Peril Pyrethrin
The Dog Muck Shrike

A fabricated artefact from The Dog Muck Shrike archive.

In 1996, Dartmoor-based folk musician Peril Pyrethrin released a single to document The Dog Muck Shrike disturbances. In addition to traditional instruments, the composition incorporated various pertinent samples including shrike calls, dredging machinery, whimpering dogs, swarming flies and a highly textural recording of a hiking boot treading into real dog faeces, which was used as a percussive device.

These unorthodox frequencies caused some listeners to experience temporary side effects, including ringing ears, nausea, headaches, tingling sensations in the extremities and an irrational feeling of being watched.

Pyrethrin died tragically, not long after this song was released; but it wasn’t the contaminated tap water from the Avon Reservoir that took his life. A cylinder of compacted sewage fell from the back of a disposal lorry and collided with his car while he was driving home with refreshment supplies for his family. His shopping bag was reported to contain a medley of popular 90s beverages, including Tab Clear, Yazoo, Sunny D, Lipton Ice and a 4 pack of Ruddles County (which he had bought for himself as a treat).