Tracks upon tracks

Walkmag has already highlighted some great audio walks and the use of GPS as art, but a new project by the band Grasscut is taking music, art, mapping and walking to a whole new level. By plotting out their album on a map (below), the electronic duo have created a unique soundtrack to a walk – or should that be a walk to a soundtrack?

“It all came out of the artwork,” said label spokesperson Laura Sykes on Sandbox.fm. “We released three Grasscut singles prior to the album that all had map themes for the packaging. Then when the album arrived and we learned it had been written about a particular area in Sussex we decided to tie it all together.”

The band – made up of composer Andrew Phillips and musician Marcus O’Dair – are keen walkers, and apparently enjoy going on long walks in the area. Plans for the release include mapping the actual tracks on the Google map, making an interactive walk available and enjoy a guided tour by the band – not to mention a video of the route for those who can’t make it to Sussex.

So what does it sound like? Well, according to the record label, the album “maps the route of a transcendental journey across a real landscape, centering on the Sussex South Downs of “High Down,” but taking in frozen mountains in North Wales (“Meltwater”), a man with a metal walking stick in a park in Brighton (“The Tin Man”). Have a listen for yourself on the Ninja Tune website, where the album is available to pre-order if you like what you hear.