WARRINGTON-RUNCORN NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENT PLAN BIOGRAPHY 2026
Gordon Chapman-Fox works under the name Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan (WRNTDP) and produces wonderful propulsive, cinematic electronica which has a musical, conceptual and aesthetic setting in the mid 1970s to early 1980s and has made a great impact since his debut in 2020.
Gordon has released four albums to date on independent label Castles in Space. His latest record, The Nation’s Most Central Location has proved his most successful, charting at number 6 in the independent album chart and achieving much radio play and many requests for sync placements.
Following a solid upwards trajectory, all four WRNTDP albums have had increasing levels of critical and commercial success, with the third record Districts, Roads, Open Space charting at #20 in the UK vinyl album charts, and #60 in the main album chart. The album made several albums of the year lists, including Bleep, Norman Records, Piccadilly Records, Drift Records and made #5 in the Electronic Sound magazine 2022 best of list.
The Nation’s Most Central Location was pressed in the largest edition ever issued by Castles in Space, and yet still sold out in a matter of days. Genuine public demand necessitated a repress of a further 2,000 copies, which had to be ordered immediately following the album’s release.
Since performing at End Of The Road in 2022, Gordon has begun a definite move towards the mainstream consciousness, with his appearance there being noted in the Financial Times’ review of the festival. His work is regularly played on the BBC and he was asked to contribute to Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone special of hauntology last year. He was included in Shindig Magazine’s “ones to watch in 2023” feature, where they said “The richness of his visionary music is becoming progressively more enticing. A must for 2023”. The campaign for this new album has seen major features in Electronic Sound magazine and The Quietus. The album was also given 8/10 in a review/interview piece in Uncut.
What’s difficult to convey is how much these records have resonated with so many cross sections of the public. From electronica fans, to town planners, architects and academics, current and ex-new town dwellers, futurists and nostalgia freaks, the reach and affection for this music has been quite a revelation. In an adept development, the work has become more overtly politicised as Gordon reflects and refracts the broken promises made over generations to those in the North of England. Brought into sharp relief with the latest levelling up debacle, although of the past, the music couldn’t be more current. It’s emotional and moving and it connects deeply with many people.
Album reviews
The Nation’s Most Central Location (2023)
The Nation’s Most Central Location follows on the heels of a trio of albums that have seen Chapman-Fox go from zero to total hero in the blink of an eye. His debut album sold out in less than 10 minutes. How people knew about him was proper magic, as was the music contained within. WRNTDP has a very visual sound with the project growing out of a track on the first album called ‘Aerial Views By Helicopter’. Here you can almost hear that ’copter chop-chop-chopping and see the camera tracking the M6 traffic across ‘Thelwall Viaduct’ and sweeping up the grand plazas of Warrington’s ‘Europa Boulevard’. He just ticks all the boxes. Track titles speak volumes. Take ‘Rocksavage’. It’s the location of a massive gas works on the outskirts of Runcorn. Sounding like something off the ‘Drive’ soundtrack, you can almost see moody nighttime footage set to its metronomic beat. Juno Records
His new album, The Nation’s Most Central Location, is Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s most fully realised work to date. With music that ranges from the lachrymose to the frightening with a semblance of hope sandwiched in between, the album explores the relationship between England’s North and South to reflect on 40 years of broken ‘levelling up’ promises. The Quietus
If only visiting Warrington or Runcorn were as majestic as allowing the glacial synths of Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s new album to sluice through our ears! The album offers Gordon’s usual mix of mournful remorse and upbeat optimism. By now, however, there’s an underlying anger which burns through tracks such as London’s Moving Our Way and A Brighter and More Prosperous Future. Resident Records
Districts, Roads, Open Space (2022)
This impeccably crafted and beautifully realised album fulfils the purpose of all good art, and asks question after question after question. Juno Records
The biggest open secret in the vinyl flinging biz. Norman Records
An album of delightfully melancholic nostalgia for thwarted suburban dreams. Electronic Sound
Not many people can make an ode to concrete sound so affecting. Drift Records
Districts, Roads, Open Space is a striking piece that is the work of a strong, forward moving force in British electronica. Birthday Cake For Breakfast
People & Industry (2021)
It’s retro-futurism as head-shaking social comment, a heartrending experience. An album of stained overalls and shattered pride. Electronic Sound
An onboarding seminar for a distant time and place, when specks on the map of England had enormous cooling towers on their horizons. Bleep
Interim Report, March 1979 (2021)
Modern industrialised society is filled with ghosts. Chapman-Fox has found some of them and given them a voice. The results are dramatic and chilling, lasting long after the record ends. Bandcamp Daily
Mercilessly evokes the golden age of Brutalist town planning, with dystopian analogue synths conjuring images of graffiti-covered subways, desolate multi-storey car parks. Fortean Times
