This is the first post of (hopefully many). Each week I will write about five pieces of music and their connection to ritual-making. It will be genre-unspecific, with a focus on how the pieces can be activelt listened to, either communally or alone. The focus will be on how these tracks interact (or could interact) with our daily lives.

The idea came from an attempt to listen to music more actively. No easy background music. Fewer repeats of trusted albums and singles. Rather, I am looking to explore music in a more intentional way. Whether that be through the act of listening, creating stories around the sound, exploring the instrumentation used, live experiences, or imaging ways in which the pieces could be experienced, I am trying to change my listening habits.

I will be building playlists for the project. In the future, Ritual Music will be a mix series, who knows, an event? A Label?

I hope you enjoy the first five cuts.

The KLF – Build a Fire (1991; 2021 Remaster)

The KLF Produced music between 1987 and 1992. Listening now, ‘Build a Fire’ feels remarkably current and is one of the group’s more laid-back songs. The rest of their ‘White Room’ album is disorientating, creepy, at times schizophrenic. This cut takes the theme of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and reimagines it. Western pedal steel intertwines with luscious pads and the theme’s iconic FM octaves. Drummond drools about a night of reflection:

‘Pulled up to rest, let the engine cool awhile
Open the beans, gather wood for the fire
I hum this tune to all the girls I’ve known
Should I care about the chances I’ve blown?’

‘Build a Fire’ is a meditation on inward-facing rituals, self-reflection and release; burning memories, a return to normality as turmoil breaks to banality:

When daylight breaks, I’ll be down that road
Rockman and me with a lighter load
We’ll stop for lunch in some taco bar
Lee Marvin on the jukebox, “Wand’rin’ Star”

Child + the Banned – Good Girl (2025)

Child + the Banned’s most recent single sees singer Josephine ‘CHILD’ Carl attempt to convince the listener that she is a ‘good girl’. Over sleazy dubbed out beats and earie crackles, she drawls that she’s not ‘going to cause a scene (only if you make me)’. She’s ‘never been a drinker… I’ve never liked… drink’. But as the track devolves through dramatic pads and wobbly bass, innocence gives way. It feels as CHILD is in the midst of a familiar ritual of coming to terms – ‘really’ – with temptation. Beautifully produced, ‘Good Girl’ is a soundtrack to short days and late-night Ubers to unfamiliar places in search of something different.

SILVERWINGKILLER – HOLD UP (ALL FIREARMS IN LONDON) (2025)

Manchester’s SILVERWINGKILLER is James Baca on live drums and glitchy, aggressive, and bassy production and singer Ni Yushang who screams in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese. ‘HOLD UP’ sees Ni exorcise demons and summon something otherworldly, with barely-understandable repetitive calls about being ‘shaken on the floor’(?). Beneath, Baca’s analogue arpeggios, overdriven 303 and chaotic, relentless breaks set the scene for a fraught, paranoid purge. This track is less hedonism, more expulsion. It is ritualistic musical exposure therapy for the current age.

I saw SILVERWINGKILLER twice in 2025. Once supporting Fat Dog; once playing at the Windmill in Brixton. The oft- (and over-) used electric doesn’t capture the experience. Rather I’d describe the experience as communal electric shock. It would be impossible to watch this duo without feeling alive, reinvigorated, and with hairs standing on age.

Hackney Electronica – Synaptic Shadows (2025)

Synaptic Shadows was my favourite EP from 2025. It sees London stalwarts Quinn Whalley (Paranoid London), Unai Trotti (Cartulis Music), and Margo Broom (Hermitage Working Studios) combine over five deep electro cuts. The EP combines thick analogue sounds with otherworldly samples. The tracks move from sludgy bass-heavy numbers to skittering electro, verging on the euphoric. Hackney Electronica soundtracks heady days both underground and overground, equally fitting in a cave, a club, or in a forest. In a world of digital in-the-box production, Synaptic Shadows sounds like the naturalisation of city life. The machines create an atmosphere of genuine connection and shared joy as the dancer feels close to the action.

Medb – Puppy (2 Mulch Remix) (2025)

Finally, a shameless plug for my recent remix of Belfast-born/Glasgow resident Medb’s Puppy. It is a club-focused reimagining of Medb’s punk-ethos and poetic storytelling.