TV composer goes underground
Who?
London composer and producer Nicholas Worrall began his career composing cues for theatre and TV, his music featuring on programmes like the BBC’s ‘Gardeners’ World’ and ‘The One Show’. But Worrall subsequently made his move into a different realm of beat-driven electronic music, sampling human voices from film, musique concrète tapes and YouTube clips. His debut EP as Wordcolour, ‘Tell Me Something’, arrived in 2020 on Barcelona’s Lapsus Records, and made waves through the underground club circuit with its gorgeously textured palette, classy arrangements and light humour, while remaining dancefloor-friendly.
Why Wordcolour?
Worrall’s background is in jazz, pop and contemporary classical, and it’s this patchwork backdrop that has led to the most interesting moments in his catalogue. His second EP ‘Juno Way’ illustrates not just an aptitude for lush sonic arrangements, but also a distinct emotional fluency. Inspired by south-east London’s Juno Cafe, the track ‘Juno’ opens with the promise of Autechre-esque beats, yet dissolves into dreamy ambience, before welcoming a flourish of Terry Riley-inspired minimalism complete with polyrhythmic woodwind, pitched percussion and piano.
Tell Us More…
Wordcolour’s name is an anglicised portmanteau of ‘Word Color’, a 1994 piece by American abstract musician Paul Lansky, who Worrall cites as a key influence. Since signing to Fabric imprint Houndstooth and releasing ‘Juno Way’, the producer laid low over the pandemic, before returning in style this year with the beautifully crafted ‘Bluster’ in February, followed in April by an accompanying EP featuring remixes by DJ Rum, DJ Python and more. Topping it all off, there’s now a new album to look forward to, which is being released at the end of this month. Listening is advised.
‘The Trees Were Buzzing, And The Grass’ is released by Houndstooth
