Booklet Text : Disc 4

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Towards the end of 1981 The Institute were offered the opportunity to record another EP, this time  for the fledging London based independent record label D-503 Records. The Institute recorded the EP ‘In Search of Nowhere’ in an eight track recording studio in South West London over a period of 2 weeks in April 1982. Prior to commencing these recording sessions The Institute held a meeting to discuss the next phase of research. Reflecting on the EP recorded in Leeds, it was agreed that dub music might offer a way forward and might better reflect a fractured, unstable world. It was noted that the use of effects such as delay and reverb together with the use of electronic instruments could, simultaneously, evoke a chronological past and future. It was considered that the use of delay and reverb to produce large sonic landscapes also evoked an association with memory. But, it was also agreed that dub music was not to be understood simply as a collection of superficial musical stylings but rather as a philosophy of how to approach music making. It was suggested that the EP “Beyond the Western Hills” was too rigid in its adherence to the ‘group’ format and too rigid in its rigour to record with little or no studio audio effects.​During the recording of ‘In Search of Nowhere’, The Institute was very much left alone by the record company to pursue their research interests over an intense 2 week period. There was a marked transition in The Institute’s approach to its research with the departure of two of its members. A more flexible approach could now be adopted when inviting contributions from other artists. Some details of those contributing to these and other recordings have been lost over time. These recording sessions reinforced The Institute’s view that the recording studio can also be used as an instrument. The master tapes of ‘In search of Nowhere’ were thought to have been lost but were discovered recently in a garage in rural Kent. The EP ‘In Search of Nowhere’ is presented here as Disc 4.