Black River House

I am indebted to sound engineer Mitch Bell for the technical notes on the pages in this section. Mitch was fortunate enough to work with the members of The Secret Method before their departure for Ireland and he his services continue to be invaluable in selecting and restoring the works recovered from Black River House.

The members of The Secret Method vanished after just a few weeks of their ill-fated Black River House sessions, but left behind a wealth of recorded material in varying states of completion. Their chief apparatus during this time was an eight-track recording machine, and the songs included on this page were laid down and mixed using this device.

1. Introduction

2. Fresh Paint

3. 'Round Every Corner

8. The Palm Of My Hand

9. The News

10. The Thoughts of Yesterday

11. Silent Film

Clearly, this machine was utilized for what the band regarded as the ‘finished’ songs, and the tapes show a large amount of time and detail were lavished upon them.

The band kept sporadic notes which indicate that the ‘full band’ material (see Fresh Paint, Old Yellerbelly) was recorded very early on in the sessions, whilst some of the sparser, most likely solo numbers (Doubt Song, The News) were laid down closer to the time of the band's disappearance.

What we can ascertain from these haunting recordings is uncertain; It is possible to speculate that the chill of personal enmity began to settle on the sessions. However, whether or not the progression of these recordings demonstrates The Secret Method adhering to a preconceived plan remains unknown.