Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan turns a Roadburn commission into his darkest album yet

WRNTDP – Chapman-Fox’s project reimagining Britain’s post-war new towns through retro-futurist synth music, picked up over the years by everyone from BBC 6 Music to the Financial Times – has just made its heaviest record yet, and it started life somewhere unlikely: a suite commissioned by Roadburn Festival, the doom and drone stronghold in Tilburg, Netherlands, for its 2024 edition. The studio versions have been in gestation since, honed further on a UK tour.

“My music has been getting heavier and heavier over the years,” Chapman-Fox says. “As my music often reflects my feelings on the outside world, this is very much a visceral response to our current times. There’s always been a darkness to my work, but this felt like the time to unleash it all.” The title isn’t about economics, he adds: “this is something far more organic, eating away at our society.”

Opener “This Machine” – jackhammer rhythms, searing white noise – throws down a gauntlet before segueing into “The Wire,” which cycles through Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express-style reprises. “Heavy Industry,” which Chapman-Fox calls a “rare moment of light” on the record, plays like John Carpenter scoring a lost public information film. It closes on “Industrial Unrest,” the most discordant thing he’s put his name to yet.

Industrial Growth is out October 30th on vinyl, download and stream, led by first single “This Machine.” Bandcamp copies come with a bonus remix of the track by TVAM – “I’ve worked with Joe from TVAM in the past. We grew up in the same area, and he’s an absolute joy” – and the artwork, designed by Chapman-Fox, is completed by illustrator Michael Cooke, who grew up in Runcorn and has worked on WRNTDP’s sleeves since Districts, Roads, Open Space.