Invada Records

(First published in Issue 99 of Electronic Sound magazine, March 2023)

ISLAND LIFE

Enys Men is the haunting new folk horror film from acclaimed Cornish director Mark Jenkin. And the self-composed soundtrack had him dreaming of unlikely pop stardom

Words: Bob Fischer

“I wasn’t trying to recreate anything the Radiophonic Workshop had actually done,” explains Mark Jenkin. “But I was fascinated by the techniques they used. And by who went in and out of fashion as technology moved on. Delia Derbyshire stepping away when the synths appeared and they were no longer hitting lampshades…”

Mark’s new movie Enys Men is beautiful, head-flipping folk horror. Ostensibly set in 1973, it depicts a lone nature volunteer (Mary Woodvine) on a remote Cornish island, her isolated existence plagued by tragic ghosts of the landscape’s mining and maritime past. Or possibly future? Time gets complicated. And, as with Mark’s BAFTA-winning 2019 debut feature Bait, the man himself has composed a haunting electronic soundtrack.

“I was hand-processing the negative for Bait,” he recalls. “While chatting to my friend Gwenno – an electronic musician herself. She was telling me about an old-sounding analogue synth, the Korg Volca Keys. And, at the time, I needed something to take my mind off things. It was the winter, I was in a dark studio, and all I was doing was working on the film. And questioning my purpose… I really needed something else to do.

“So I bought the Korg and started making drone sounds. Then I got out my old guitar and a few effects pedals, and it began to sound quite interesting. Like the sea, or even an out-of-tune accordion. So it kind of fitted the film, but I was very aware that I’d already written, directed, shot and processed it myself. Did I really need to be the composer as well? I started adding other bits, though. And when the film was released, Redg Weeks from the Invada label messaged me, asking how I’d feel about them putting out the soundtrack. He said ‘Who did it? Because there’s no credit on the film’. I hadn’t put one on, I was too embarrassed.”

So, with Enys Men, did he feel the pressure of “difficult second soundtrack” syndrome?

“Well, it felt different, because by then I was established as a recording artist…” He pauses for self-mocking laughter. “And really I hope my sarcastic tone comes across when I say that! But my teenage wannabe rock star self did come back. You’ve got a record deal, mate – forget the film, you’re now making an album. You’re Cornwall’s Taylor Swift and the whole world is waiting for your music!”

He creases up at his own hubris.

“Honestly, I had to sit myself down and say ‘Mate, you have lost your fucking marbles. You’re making discordant ambient music in support of a film. You’re not going to get on Top of the Pops.”

His approach to directing is decidedly analogue. Both Bait and Enys Men were shot silently on 16mm film, with dialogue, foley and score all added separately in post-production. So does his interest in the early Radiophonic Workshop mean a similar approach to the music? Are we talking old school tape loops and experimental lampshade-clanging here?

“Yep,” he nods. “And I was inspired by the diagram on the back of Brian Eno’s Discreet Music. I use two reel-to-reel machines to make the tape loop. And I pull on the tape, slow it down, and pass it through a reverb unit. I’m not a musician, so I’m much happier talking about the machinery than the music.”

The spirits of his native county pervade, and Cornish track titles on the resulting Enys Men soundtrack album reflect the film’s hallucinatory nature. ‘Hunros’ is ‘Dream’, ‘Knoukya Knoukya’ is the sinister ‘Knock Knock’. And the movie itself boasts a closing number from the aforementioned Gwenno. Although originally commissioned for the film, the haunting folktronica of ‘Kan Me’ was re-recorded for her 2022 album ‘Tresor’, a collection sung largely in the Cornish language and ultimately nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.

“It’s nice that a piece of Enys Men snuck out as a song before anyone had seen the film,” adds Mark. “I like that. We’ve always talked about a bigger collaboration, but it’s never quite happened…”

Enys Men (Original Score) is available on red vinyl here:
https://www.invada.co.uk/collections/vinyl/products/mark-jenkin-enys-men-ost-red-vinyl

Digital copies available here:
https://invada.bandcamp.com/album/enys-men-original-score

Enys Men is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray here:
https://shop.bfi.org.uk/enys-men-dual-format-condition.html