(2006)
i'm not sure what i wish to say. although FortDax will shortly be five years old in terms of public consumption, it's a fair deal further advanced than that for me and it looks likely that 'divers' will be the last release under the moniker before i split myself into a number of different pseudonyms (and genres?). all of this is of course subject to whim…perhaps you'd care to read the press release for 'divers'?
"nigh-on three years after 'folly' and at least 18 moons since the john peel session where the ideas were first aired, darren durham returns under the FortDax moniker with his somewhat-overdue new album. no, he's not entirely sure where the time went either...what can be said for certain though is that 'divers' is noticeably different in tone & hue to its predecessor and assuredly darker, although its core, as with previous FortDax releases, remains firmly rooted in melody. 'folly' went on to be regarded as an 'ambient' work in certain quarters, but darren swears that this was largely due to the low-volume mastering. suffice it to say that 'divers' contains less of 'those vangelis synthesizers' and a sleeve instruction to 'play much louder'. this time around, there may also be other musicians involved, an amount of real (read 'physical') instrumentation, and at least one field recording from the bronte country valley where he lives & works. as per 'folly', the album is dedicated to his dog 'meg', although as with his geographical placement, that's not necessarily significant."
(2004)
'FortDax' really is a single word, albeit with the idiosyncrasy of two capital letters.
FortDax is also just a single soul - darren durham, who lives in a valley located up in bronte country, england.
in april 2003 tugboat records (r.i.p.) released the acclaimed album 'folly'. 'folly' arrived in the slipstream of the mini-album for static caravan 'at bracken'. the 'dublin event guide', who made it their album of the issue, said that "folly'...to put it blunty, is stunning".
'do something pretty' suggested the following: "I get the impression that he's seen hundreds of sun rises, writing 'folly' as he imagines the music we should listen to as light pours across the land".
darren, on the other hand, thinks that whilst undeniably romantic, it may have been overly whimsical in places and adds that he 'stands by everything he's said about whigfield and charles ives in the past'.
work is currently progressing on the next batch of recordings, which at present seem linked to the sea rather than the land...
