Carlisle City Council – The Lanes Re-Development

Description

Carlisle City Council is the latest project of acclaimed musician and producer Jonathan Sharp. Well known for a raft of musical incarnations, including more lately acclaimed ‘hauntological’ musings as Jonathan Sharp, and The Heartwood Institute, this latest revision sees Sharp turn his attention to the evolution of town planning, where the intersection of civic and the personal proves to be fertile new ground. The Lanes shopping centre in Carlisle (a city in Sharp’s native Cumbria, in the North of England) opened its doors in 1984, with the development proving to be controversial. While some welcomed the bright, airy new spaces replacing what was seen as a run down and dilapidated quarter of the working-class poor, others railed against these historic cobbled streets being swept away under a tide of comprehensive commercial development. Whilst the tone knowingly assimilates the bright, yet sterile language of the faceless council comms of postwar Britain, a nostalgic affection for what was lost haunts the melodies and refrains. Equally, there is a sense of dynamic reverence for what was to come – the concrete ‘shock and awe’ that seemed to herald a bright future. Sharp’s vision embodies this tension, providing a poignant autobiographical soundtrack for a post-modern generation.