Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan

A Manchester concert by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, the electronic project of Gordon Chapman-Fox, staged at Gorilla, a concert and performance venue.

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan is the electronic project of Gordon Chapman-Fox, which pairs a retro-futuristic sound with a deliberate visual identity. Across six albums and three EPs, the project follows the construction and growth of a northern English community from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, using shimmering arpeggios and soaring lead lines.

The 2023 album The Nation's Most Central Location brought the project wider attention. Electronic Sound named it album of the year, Rough Trade placed it thirteenth in its end-of-year list, and the project has been played on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 and RTÉ. Its releases have also appeared in end-of-year lists from Piccadilly Records, Bleep and Electronic Sound, and Chapman-Fox has been invited back to End of the Road Festival.

The sound rests on bristling synth lines, rumbling basses and chord swells, with rhythmic arpeggios and snapping delays taking the place of most traditional percussion. The project has moved into folky minimalism, shimmering IDM and languid ambient, and its music is suited to soundtracking the building of a new world. Gorilla is a concert and performance venue in Manchester.