients, these nutrients are sounds, flashes of musique concrete, minimalism and traditional song; a shared network that lurks deep in the stories of the wood. The tree sings an everlasting circle song and presents us with leaves, but leaves shaped like we have never seen before, leaves shaped like left hands. We notice that these form an archway, and through this we must go.

"Through a tapestry of harmonium, analogue synthesisers, acoustic instruments and layered voice, we enter this new world of the left hand, and its visions. This world represents a dream space where everything is reversed and nothing is quite as we know it. We venture through this dream, inhaling its new scent and air, unfolding new dream sequences, new histories, visions and possibilities of being.

"Recorded whilst on artistic retreat at Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk, in the haunted bungalow once belonging to artist Mary Potter. With later recordings made in London, and then remotely across Kent and London, with the tree always singing in the background." — Folklore Tapes