Philosophy with a Hammer by Mark St.John Ellis

DNDC 032 CD 2026

€20 inc p&p

The title 'Philosophy with a Hammer' is taken from the publication 'Twilight of the Idols' or 'How to Philosophise with a Hammer' published in 1889 by Friedrich Nietzsche. This version of the original twenty minute piece of music is a new arrangement recorded in 2025 and encapsulates Mark St.John's interest in repetition and sequential music with aspects of Eastern philosophy and Humanism. It is the seventh and final cd album in the new series. The twenty minute piece was one of Mark St.John’s first compositions to a film work of tableaus based on Baroque chiaroscuro paintings directed and produced by him and filmed by the photographer Daniel Faoro. The choral arrangements on the new version are by Conor O’Reilly with backing voices by Mark St.John and were originally added to the track which was on the second Elijah’s Mantle album Remedies in Heresies recorded at the Dead can Dance studio Quivvy Church and have been edited for the new 2025 version. Remedies in Heresies DNDC 002 CD 1994 sold out and is no longer available.

Front cover art from a print of a C16th vandalised icon. Inside cover artwork from a meditative drawing by nagGallery artist Jane Proctor titled Blacklines.