Land Observations, a solo project by James Brooks (formerly of Appliance), has signed to Mute for the release of his debut album Roman Roads IV-XI. It follows from his debut at the Short Circuit presents Mute festival in May last year, and will be released on 3rd September.

As well as being a musician, Brooks is also a sound and visual artist, and for Land Observations he's folded those pursuits into his music: the album is a loosely conceptual project based around the topography and psychogeography of particular Roman Roads that stretch out from London towards the rest of the UK. Rather than being a dry and history-based project, however, the idea is that its instrumentals evoke wider thoughts around notions of travel and the future.

Its tracklist runs as follows:

'Before the Kingsland Road'
'Aurelian Way'
'From Nero's Palace'
'Via Flaminia'
'Appian Way'
'The Chester Road'
'Portway'
'Battle Of Watling Street'

More information is available at the Land Observations site.

Photo by Alicia Aimee