Interview: Musician Jack Woodbury

If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man who in his callousness can remain sane to the hideous end!

H.P. Lovecraft, The Temple.

Unfathomed waters is a new album by Peter Liley and Jack Woodbury, inspired by the short story ‘The Temple‘, by H. P. Lovecraft.

It is an ambitious  collaborative work that aims to explore the story’s themes of awe, isolation, fear, longing  and lurking horror in a musical context. To achieve this, Jack and Peter employ electroacoustic noise, ambient textures, saxophone, and choral vocals in an ambitious tapestry of sound.

Both musicians are Wellington-based: Peter Liley is a Wellington-based composer and performer, and Jack Woodbury is a composer and audio engineer based in Wellington whose work has been presented in the USA, UK, Australia, as well as at home in New Zealand.

We were thrilled when Jack took time out from his very busy schedule to talk to us about Unfathomed Waters and all things musical, and extend our heartfelt thanks to Jack.

This interview was done in conjunction with Caffeine and Aspirin, the arts and entertainment review show on Radioactive FM.

For more information on Jack Woodbury, visit jackwoodbury.com.

For information on Unfathomed Waters, visit Rattle Records.

Unfathomed Waters is due to be played in full by Radio NZ later this year as part of a Halloween special.

You can hear the full interview, as well as reserve a copy of Unfathomed Waters below:


Unfathomed waters / Liley, Peter
“A dark and intense musical soundscape with lighter ambient pieces that draws inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Temple.” ( Adapted from Catalogue)

The thing on the doorstep and other weird stories / Lovecraft, H. P.
“Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro.  The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories brings together a dozen of the master’s tales-from his early short stories “Under the Pyramids”,  “The Music of Erich Zann”, “The Dunwich Horror,” “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” and “The Temple.” (Adapted from Catalogue)