Raf Rundell - O.M. Days (2021)

Last seen a couple of years back on his debut long-player Stop lying, Raf has announced his new album O.M.Days. Featuring on the cover a striking Keith haring meets the green man image from acclaimed artist and long-time collaborator Ben edge, the picture was inspired by the folk tale of the giant of Dawson, who is both male & female, human and vegetation and lived in the imagination of Dawson's Hill, a stretch of South London parkland a Stones throw away from Dawson's heights, the flats featured on the cover of Raf's debut Stop lying. Edge and Rundell, for reasons they can't entirely comprehend, concocted a rite which took place the first full Moon after this year's summer solstice (the results of which can be seen in the short film trailer for the album). This involved the giant - also known as Tommy Hill figure - being created on Dawson's Hill. "Ben's been digging deeper and deeper into Ancient myths, the green man, all the stuff that's been co-opted by organised religion," Rundell explains. All this chimed with him because he is a magnet for signs and symbols. He has been ever since his mod-loving parents named him after the Raf roundel symbol.