Author Archives: TomSlatter

Two more mentions for Spinning the Compass

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Spinning the Compass technically isn’t finished. I still have to sort out a final cover and redo a few little details in the recordings. Neverthless, it’s getting the occasional mention online. Here are two of ’em:

Andrew Liptak from Carry You Away:

…Another artist, one of our favorites from a couple years ago, Tom Slatter, of the since metamorphosed We’ll Write (now called Comrad Robot), has released a solo album with a steampunk theme called Spinning the Compass. If you liked We’ll Write, Slatter has kept a lot of the same feel from that group with the same nerdish themes of machines and humanity…


Rob Weber

Tom Slatter’s Spinning the Compass is best described, I think, as acoustic prog-rock. From alternating measures of 5/4 to wildly chromatic key changes to rowdy (acoustic) guitar solos, all of the prog-rock elements are there. As a fan of Yes and ELP, these elements drew me in immediately.

The first review of Spinning the Compass

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It might have been written by a very good friend of mine, but I didn’t know he was going to write it, or even that he’d started his (rather good) blog.

Spinning the Compass has been reviewed!

(Interestingly Pete singles out Lines Overheard At A Séance for special mention, a song that I included as an after-thought to get the numbers up. I mean, I’m very proud of the song, it’s one of my favourites, but it almost wasn’t on there…)

Spinning The Compass is almost a metal album. All Tom would need to do is swap acoustic for electric guitar and the keyboard parts for more electric guitars and he’d be there. The fact that it’s not a metal album does allow the songcraft to shine, though, and it’s a treat to hear such deft fretwork without layers of distortion.

Tom’s dedication to theory means these songs are often almost too clever for their own good; he likes time signatures, and don’t get him started on the lydian mode. However, the unexpected quirks and lunges in strange directions never get in the way of a melody or a strong chorus, particularly on the excellent title song and the opener, Mechanism. Buzzing at the centre of this album is Lines Overheard At A Séance, all fuzzy keys and crackling drums. It’s a dark and hypnotic piece,easily one of the best things I think Tom has recorded.

Steampunk Horror – Pictures from The Dark Power

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The Dark Power (AKA Joe Slatter, my brother) makes models. His love  of, and quite remarkable talent for special effects and models has finally lead him into an interest in photographing things properly.

His latest film project is currently called  ‘Oldroid’ and will involve a very steampunky little automaton.

I’ve used one of the early pics of this as a draft cover for Spinning the Compass. Once there are some proper photos of the whole thing, I shall steal one of these for the final cover as quite by coincidence Oldroid fits in with the theme of steam engine related body horror that runs through some of the songs on Spinning the Compass.

Here’s Joe’s site. Go Look!

Steampunk Music – Moth

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My new favourite Steampunk music discovery is Moth, a band from the UK.

Here’s a video for the song Tree Snow. The music is vaguely gothy minor key pop rock with a lovely chorus hook and even a proper pop song key change at one point. The video is all quirky steam-powered robot fun.

They have a (rather confusing flash driven) website, and can be found on CDbaby. Definitely worth a listen to.

Steampunk Music by Other People

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Thanks to Brass Goggles and the Clock Workers Guild Journal, I have discovered two lovely Steampunk musical ensembles:

Sunday Driver  ‘make music with a harp, a sitar, some guitars, some clarinets, tablas and whatever we can get our grubby mitts on.’

Their latest album ‘In the City of Dreadful Night’ is a pure delight. Rats is probably my favourite track, but possible not, as the two tracks after it are also fantastic. As is every other track that I’ve listened to.

RPM Orchestra is less accesible – electroacoustic found recordings and soundscapes rather than the vocal-centric Sunday Driver. That doesn’t make it any less worthwhile though.


RPM Orchestra – (Excerpt from) Symphony No. 7

RPM Orchestra | MySpace Music Videos