Curious Music is pleased to announce Road to Rosslyn, the new album by British composer and experimental artist Christopher Chaplin, and his debut release for Curious Music.

Pre-order now:

June 18, 2026 Digital release of Road to Rosslyn

July 2, 2026 CD release of Road to Rosslyn

August 13, 2026 Double gatefold vinyl release of Road to Rosslyn

Road to Rosslynfollows a symbolic path through seven Gothic churches across Britain. The journey begins in the Wiltshire chalk downland of Salisbury Plain and moves northward toward the Midlothian lowlands of Rosslyn. Across seven stages, the album imagines these sacred sites as points of energy within the body of Albion: a hidden current moving beneath the land, rising from Salisbury toward Rosslyn.

The road itself becomes a serpent-like path. It does not function simply as a route, but as a line of ascent—an unfolding movement through stone, landscape, memory, and sacred architecture. The album’s seven compositions trace this motion with a sense of ritual continuity, allowing each place to emerge as both location and symbol.

The concept for Road to Rosslynis loosely based on the idea of seven major British Gothic sites as seven chakras, or energy points, of Britain. Salisbury Cathedral becomes the root chakra, while Rosslyn Chapel becomes the crown. Although Rosslyn is not a cathedral, its place in the work reflects its enduring significance as a remarkable example of Gothic sacred art.

Chaplin’s music moves through these spaces with patience and intention. Rather than illustrating the churches literally, Road to Rosslyn treats them as resonant points within a larger spiritual and geographic architecture. The pieces unfold as stages of a single journey, connected by atmosphere, proportion, and a steady sense of elevation.

The visual direction for the release extends the same symbolic structure. Working closely with Christopher Chaplin, Sebastian Boecking shaped the album’s visual world, creating the cover imagery and refining its final visual form. The artwork develops the idea of Britain as a sacred body or map, with the road to Rosslyn appearing as a serpentine line of movement. Boecking’s design work gives the project a visual language that is spare, mythic, and architectural, echoing the album’s movement through Gothic space, symbolic geography, and ascent. This collaboration continues Boecking’s important visual role within Curious Music, where his refined sense of atmosphere, proportion, and image-making has helped elevate many of the label’s releases beyond sound alone.

With Road to Rosslyn, Christopher Chaplin brings together architecture, geography, mythic symbolism, and sound into a focused seven-part work. The album reflects Curious Music’s continued interest in releases that sit between disciplines: music as composition, image, object, and contemplative journey.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER CHAPLIN

Christopher James Chaplin is a British composer and experimental artist whose work has developed through a sustained interest in sound, composition, collaboration, and transformation. After studying piano in Vevey, Switzerland, he moved to London in the early 1980s, where he began exploring the outer edges of musical form and sonic structure.

In 2009, Chaplin collaborated with the artist Kava on Seven Echoes, a project first presented live at the Art Brut museum gugging in Lower Austria. There he encountered Hans-Joachim Roedelius, the pioneering electronic musician known for his work with Cluster and Harmonia. Roedelius later invited Chaplin to participate in a Late Junction live session for BBC Radio 3, a collaboration that eventually led to the album King of Hearts.

Chaplin’s solo work includes Je suis le Ténébreux in 2016, featuring guest artists including Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Christine Roedelius, Judith Chemla, and Claudia Schumann. His second album, Paradise Lost, released in 2018, was inspired by John Milton’s poem and featured the voices of Nathan Vale and Leslie Winer. In 2020, Chaplin released M, the final part of a trilogy concerned with change and transformation, with contributions from Finley Quaye, Mira Lu Kovacs, and Aurelia Thierree.

His later albums include Patriarchs, a musical exploration of the antediluvian patriarchs from Adam to Noah, and Door 1 Door 2, released in 2024, featuring baritone Tassos Apostolou, soprano Michela Varvaro, vocal support from Carmen Alt-Chaplin, and cover art by Tim Story.

In addition to his solo studio recordings, Chaplin has continued to perform and record through collaborative and improvised projects with artists including Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Andrew Heath, Stereo Hypnosis, Carl Michael von Hauswolf, Tim Story, and Eraldo Bernocchi. These collaborations have led to releases including Triptych in Blue, Bjarmi, Zurufe, The Prisoner of Chillon, and The Same and The Other.

ROAD TO ROSSLYN— TRACKLIST

1. Salisbury – 7:22

2. Wells – 7:29

3. Gloucester – 6:53

4. Ely – 6:53

5. York – 7:21

6. Durham – 7:17

7. Rosslyn – 7:15

christopherjchaplin.com