Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan

Brudenell Social Club and Please Please You present Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan.

Gordon Chapman-Fox’s Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan project sees a visual aesthetic and retro-futuristic audio identity melded together into one musical package. Over six albums and three EPs, Chapman-Fox soundtracks the construction and growth of a northern English community from the mid-1970s to early 1980s, rendered in arpeggios and euphoric leads.

Having been embraced by both mainstream media (BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6, RTE) and niche publications alike, as well as hitting both the UK album charts and multiple end-of-year lists (Piccadilly Records, Bleep, Electronic Sound), Warrington-Runcorn’s sound continues to find new listeners.

While all of the entries in his canon have garnered praise, it was 2023’s The Nation’s Most Central Location that brought Warrington-Runcorn wider attention, with Electronic Sound naming it album of the year and Rough Trade placing it at no. 13 in their list, as well as netting Chapman-Fox a repeat appearance at End Of The Road Festival in both 2022 and 2024.

Though the visual aesthetic and world building are a key part of Warrington-Runcorn’s presentation, it would be nothing without the evocative music that lies at the core of his work. Synth lines that puncture the air, rumbling basses and chord swells that you feel to the spine, with rhythmic arps and snapping delays taking the role of most of the traditional percussive elements.

With WRNTDP’s sound stretching outwards into folky minimalism, IDM and ambient, there is no way to tell for sure where it will go next, but Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s music is suited to soundtracking the building of a new world, or the ending of an old one.