Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor 1970s
This Killing Thing (Live) and the ecological context of Wistman’s Wood The lyrics for this track were inspired by a visit to Wistman’s Wood in the late 1970s. Even back then, its environmental and cultural importance was well recognised, as it’s one of the most significant remaining fragments of Britain’s Atlantic temperate rainforest . Although small in extent, the wood represents a rare continuity of pre‑Neolithic forest ecology and provides a useful framework for understanding the track’s atmosphere, instability, and sense of impending destruction. This track is in many ways about man's impact on the environment - 'This killing thing inside this machine' - we are, in fact, the killing thing. Where pitted stone becomes knotted oak... This Killing Thing (Live) captures This Window at their most unfiltered: a moment where chaos isn’t just present, it’s the entire accidental aesthetic. The mix is still being wrangled, the sound engineer is fighting a losing battle...
