Album: The Eccentronic Research Council, 1612 Underture (Bird)

1612 Underture is an electronic concept album which uses the trial of the Pendle Witches in 17th century Lancashire as the focus for a meditation on the social divides that still grip the North or, as it's described here, "the home of hard-grafting bastards, where even the children have Vimto moustaches".

Actor Maxine Peake delivers the combination of historical narrative and polemic in her blackest-pudding accent, over a gamelan tinkle of synth tones and string synths that evoke the blend of grit and gentrification now surrounding these events. Tender sensibilities are not spared, especially in the cursings of "Ghost of Old Lizzy Southerns Returns".

Download: Another Witch is Dead; Trial by Jiggery Pokery; Ghost of Old Lizzy Southerns Returns