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Staircase Requiem: The first release from A Call to Federation

Chris Ofili, Requiem, 2023 (detail), commissioned for Tate Britain’s north staircase. © Chris Ofili. Courtesy the artist. Photograph: Thierry Bal

Staircase Requiem is released on all streaming sites by Our Geology Club on Friday 20th February 2026

“Systemic Racism goes deep to the heart of the problem that caused the catastrophe. Questions around race and social class is at the heart of the truth seeking.”Grenfell Next of Kin Group quoted on Wikipedia (accessed 30th December 2025)  

GRENFELL REBORN - The Grenfell Next of Kin

On the 14th June 2017 seventy two people died and many were injured in a severe fire at the Grenfell Tower in West London. Between 2013 and 2017 the Grenfell Action Group had highlighted major safety problems which were ignored. 

A public enquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire published its second and final report on the 4th September 2024. Demolition of what remains of the tower, which housed round 600 people prior to the fire, commenced in 2025. 

The Metropolitan Police Service are investigating criminal manslaughter and corporate manslaughter charges but as of the 30th December 2025 evidence does not appear to have been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service and no organisations or individuals have been charged. 

As of the 29th December 2025 companies responsible for the supplying and the fitting of the cladding on Grenfell Tower continue to be contracted by central and local government to supply materials and complete works on publicly owned buildings. 

Grenfell firms still receiving multimillion-pound public contracts, analysis finds | Grenfell Tower fire | The Guardian    

The song Staircase Requiem is inspired by the artwork Requiem (2023) which can be seen in the North Staircase of Tate Britain in London. It was created by Chris Ofili after being commissioned by Tate Britain. The  images we have used is a photograph by Thierry Bal. We thank Thierry Bal and the artist Chris Ofili for permission to use this photograph of part of the art work. 

“The bowing figure on the left hand wall at the top of the staircase is a prophet or witness. He presents the burning tower to us, as though conducting a ceremony of loss or a requiem.” Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili: Requiem | David Zwirner

Chris Ofili met fellow artist Khadija Saye in May 2017 when they were both exhibiting in Venice. One month later, Khadija Saye died in the Grenfell Tower fire. Memories of their meeting had a profound impact on Ofili. It helped him find a path to create this work, which holds at its centre an image of Saye as a ‘powerful creative force of transformation.’

“I wanted to make a work in tribute to Khadija Saye. Remembering the Grenfell Tower fire, I hope that the mural will continue to speak across time to our collective sadness.” Chris Ofili quoted on the Tate Britain website. Hear Chris Ofili talk about Requiem at: 

Chris Ofili: Requiem | Tate Britain

Chris Ofili on His Epic Three-Wall Grenfell Fresco at the Tate Britain | David Zwirner

For more information on the ongoing struggle for justice of the Lancaster West Community and the next of kin of the victims please explore:

WE ARE GRENFELL UNITED | Grenfell United

Staircase Requiem is released on all streaming sites by Our Geology Club on Friday 20th February 2026

Friday 20th February 2026 is the United Nations World Day of Social Justice.

 

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Latest Our Geology Club releases: 

A Call to Federation: Trace 7: 20th March 2026      Label: Traces of Hauntology Release 007

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” 

Milan Kundera from The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979)

7i   Staircase  Requiem: Inspired by Requiem by the artist Chris Ofili ; learn more at Chris Ofili: Requiem | David Zwirner The battle for justice continues.

7ii  Blowing Ochre: Our Geology Club continue to leave the traces they do inspired by the artist Antony Gormley. Learn more from Antony Gormley-How Art Began  (BBC)  

7iii Aberavon Dreaming: “We live in capitalism, it’s power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin with art. Very often in our art of words.” Ursula K LeGuin (writer, novelist, inspiration) speaking in 2014 Ursula Le Guin National Book Award Acceptance Speech

7iv Old Mole: “We recognise our old friend, our old mole, who knows so well how to work underground, suddenly to appear: the revolution.” Karl Marx Marx’s Mole and the English Working Class - Rochester Red Star

7v My Body as it Walks: Judith Butler’s walk with Sunaura Taylor and their conversation inspired Our Geology Club Examined Life - Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor 720p.avi   Their words were echoed by what we later read in the book Encounterism by Andy Field (2023) : “ Nando wrapped their body around each word as Butler describes the swish of the young man’s walk, the way his hips moved, and how this caused the other boys in his small town to abuse and eventually kill him. ‘Why’ Butler asked, ‘would someone be killed for the way they walk. Why would that walk be so upsetting to those other boys that they would feel they must negate this person, that they must expunge the trace of that person, that they must stop the walk, no matter what?’  ” 

7vi Better Can Come: Inspired by a walk on a warm summer’s day and the realisation that the young are those who so often come to know that the future can be better than today. They don’t have the cynicism of  distorted remembrance and nostalgic memories that can cloud those of us who are older. Whether on the streets of Tehran, New York, Bristol or Swansea…wherever in the world the struggle continues.

7vii Canary’s Hope: We are fighting the battles of the 21st century but they have echoes in those our parents, grandparents and great grandparents fought across the last centuries. Those class wars were often against piece work, always vulnerable to the sliding scales that drive down what a worker earns as a product’s value changes in the market.  Those same “sliding scales” lower our wages in the 21st century. “Not an hour on the day, not a penny off the pay.” https://glamarchives.gov.uk/blood/tonypandy/

7viii Empty Bottles: Our Geology Club fight for free words and for our children to be fed. A song inspired by a brief moment in  Free – Lea Ypi

“One afternoon, my mother brought home Rilindja Demokratike, the first issue of the first opposition newspaper. Its motto was ‘The freedom of each must guarantee the freedom of all.’ For days there had been rumours that it was in print and would reach the bookshops - the only places that sold newspapers - early one morning. People waited , clutching empty bottles so that if they were questioned by the Sigurimi, the secret service, they could argue that they were only queueing for milk. My father read the editorial out loud. It was titled: ‘The first word’. the newspaper promised to defend freedom of speech and of thought and to always speak the truth. ‘Only the truth is free, and only then does freedom become true,’ he read.” P136 Free by Lea Ypi (2021)

7ix Forged in Steel: Port Talbot Steelworks - Wikipedia Thanks to John Tetsill Steelworker for his words on Channel 5 News and the community of Port Talbot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2WdlKwgbCU The fight however continues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmv6wqJhwkw

7x Organising Our Grumbles: The Fed lives on in our trade unions and organisations of working people. https://www.agor.org.uk/cwm/themes/events/hunger.asp

7xi  Deep Mining: You will  hear from  Tyrone O’Sullivan (miner, trade unionist and mine owner)  speaking at Merthyr Tydfil in 2019. https://youtu.be/XcMf6uBwaqc (ConneXion Group Production). The song was inspired after Gav from Our Geology Club bumped into Tyrone O’Sullivan in Mumbles on the day that Margaret Thatcher died. The film Tower Colliery tells you more of what was achieved. 

Thank you for the inspiration that day and the inspiring endeavour of the workers at Tower Colliery from 1995 to 2008 Tower Colliery - Wikipedia

7xii Reflections on a Brief Illness: Some we lose along the way but the marks they leave continue to inspire: Terry Hall (1959-2022). Terry Hall (singer) - Wikipedia We will remember.  Our Geology Club acknowledge that the song quotes from the poem by Brian Patten (1946-2025) So Many Different Lengths of Time: https://mybeautfulthings.com/2017/04/14/so-many-different-lengths-of-time-poem-by-brian-patten/amp and the song Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think) first published in 1949, with music written by Carl Sigman and lyrics by Herb Magidson: Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think) - Wikipedia

Reviews of A Call to Federation

 “Loving how you take the brittle fact of anger and make music with it that is soft, gentle and flowing.” 

    Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba and  Commoners Choir: take a look at the marks he is leaving at Boff Whalley

Pitch Perfect: https://www.pitchperfectsite.com/indie-music-album-reviews/our-geology-club-a-call-to-federation

Illustrate: https://illustratemagazine.com/a-call-to-federation-by-our-geology-club-album-review/

Indie Grid: https://theindiegrid.co.uk/reviews/a-call-to-federation-our-geology-club-turning-resistance-into-resonance/

Extravafrench: https://extravafrench.com/2026/04/01/chronique-fragile-dun-monde-fissure-par-our-geology-club-sur-a-call-to-federation/

HBN: A Call to Federation - Headbangers News

Songweb Our Geology Club’s "A Call to Federation" Is a Protest, Poetry, and Post-Industrial Prayer - SongWeb

 

Staircase Requiem (Single Version): Trace 6: 20th February 2026     Label: Traces of Hauntology Release 006

 “Systemic Racism goes deep to the heart of the problem that caused the catastrophe. Questions around race and social class is at the heart of the truth seeking.”  Grenfell Next of Kin Group quoted on Wikipedia (accessed 30th December 2025) 

 GRENFELL REBORN - The Grenfell Next of Kin

On the 14th June 2017 72 people died and many more were injured in a severe fire at the Grenfell Tower in West London.. Between 2013 and 2017 the Grenfell Action Group had highlighted major safety problems which were ignored. 

A public enquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire published its second and final report on the 4th September 2024. Demolition of what remains of the tower, which housed round 600 people prior to the fire, commenced in 2025. 

The Metropolitan Police Service are investigating criminal manslaughter and corporate manslaughter charges but as of the 30th December 2025 evidence does not seem to have been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service and no organisations or individuals have been charged. 

As of January 2026 the companies responsible for the supplying and the fitting of the cladding on Grenfell Tower continue to be contracted by central and local government to supply materials and complete works on publicly owned buildings. 

Grenfell firms still receiving multimillion-pound public contracts, analysis finds | Grenfell Tower fire | The Guardian     

The song Staircase Requiem is inspired by the artwork Requiem (2023) which can be seen in the North Staircase of Tate Britain in London. It was created by Chris Ofili after being commissioned by Tate Britain.  

“The bowing figure on the left hand wall at the top of the staircase is a prophet or witness. He presents the burning tower to us, as though conducting a ceremony of loss or a requiem.” Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili: Requiem | David Zwirner

Chris Ofili met fellow artist Khadija Saye in May 2017 when they were both exhibiting in Venice. One month later, Khadija Saye died in the Grenfell Tower fire. Memories of their meeting had a profound impact on Ofili. It helped him find a path to create this work, which holds at its centre an image of Saye as a ‘powerful creative force of transformation.’

“I wanted to make a work in tribute to Khadija Saye. Remembering the Grenfell Tower fire, I hope that the mural will continue to speak across time to our collective sadness.” Chris Ofili quoted on the Tate Britain website. Hear Chris Ofili talk about Requiem at: 

Chris Ofili: Requiem | Tate Britain

Chris Ofili on His Epic Three-Wall Grenfell Fresco at the Tate Britain | David Zwirner

For more information on the ongoing struggle for justice of the Lancaster West Community and the next of kin of the victims please explore:

 WE ARE GRENFELL UNITED | Grenfell United

 

Reviews of Staircase Requiem:

"British music criticism at its finest has always understood that context is not separate from sound — it is woven into the frequency, the tempo, the grain of a voice. What Our Geology Club achieve here is to take the Grenfell Next of Kin Group's own words — that "systemic racism goes deep to the heart of the problem" — and give them a melody that neither exploits nor diminishes them. That is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Grief tourism is real. Protest music can calcify into gesture. This does neither.

Instead, "Staircase Requiem" positions itself as an act of witness — exactly the role that Ofili assigns to the bowing figure in his mural, that prophet who "presents the burning tower to us, as though conducting a ceremony of loss." Our Geology Club have made themselves that witness too. Not spectators. Not commentators. Witnesses, with all the legal and moral weight that word carries in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation.

There is something deeply, specifically British about releasing a record like this on a Friday morning in February, quietly, on all streaming platforms, without fanfare or stadium posturing. It trusts the listener. It trusts that some music does not need to announce its own importance. The importance is already there, in the names, in the dates, in the silence where justice should be.

The great British music critics — Ian MacDonald writing about the Beatles as symptoms of their age, Lester Bangs if he'd grown up in Notting Hill, the NME at its most righteous and reckless — always understood that to write about music seriously was to write about the world it came from. "Staircase Requiem" comes from a world in which 72 people burned to death because their lives were considered, in every practical sense, expendable. It comes from a world in which that fact has produced, nearly nine years later, not a single criminal conviction."

Some staircases, it turns out, lead somewhere."

Read the full review at: Our Geology Club – Staircase Requiem – Indie Dock Music Blog

“Rather than turning tragedy into spectacle, Gav and Jon approach the subject with restraint. The music unfolds slowly, almost ceremonially, allowing space for reflection. There is a sense of ascent and weight in the arrangement — fitting for a piece inspired by an artwork installed on the north staircase of Tate Britain. The structure feels intentional, as though each musical movement echoes the physical act of climbing, pausing, remembering.  “Staircase Requiem” leans into solidarity and compassion. It doesn’t preach. It doesn’t dramatize. Instead, it holds space. That choice feels powerful. In a cultural climate often saturated with reactive noise, Our Geology Club offer something contemplative — a protest song that whispers rather than shouts. In doing so, they align with their own philosophy: not just protest singers, but writers of protest songs that endure.”

Read the full review at: Our Geology Club – Staircase Requiem -

 

Three Hours Beneath The Rubble (Home Mix) Trace 5: 20th June 2025     Label: Traces of Hauntology Release 005

 “We suffer from an incurable malady: Hope”    Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008)

The writer of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence was the poet Mahmoud Darwish. We release Three Hours Beneath The Rubble as an act of Hope on Friday 20th June 2025 which is United Nations World Refugee Day. It is our quiet whisper against the storms of violence and oppression the Palestinian population are enduring. 

Our Geology Club wrote Three Hours Beneath The Rubble across 2024 as the horrors in Gaza and latterly across the Occupied Territories of Palestine emerged. The genocidal calls from right wing Israeli politicians have made us decide to issue it NOW as an immediate response to the use of starvation as a military weapon which 2025 has seen come alongside brutal military force by the Israeli Defence Force.  It is unfinished, like the struggle for survival of millions of Palestinian people. We decided we could hold it no longer.

The dehumanization of any population must be resisted. For us resistance is expressed artistically. Song is one way we know to speak our love, compassion and solidarity.

“A person can only be born in one place. However, he may die several times elsewhere: in the exiles and prisons, and in a homeland transformed by an occupation and oppression into a nightmare.” Mahmoud Darwish

For the story which inspired this song hear from Alma in Gaza: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68625406

 

Half a Life Away    Trace 4: 15th May 2025       Label: Traces of Hauntology      Release 004

 A love song for the ages. A love song for all ages.

“When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” When Harry met Sally (1989) written by Nora Ephron (1941-2012)

I met my partner half a life away.

We became friends half a life away.

We married half a life away?

Looking back our joys and our losses have strengthened who we are.

Looking back our joys and our losses have strengthened what we are.

Looking forward that strength is what we believe will see us through the losses and joys to come. Hopefully they are half a life away.

“Looking forward to the dusk, Will not regret the passing years…”

Austere                  Trace 3 : 2nd April 2025      Label: Traces of Hauntology      Release 003

Austere asks you:

  • Do Disabled people have the same human rights as those who are non-disabled?
  • Who and what makes many of us Disabled people?
  • What does austerity really mean?
  • What did the last 15 years of austerity in the UK mean for Disabled people?
  • Why did a UN report in 2016 say that in the UK they found “grave and systemic” violations of the human rights of Disabled people?

The song Austere is inspired by the victims of austerity and their families who shaped “The Museum of Austerity” exhibition. To learn more;

Museum Of Austerity - English Touring Theatre

To learn why this is happening in the 21st century in the UK, read or listen to:

John Pring: The Department: How a violent government bureaucracy killed hundreds and hid the evidence (Pluto Press) 2024

To understand the broader impact of austerity on Disabled people in the UK read or listen to:

Frances Ryan: Crippled: Austerity and the demonisation of Disabled people (Verso Books) 2019

To understand what the world thinks about the UK read:

Disability Rights UK: “No progress since 2016 on the “grave and systemic” violations of Disabled people’s rights UN report says” at

Report Finds Worsening Violations of Disabled People’s Rights | Disability Rights UK

Our Geology Club say: 

“Any of us can become a Disabled person. Many of us are born and find ourselves Disabled people. Jon is a singer, lyricist and songwriter. Jon is a worker. Jon is a Disabled person. Jon has hearing loss and hearing aids. The hearing loss does not make him disabled: it makes him deaf. Jon is a singer, lyricist and songwriter. You may or may not like the songs he writes with Gav and how he sings them. Our society, and particularly his workplaces, have made Jon a Disabled deaf worker. Our society continues to disable Jon. That is why Jon is a Disabled person

In the UK if you realise you are one of the estimated 16 million plus Disabled people in the UK (24% of the UK population in 2022-2023 according to the UK government) then get angry, get organised, join a trade union/ campaign group or write songs to tell your stories or the stories of others."

If you believe you are a Disabled person know there are billions of us across the world.  

Is our song "throwing bread on the water”…………………maybe? Together let’s turn the tide.

 

A Father’s Love     Trace 2: 3rd January 2025     Label: Traces of Hauntology Release 002

 

A song written for all parents, daughters and sons.

“Love cannot live where there is no trust.”  Edith Hamilton 1867-1963
 
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments when they are not trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” Umberto Eco 1932-2016
 

”A Father’s Love is a stunning release complete with charming performances, engaging lyrics and warm production. We cannot wait to hear more.” FV Music Blog

“The production is marvellous, reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s productions from the ‘80s.” Indie Emergente

“Mesmerising vocals- the voice is warm yet expressive and emotional. It attracts the attention of the listener. The melody is well built - dreamy verse, stronger stirring chorus and beautiful lyrical Bridge. It’s an original and high quality song.” Sad Indie and Folk Music 



Days of Kindness   Trace 1: 1st November 2024   Label: Traces of Hauntology Release 001

A song inspired by the community of Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan (South Wales) who in 2023 united to resist attacks on refugees and asylum seekers who had been placed in local hotels. In 2024 the song was entered by us into the UK Songwriting Contest 2024 in the Crisis and Protest Songs Category. It was awarded 5 stars and a commended certificate by the judges in July 2024. Weeks later the atrocity in Southport, England  perpetrated by a young adult born in South Wales, was used by racist groups and right wing political figures to  fuel riots, arson attacks and violence against residents of hotels across the UK and against Black and Brown Britons. Llantwit Major shows us that the key to resisting ethnic/race nationalism is civic unity and active imaginative resistance. A Welsh Cake needs many ingredients local and imported. So does a community. Hope not Hate 

For more information see:  https://hopenothate.org.uk/2023/08/01/a-blueprint-for-a-successful-community-response/

“This feels like 90’s David Bowie with the synths and the spaciness that can be heard in the mix. Your vocals definitely have a Bowie-esque appeal to them and evoke the same level of mystery that he does. The lyrics are interesting and captivating which makes the listener even more intrigued.” Laura Beth 

“Very unique song you have here mixing acoustic and electronic elements. Was a really fun song to listen to!” Quiet Indie Folk