Craig Fortnam

Craig Fortnam
Fortnam performing with NSRO in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Craig Edward Fortnam
Born	September 1967 (age 57) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Occupations	Composer conductor musician
Instruments	Guitar bass guitar vocals keyboards percussion
Labels	Onomatopoeia Believers Roast
Member of	North Sea Radio Orchestra Arch Garrison Cardiacs
Formerly of	The Grown-Ups Lake of Puppies Shrubbies Knifeworld Panixphere
Spouse	Sharron Saddington ​ (m. 2003)​

Craig Edward Fortnam (born September 1967) is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar (which he plays in a style drawing on classical and African techniques and the work of Nick Drake) and also sings. He is best known as the leader, conductor and principal composer of the North Sea Radio Orchestra, but also leads the smaller band Arch Garrison and was previously a key member of several other bands, most notably the Shrubbies and Lake of Puppies.

Career

Musical education and early years in rock bands

Fortnam trained in composition and guitar at Dartington College, England before moving back to London in the early 1990s to seek work as a musician. During this time, he played with several rock and folk bands connected with the cult English rock band Cardiacs, striking up a long-lasting relationship with several of the band members. Among the bands Fortnam played in was Lake of Puppies (a "psychedelic acoustic" band led by former Cardiacs keyboard player William D. Drake), in which he met his future wife and long-term collaborator Sharron Saddington (later to be known as Sharron Fortnam). Fortnam and Saddington went on to form a similar pop group called the Shrubbies with two more ex-Cardiacs, saxophonist Sarah Smith and drummer Dominic Luckman.

During this time, Fortnam wrote a wide variety of music including some contemporary classical compositions which were performed by ensembles including the Kreutzer Quartet and the Britten Sinfonia.

North Sea Radio Orchestra

Main article: North Sea Radio Orchestra

Craig and Sharron Fortnam formed North Sea Radio Orchestra (also known as NSRO) in 2002 as a vehicle for Craig's more classically inclined compositions and Sharron's voice (an unusual soprano blending elements of folk, rock, and classical music). The ensemble grew from an octet to a twenty-person grouping including a vocal chorus and has released four albums of original compositions – North Sea Radio Orchestra (2006), Birds (2008) and "I A Moon" (2011) and 'Dronne' (2016). NSRO has received a large amount of critical acclaim and played a wide variety of venues including many historic London churches and the Roundhouse.

Arch Garrison

Fortnam founded a more folk-influenced project, Arch Garrison, in 2010 as a duo of himself on voice and nylon-string guitar and James Larcombe on keyboards. The debut Arch Garrison album, King of the Down, was released by Double Six records on 22 February 2010, followed by I Will Be A Pilgrim (The Household Mark, THM003) in 2014 and The Bitter Lay (Believers Roast, BR24) in 2020.

Work under his own name

Since 2021, Fortnam has been releasing a mixture of song-based and instrumental music under his own name, beginning with Ark (Onomatopoeia) in 2021, and Instrumental Music 1 (Believers Roast) in 2022. A series of Bandcamp single releases put out over 2022 on a schedule based on the lunar calendar were compiled as Lunar One A Sides (Full Moon Releases Oct 2021 – Sept 22) and Lunar One B Sides (Full Moon Releases Oct 2021 – Sept 22)both released in November 2022 on Believers Roast and Bandcamp.

Work as session musician/instrumentalist

Fortnam was a featured musician on the soundtrack to the film A Mighty Heart (2007), playing both guitar and bass guitar. and also played guitar on the soundtrack to the 2008 film Shifty (written by Molly Nyman and NSRO member Harry Escott).

Discography

With Shrubbies

• The Shrubbies EP (1997, Merlin Audio)
• Memphis in Texas (1999, Merlin Audio)

With North Sea Radio Orchestra

Albums

• North Sea Radio Orchestra (2006, Oof! Records)
• Birds (2008, Oof! Records)
• I a Moon (2011, The Household Mark)
• Dronne (2016, The Household Mark)
• Folly Bololey – The Music of Robert Wyatt NSRO/Greaves/Barbazza (2019, Dark Companion)
• Gap Species (2019, The Household Mark)

Singles and EPs

• "North Sea Radio Orchestra" (2003, private release)
• "The Flower" (2005, Oof! Records)
• "The End of Chimes" (2007, Oof! Records)

Compilation appearances

• Folk Off: New Folk and Psychedelia from the British Isles and North America (2006, Sunday Best Recordings – NSRO contributes "Guitar Miniature")
• The Arctic Circle Presents: That Fuzzy Feeling (2007, Arctic Circle Records – NSRO contributes "O Come O Come Emanuel")
• Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute to Tim Smith, Songbook 1 (2011 – Believers Roast – NSRO contributes 'March')

With Knifeworld

• Dear Lord, No Deal EP (2011)

With Arch Garrison

• King of the Down (2010, Double Six)
• I Will Be A Pilgrim (2014, The Household Mark)
• The Bitter Lay (2020, Believers Roast)

Solo

• Ark (2021, Onomatopoeia)
• Instrumental Music 1 (2022, Believers Roast)
• Lunar One A Sides (Full Moon Releases Oct 2021 – Sept 22) (2022, Believers Roast)
• Lunar One B Sides (Full Moon Releases Oct 2021 – Sept 22) (2022, Believers Roast)
• Bespoke Guitar Pieces (2024, Believers Roast)
• Bespoke String Trios (2024, Believers Roast)

Collaborative

• The Exquisite Corpse Game (2013, Believers Roast)

External links

• North Sea Radio Orchestra @ MySpace
• Craig Fortnam guests on the Orchestra Pit radio show, 7 October 2004