450 km from the arctic circle, 'The Rustle of the Stars' is a phenomenon of austere beauty, a barely audible noise that occurs when the draught from human breath causes multiple collisions among the ice micro-crystals in the air.
We met on tour when performing in Europe with our respective bands Glissando and FareWell Poetry. We had beautiful times, drinking and talking our common grounds whilst some simple ideas formed in our minds: to compose an album together. To imagine a musical passage through the North Pole explorer diaries. To ask some people and some friends to participate. To record the project in a church. To act quickly.
We would like to think of 'The Rustle Of The Stars' first album as a polar journey to the ends of the earth through the arctic sea. We kept in mind the first polar expeditions, Edgar Allan Poe's Dream-Land, the ships trapped or crushed by ice, the point of no-return, the minds sinking, the attempt on the Pole ending in disaster, the quest of the Northwest Passage, Erebus & Terror, the Mercy Bay, Mangazeya, Charles Francis Hall, Beechey Island, the Midnight sun and the Polar night.
After a debut album recorded late 2010 between Leeds and Paris & released on Gizeh records in Nov 2011 (sold out LP) and May 2012 (CD) the original concept of The Rustle of the Stars by Frederic D. Oberland & Richard Knox has now expanded into a full band with the addition of Angela Chan (viola/vocals) and Lidwine (harp/harmonium/vocals), sometimes joined on stage by Elaine Reynolds (violin/vocals) and Gareth Davis (bass clarinet).
