ASOF005: The Black Beacon

New album of soundscape compositions, available as limited edition tape + 'zine, plus soundwalk on Orford Ness aka 'The Islands of Secrets' - mysterious former weapons testing site in deepest Suffolk.

Orford Ness was once a top-secret military base on the Suffolk coast line. Only accessible by short boat ride and practially invisible from the mainland, it has a secretive military history dating back to World War I. During the Cold War, it was where the British (and US) militaries tested the latest weaponry, bombs and early radar used to spy on the Soviet Union.

Since the end of the Cold War, it has been in the hands of the National Trust, who have a policy of ‘managed decay’, allowing its fantastic array of unusual laboratory buildings, armouries and the unique twin ‘pagodas’ to gracefully deteroriate to the state they can now be found: wind-swept, eerily rusting, moss-covered but hauntingly beautiful, echoing the ghosts of the past.

It’s like a scene from Tarkovsky’s Stalker, entering the ‘Ness makes you feel like you are entering ‘the zone’

Furthermore, the site has now been reclaimed by a new environment with Chinese Water Deer and giant hares running the roost around the shingle dunes, which themselves contain a unique ecology of plant life.

Most paths and buildings are forbidden to walk on, with the potential for unexploded bombs and crumbling buildings making it a unqiuely terrifying experience, which only a handful of people get to experience.

Made more infamous by Rob Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood’s illustrated novella ‘Ness’ (2019) , who descibre it as “a landscape produced by a collision of the human death drive and natural life”

Black Beacon Album (Cassette, ‘Zine, Download)

PREORDER VIA BANDCAMP

Back in 2020, I was commissioned by Art Angel (an organisation that specialises in art in unusual places) to create a radio station that would broadcast the sound the ‘Ness. I got access to many previously forbidden buildings to record their sounds which I built a range of long form soundscape compositions from.

The project was showcased as part of ‘Afterness’ in 2021, which featured artists such as Tatiana Trouve and Chris Watson (the legendary sound recordist).

The Beacon.Black website has long since been removed so I thought I’d re-birth the compositions in an album format, which will be released digitally and on tape cassette on 1st August. It will be accompanied by a ‘zine of photography from the ‘Ness and also I’ll be hosting a soundwalk for up to 12 people who would like to join me on a return trip to Orford Ness on 23rd of August.

Soundwalk 23rd August 2025

This promises to be a unique day out!

I’m going to arrange a mini-bus to take up to 12 people on a ‘sound walk’ around Orford Ness. The National Trust have offered us a special entry to the island, arranging a boat espeically for our party.

I’ll take you on a tour of Orford Ness, moving between each building/place that I recorded to create the compositons in the album, bringing with me the recording equipment that I used to show you how it was made.

If you’d like to come along, you’ll receive a tape and ‘zine plus I’ll look to book us lunch at the amazing fish restaurant on main land.

Depart: 9.30am boat from Orford

Return: around 1pm (with Lunch option)

Journey Time: roughly 2.5 hours from London

Wear: outdoor shoes, weather dependant clothing. The walk will involve around 1-2 hours of walking around various terrain (all flat).

Bring: Headphones/phone or portable cassette player (!) so you can listen to the album as we walk.

Cost: I’ll work out a cost based on interest for the trip, if we have to hire a mini-bus etc.

Please email me brian@astateofflo.com if you are interested! Let me know if you’d like to drive or if you’d need a lift and if you’d like to have lunch after too. I will put on a mini-bus if there is enough people needing a lift.

Paid subscribers get the album now below. Everyone else has to wait until 1st August for the full release. Tapes/Zines are limited, so please pre-order now from Bandcamp.