''Unearthing'' is an essay written by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

and originally published in

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Early life and education Sinclair was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 11 June 1943. From 19 ...

's ''London: City of Disappearances'' in 2006. It has subsequently been developed into a photographic book in collaboration with Mitch Jenkins and a spoken word piece in collaboration with Crook&Flail. The spoken word version is 2:01:07 in length and was released by

Lex Records Lex Records is a British independent record label. Most releases on the label are alternative hip hop, alternative rock or electronic music.Nicola Slade, "Life Blood: Lex Records," (Record Of The Day, 11 June 2009) Dazed described Lex as a lab ...

. ''Unearthing'' follows the life of Alan Moore's friend and colleague Steve Moore. In an interview with

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

in 2010, Alan Moore described the work:

...more of a human excavation than the excavation of a place, but because Steve Moore has lived his entire life in one house on top of Shooter's Hill and he currently sleeps no more than four paces from the spot where he was born, it does become a work of psychogeography as well.

Book with Mitch Jenkins

In November 2007, photographer Mitch Jenkins began work on photographic illustration of ''Unearthing''. The illustrated work was released through comic book publisher

Top Shelf Productions Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock with a small staff. Currently an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia. Top Sh ...

in 2012, in a softcover edition as well as a deluxe, oversized, limited edition hardcover. A small number of Mitch Jenkins' images from the ''Unearthing'' book are used in the packaging for the ''Unearthing'' audio release.

Audiobook with Crook&Flail

In September 2008, work began on a spoken word version of ''Unearthing'' narrated by Alan Moore. Mitch Jenkins was central in the development of ''Unearthing'' as a spoken word piece, first recording Alan Moore's narration and then working with

to develop the score for the project. Crook&Flail, a production duo consisting of Andrew Broder of

Fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

and Adam Drucker aka

Doseone Adam Kidd Drucker (born April 21, 1977), better known by his stage name Doseone, is an American rapper, producer, poet and artist. He is a co-founder of the indie hip hop record label Anticon. He has also been a member of numerous groups in ...

, wrote the score. They worked with several other musicians on the score, including

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. He has also fronted and/or played with Tomahawk, The ...

Stuart Braithwaite Stuart Leslie Braithwaite (born 10 May 1976) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter. He is the guitarist of post-rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums. He is also a member of the British alternative rock supergrou ...

Zach Hill Zachary Charles Hill (born December 28, 1979) is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist. He is best known as the drummer and co-producer of the groups Death Grips, and the I.L.Y's, and as the drummer of math rock band Hella. Ear ...

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

, George Cartwright, Matt Darling and Paul Metzger. In an interview with

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

in August 2009, Adam Drucker described the process of collaborating with Alan Moore, Mitch Jenkins and Andrew Broder:

We get to score Unearthing, so it's now become this big, organic sort of collaboration between the four of us. We basically did two hours of reading when we first got it, and it's extremely dense. I remember the first time I read it... I didn't know what to do with myself. But as we listened to it, it's full of recurring themes, and all this recurring writing breaks and reconstructs its phrasings over and over again throughout. So we kinda found those motifs, brought them all in and out, and then made holes in it, where we made things recur and then patched the holes...

In April 2010, it was announced that ''Unearthing'' would be available as a

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

release from Lex Records.

Live performances with Crook&Flail

Alan Moore has performed two live readings of ''Unearthing'' accompanied by Crook&Flail. The sold out performances took place at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

Tunnels under

London Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergrou ...

on 29 and 30 July 2010. The live reading and performance of the score took place in front of a backdrop of Mitch Jenkins' images.

Reviews

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

(8 July 2010) *

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

A * URB

References

{{reflist Works by Alan Moore