Terra Incognita by Urban Exploration

Terra Incognita means unknown territory: an unexplored country or field of knowledge. They used to label blank areas of the map Terra Incognita before the Earth had been fully charted. Few such unknown lands exist in our world today, save for the bottom of the ocean and alien planets beyond our own. However, a place that has not been discovered or that is unknown to the individual, need not be so inaccessible or distant. Strange and inexplicable things can lie hidden just around the corner…

Urban Exploration have been making noise for 10 years. This is a landmark release for the Leeds-based group, and their first 'proper' album, working together much more like an experienced and focused band of musicians, than the loose collective of DJs and artists that began improvising and experimenting together, just over a decade ago.

Terra Incognita sees the group pushing into uncharted musical territory. The same influences and techniques may be present from earlier releases - techno, folk horror, experimental field recording and radiophonics, exploring post-industrial landscapes, 80s science fiction films etc - but they are no longer separate pastimes vying for sonic attention. On this release they truly coalesce, along with formative memories of earlier electronic music, into something emotional, cinematic, immersive and greater than the sum of its parts.

The weird UFO on the cover has its source much closer to home than its form would suggest - the derelict social housing of Sheffield's Park Hill flats. The art and music presented by the group on Terra Incognita, are both indicative of a re-imaginative approach to space and sound, where obsolete objects and discarded forms are transformed into something unusual, gaining new potential when approached from a fresh perspective.

Urban Exploration (UE) is a music and art collective based in Leeds, UK.

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