The voice of the genius was heard again: “See, O mortal, what the efforts of man can accomplish. He has known how to employ the forces of nature, and prosperity has promptly taken the place of desolation. I shall reveal to thee the secret of the power of this people. Science has made them free. They live comfortably to the laws of reason. Impregnated with all noble ideas, they have become the most civilised people on earth. They have known how to avail themselves of the greatest force of the universe – electricity. This has increased the forces of man a hundredfold. This small corner of Asia shows thee what later on the surface of the globe will become.” From ‘Babylon Electrified’ - recounted by Albert Bleunard (1889). ? So begins this lost tale of human misadventure; the story of Victorian MP and visionary Lord James Badger, who, under divine instruction almost two hundred years ago, set out to conquer nature and “restore” the civilisations of Mesopotamia with the new power of Electricity. ? ...fast-forward 140 years... ? ...to a chance encounter with an illustration from Bleunard’s forgotten book, preserved in the digital archives of The British Library. It beguiles and intrigues our own modern explorer and musical adventurer, Michael Woodman, who has stumbled across it quite by chance while looking for his own spark of inspiration. In the image, a pith-helmeted Englishman is atomized by technology he hoped would transform the canals of the Euphrates, all because he followed the instructions of an angelic visitation. In this promethean moment, Michael and his accomplices in Thumpermonkey are irresistibly propelled forward on their own epic musical journey, The theme of the songs that make up Thumpermonkey's new EP 'Electricity' echoes that of the distant past - the luminous magnificence of human foolishness. Pith helmets remain optional. Little else has changed
