Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan - Public Works and Utilities

Warrington-Runcorn returns with a sixth album that sharpens Gordon Chapman-Fox’s ongoing exploration of New Towns and the collapse of the post-war consensus. This time his focus lands squarely on Britain’s public services, stripped of funding or sold off since 1980, leaving industries once built for collective benefit barely functioning. “Their prime function now is to drain cash from our pockets and into the bulging wallets of shareholders,” Gordon notes.

That anger fuels music which is less about nostalgia than about staking a claim in the present. Side two’s long-form piece ‘The People Matter’ underlines this intent, while much of the record was honed through live performance over the past year. The result carries a certain rawness alongside an unexpectedly danceable drive. Still atmospheric, but fused with rhythms built to move bodies as much as minds, it’s another powerful statement in the Warrington-Runcorn catalogue.