toby litt / clare wigfall

Underwood: Stories In Sound

*First release from this exceptional publishing house that's chosen to release its publications pressed to vinyl - the perfect antidote to digital proliferation? Beautiful gatefold vinyl with original artwork by Jordan Crane* A bold countermeasure to the further digitisation of literature, Underwood's very existence heroically disrupts the cultural shift towards digital technologies as represented by the ascendance of the iPod-friendly downloadable audio book and the nascent e-reader market. Established by Nathan Dunne (and named after an American typewriter manufacturer), Underwood is both a publishing house and a record label. The company's goal is to create limited edition realisations of short stories, as read by their authors across 33rpm vinyl. The intention is to publish twice-yearly, featuring two writers each time, and on this inaugural installment the contributors are Clare Wigfall and Toby Litt. Presenting her story, 'Along Birdcage Walk' (an exclusive for this release), Wigfall has previously acknowledged the heavy influence of music on her work (something that seems appropriate given the format here), citing the likes of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Cat Power as having a major impact on her acclaimed first collection of short stories, 'The Loudest Sound And Nothing', which was published by Faber in 2007 and went on to win the BBC National Short Story Award. B-side author Toby Litt is a prolific novelist (having ten books published since 1996) and contributes 'The Hare', lifted from his 2004 novel Ghost Story. Both readings are splendidly produced, with small pockets of music and sound design punctuating the texts and the presentation of the LP itself is quite beautiful, packaged in Jordan Crane artwork on an aptly book-like gatefold. A very desirable and understandably limited release, this first Underwood edition harks back to an age when the physical presence of books and records was meaningful and important, reminding you that however convenient and revolutionary a phenomenon digital culture is, some things are worth keeping on a shelf.