Running Tracks

**COPIES STILL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING. BANDCAMP NOW SOLD OUT** ROUGH TRADE www.roughtrade.com/gb/total-wkts/running-tracks RESIDENT RECORDS www.resident-music.com/productdetails&path=34000&product_id=71383 NORMAN RECORDS www.normanrecords.com/records/182914-total-wkts-running-tracks DRIFT RECORD SHOP driftrecords.com/products/total-wkts-running-tracks?_pos=1&_sid=f467eccab&_ss=r RECORDSTORE.CO.UK www.recordstore.co.uk/recordstore/recordstore/Running-Tracks-Signed-Exclusive-Frosted-Glass-Vinyl/6N8I0000000 Made in the gap between March and May 2020, John Newton (vocalist/drummer of London based two-piece JOHN) presents ’Running Tracks' under the guise ‘Total Wkts’. An album embracing the limitations and possibilities of a spell away from his usual surroundings in South London. Having moved back into his childhood town in the rural South West of England, the tracks are treated as playful collages, incorporating various sampled sounds in each composition: bird noises become stuck in the programming of drum tracks, inhalation between spoken lines is left to remain. The incidental is encouraged throughout the entire project, opener ‘HP Envy’ taking its name from the household printer that sets its rhythm, offering overlaid lyrics that repurpose the words of a spam email received during its production. 'Animal Dream' and 'Miniature Police' follow the same vein, the songs built from the verbal retellings of dreams. The name 'Total Wkts' becomes an emblem of his approach. The two words taken from a sign seen on his daily run through the rural landscape, with most of the tracks also written and arranged whilst on this repetitive circuit. Following online correspondence regarding an unrelated and unrealised project in March 2020, 'HP Envy' was sent to Graeme Sinclair of label Outré Disque. He premiered the track whilst guesting on James Endeacott's Soho Radio show on the 19th May 2020. Newton felt that it was important for the music to be released in the same spirit of its making, choosing to release the full collection of songs shortly after on June 11th (also his birthday).