The Haunted Generation

Bob Fischer Rounds Up The Latest News From The Parallel Worlds Of Popular Hauntology...

- Bob Fischer

“In ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’, the narrator tells her story from the grave,” says Alison Cotton, discussing Muriel Spark’s 1957 short story, the inspiration for her new album of the same title. “The story is about a girl who works in a London office, her first job after a long illness. As she leaves work one evening, she is struck by a strong conviction that she has left something important at the office, but can’t work out what it can be...”

The opening side of this beautiful 10” vinyl release was originally commissioned and recorded for Gideon Coe’s BBC 6 Music Show in 2018, to accompany a Christmas reading of the story itself, by actress Bronwen Price. A single, 13-minute suite for melancholy viola captures perfectly the downbeat, rainsoaked ambience of austerity-era London, underpinned by a fluttering murmur of dread that escalates as the narrative speeds towards its chilling conclusion. “As I was playing, I imagined myself as the main character of the story,” continues Alison. “I composed an eerie melody, following the structure of the story, and building up the suspense with my wordless singing...”