The Pale Fountains – The Complete Virgin Years 4 CD box-set review

21 04 2025

The Pale Fountains were an English band formed in Liverpool in 1980, and composed of Mick Head, Chris McCaffery, Thomas Whelan, Andy Diagram, Ken Moss and John Head.

Inspired by 1960s music (Love, Burt Bacharach), the band released two much-loved studio albums on Virgin, Pacific Street (1984) and …From Across the Kitchen Table (1985).

This 4-CD box set brings together both albums as well as the B-Sides, mixes, and some previously unreleased material from the Virgin vaults all housed in a sturdy box with extensive sleeve notes by Classic Pop’s John Earls.

The music was mastered by Tony Dixon, with vinyl restoration (presumably for some of the singles) by Andy Pearce. The albums sounded pretty good with their previous CD incarnation, but this new master from Tony Dixon adds more punch and depth to the mixes.

I bought both albums on cassette in the early 80s and also treated my self to the CD reissues a few years ago, but this box-set blows those reissues out of the water. The original two albums have never sounded better and the two discs of single cuts and unreleased demos adds real value to this release.

Pacific Street and beyond

Pacific Street, the bands debut from 1984, is my favourite of the two Virgin studio albums, and is an album I still regularly play to this day. It has a consistent sound – often with bossa-nova rhythms topped by traditional pop / rock arrangements and a smattering of Andy Diagram’s trumpet.

Whilst no doubt influenced by the pure-pop of Burt Bacharach, Arthur Lee’s Love and with a bold 60s swagger, the guitar exhibits a sharp new-wave bite that cuts through, adding a darker side to the songs.

The album was produced by the band and Howard Gray (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark / Public Image Limited / Simple Minds) and has intelligent and rich arrangements, with delicious harmonies and rapidly changing tempos.

My favourite track arrives early in the album sequence, with the atmospheric Unless. In another universe, this song would have been a top 10 hit. Deep synths take centre-stage, a rarity, and Head’s vocal is spell-binding. When the sequenced synth line kicks on the 3/4 mark, I’m transported to a musical nirvana.

(Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War is a key album track, with chiming guitar lines and a restrained verse that makes the chorus all the more powerful.

Beyond Friday’s Field is the most experimental track on the album, led by Diagram’s trumpet and a sparse 60s spy-thriller backing. The music coming out of Liverpool in the 80s was in such a rich vein of form, and The Pale Fountains were a key component of the wave of classic artists.

Abergele Next Time has a confident swagger, and sits in your mind long after the last note has faded away.

The bonus tracks from the era are solid gold. The “radio-hits” Thank You and Palm of my Hand are absolute classics . I didn’t realise until recently that multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankin, who had recently quit The Associates, produced the Pale Fountains 1983 non-album single Palm Of My Hand. I bought the single when it was released but either didn’t pick up on Rankine’s involvement at the time or simply just forgot, but listening to the song with this knowledge, his influence is clear.

The first disc ends with a couple of extended versions and the non-album track Love Situation, which suggests that Mick Head jumped into a time-machine and invented Primal Scream, bringing back this song on his return to the mid-80s.

The second disc contains rough mixes and demos from around the time of the first album. Given the age of the recordings, the quality is surprisingly good. Highlights from this disc include the light mix of Fight Think Love / Love Situation – Rough Mix Take 1, a song that would not feel out of place as part of a Hollywood film soundtrack in Spanish Tragedy (Beyond Fridays Field) – Rough Instrumental Mix and the Motown infused twisted pop of Take A Little Shelter – Rough Mix Take 2.

A shout-out needs to be given for the second version of Sundrenched Girl (Crazier) – Rough Mix – with contains a full-band performance of this supremely catchy, steel-drum adorned slice of summer pop.

…From Across The Kitchen Table

The second album finds The Pale Fountains in a more strident, confident mood. The urgent Shelter opens the album, whilst a bluesy and more ragged Stole The Love paves the way for my favourite track from the album, the timeless Jean’s Not Happening, with a sublime guitar line from John Head.

Bruised Arcade has stood the test of time, and I enjoyed becoming reacquainted on reviewing the album. It’s Only Hard passed me by when I first bought the album, by this slow-paced Dylanesque piece hits more directly now.

The title track incorporates some ‘of the time’ synths in its intro before it develops into an enjoyable, intelligent piece of dark pop. The rockabilly swing of September Sting ends the album on a high.

The 4th and final disc collects mixes and unreleased tracks from this period. An extended mix of the title track works well as does a darker mix of Bicycle Thieves.

The b-side Just A Girl – Remix feels more like an a-side, from the Thank You era, featuring a strong chorus, with a hint of the pop-nous of Pete Wylie / Wah! from around this time. A lost Palies classic.

A warm, full remix of Thank You is a welcome inclusion. A series of well-preserved demos make up the rest of the final disc. Highlights include the drum-machine driven The Outsider, with its excellent bassline, the restraint turns to wild abandon of Summertime (It’s Hard) and the promise that was never fully realised of These Are the Things (Stay).

So even if, like me, you own both of The Pale Fountains first two albums, this expanded box-set is a must-own release from one of Liverpool’s best kept secrets.

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Buy The Pale Fountains box-set from Amazon

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

Pacific Street

Reach
Something On My Mind
Unless
Southbound Excursion
Natural
Faithful Pillow (Pt 1)
(Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War
Beyond Fridays Field
Abergele Next Time
Crazier
Faithful Pillow (Pt 2)

BONUS TRACKS

Thank You – Single
Meadow Of Love – Single B Side
(There’s Always) Something on My Mind – Remix
Palm Of My Hand – Single
Palm Of My Hand – Instrumental – Single B Side
Love’s A Beautiful Place – Single B Side
Unless – Extended Version 12″ Single
(Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War – Single
(Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War – Extended Version 12″ Single
Love Situation – Single B Side

DISC TWO

Mixes And Unreleased Tracks

Partner Picking Man – Rough Mix with Bass and Drums*
Fight Think Love / Love Situation – Rough Mix Take 1*
Jock’s A String Bean – Rough Mix*
Fight Think Love / Love Situation – Rough Mix Take 2*
Spanish Tragedy (Beyond Fridays Field) – Rough Instrumental Mix*
Take A Little Shelter – Rough Mix Take 2*
Partner Picking Man – Acoustic*
Sun Drenched Girl (Crazier) – Acoustic
Lavinia’s Dream – Rough Mix Take 1
(There’s Always) Something on My Mind – Rough Mix
Hey There Fred – Rough Mix
One By One – Rough Mix Take 2*
Norfolk Broads – Rough Mix Take 1
Untitled Jam / 7 and 7 Is*
Unless – Rough Mix
(There’s Always) Something on My Mind – Rough Mix
Sundrenched Girl (Crazier) – Rough Mix
Southbound Excursion – Rough Mix

DISC THREE

…From Across the Kitchen Table

Shelter
Stole The Love
Jean’s Not Happening
Bicycle Thieves
Limit
27 Ways to Get Back Home
Bruised Arcade
These Are the Things
Its Only Hard
…From Across the Kitchen Table
Hey
September Sting

DISC FOUR

Mixes And Unreleased Tracks

From Across the Kitchen Table – Extended Version 12″ Single
Bicycle Thieves – Remix Single B Side
Just A Girl – Remix Single B Side
Thank You – Remix Single B Side
Silver Bendix – Demo*
The Outsider – Demo*
Detrimentally (Stole the Love) – Demo
27 Ways to Get Back Home – Demo
Summertime (It’s Hard) -Demo
Shelter – Demo
Yeah Eah Eah – Demo*
These Are the Things (Stay) – Demo
Bruised Arcade – Demo
*Previously unreleased

Buy The Pale Fountains box-set from Amazon


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Airbag – The Century of the Self Album: Prog Band’s New Release

4 06 2024

The Century of the Self is the long awaited new album from Norway’s best-selling prog band, Airbag, and is released by Karisma Records on 14 June 2024.

Airbag - The Century of the Self

Airbag kick off their sixth studio album with Dysphoria, with widely panned guitar and sweeping synth waves. A slow-paced piece, containing lyrics touching on the world we find ourselves in, with conspiracies, trolling and a culture of cancellation.

The instrumentation builds as the song progresses. A specific feature I have noticed on this Airtbag album is the prominence of the bass, from Kristian Hultgren and Bjørn Riis. It adds real power to the songs, and underpins the anthemic guitar lines from Riis.

Airbag - photo by Anne-Marie_Forker

Tyrants and Kings ups the tempo, and adds acoustic guitars to the mix for the first time. A mature arrangement, with simplicity and space, enabling keyboard or guitar lines to cut through with clarity. Henrik Bergan Fossum adds an at times post-punk chill to his drum patterns on this track. This is Airbag at its most refined.

Awakening strips the arrangement back to delay-treated vocals and acoustic guitar, and then the bass, drums and synths kick in like a deep punch to the gut. A slight U2 lyrical reference feels appropriate, with a song that is close to a slow-burning classic rock template, topped off with some Airbag sparkles.

The middle section of Awakening gives the musicians the chance to stretch out and shine. As always with Airbag, the performances are sympathetic and never show-boating.

Erase is a bass-driven groove, that begs to be played at volume. Psychedelic, heavily processed guitar and wild drums propel the albums heaviest track towards the 14 minute closer, Tear It Down.

Tear It Down introduces itself with a shuffling drum beat, softly twinkling Rhodes piano, and sustained guitar, leading to the angry and frustrated chorus of “Tear it down, tear it all.”

A delicious Rhodes riff then takes over at around the 7 minute / half-way mark, signalling the next section in the ever-evolving Tear It Down. Deep bass and soaring guitar lines from Kristian Hultgren and Ole Michael Bjørndal, do battle with spacey synth from guest Simen Valldal Johannessen. Fans of early Porcupine Tree are going to love this epic song. A great way to end the album, Tear It Down is the track I often find myself returning to again and again.

Airbag - photo by Anne-Marie_Forker

The Century of the Self feels like the most complete Airbag album to date, with the band spending so much time on the arrangements. It would be easy to just keep piling in with the heavy moments, but there is a real taste of light and shade on display here. Tear it down, tear it all.

Airbag are:
Asle Tostrup – vocals, keyboards and programming
Henrik Bergan Fossum – drums
Bjørn Riis – guitars, bass, keyboards and backing vocals

Featuring: Kristian Hultgren – bass on Dysphoria & Tear it Down
Ole Michael Bjørndal – guitar on Dysphoria, Tyrants and Kings & Tear it Down
Simen Valldal Johannessen – keyboards on Tear it Down

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases via this website.

Buy The Century of the Self CD from Amazon.

Buy The Century of the Self coloured vinyl from Amazon.

Buy The Century of the Self CD / vinyl / coloured vinyl from Burning Shed.

Tracklist:
Dysphoria (10:39)
Tyrants and Kings (6:48)
Awakening (6:42)
Erase (7:53)
Tear It Down (14:59)


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Regan & Bricheno – APPARITIONS track-by-track album review

6 05 2024

The Regan & Bricheno bandcamp page sets the scene for this album:

“With Julianne Regan as a green-eyed Elizabeth Taylor to Tim Bricheno’s temperant Richard Burton, All About Eve rides again – in spirit if not in name.”

Regan & Bricheno - APPARITIONS artwork

This is a great scene setter, as APPARITIONS is clearly not just a continuation of the All About Eve songbook, but an expansion of Julianne and Tim’s songwriting and arrangement skills. It would have probably been very easy to rehash past glories, and tread a safe path, but any fears of this being the case are smashed to pieces within a couple of songs.

The album opens with the only “old” track, RAINDROPS, which was released on the now out-of-print 2006 Keepsakes All About Eve compilation, and at the time was one of the first tracks to feature Tim Bricheno playing on an All About Eve song since 1989.

RAINDROPS deserves to be heard again away from the compilation, and is a lovely pop song, underpinned by jagged guitar lines.

Out with the old and in with the new. PALE BLUE EARTH feels like it is referencing Bowie at several points in the lyrics, and again with the affectionate musical nod to Heroes towards the end of the track. The playful, widescreen production is what I hoped to hear, after soaking up the sneak previews we were treated to prior to the albums release on the duos social channels.

PALE BLUE EARTH is the first song on the album to draw its inspiration from the past – with late 50s / 60s space race references indicating the endless possibilities of the future. The experimentation in performance and production is a clear step-up from Julianne’s and Tim’s past collaborations.

SÉANCE widens the musical palette further, with a psychedelic, trippy soundscape, and Twin Peaks referencing keyboard lines. Before the drum machine kicks in, I get hints of early John Foxx in the use of space and minimalism.

“Is there anyone there?
Silk echoes, electric, on paper thin air
A soft phosphorescence, a liminal presence,
The scrape of a chair”

There is a real maturity in the arrangement on SÉANCE, with the track twisting and changing pace, but it never feels forced or un-natural. Throughout the whole album, the guitar is a natural part of the equation, used sparingly so when it appears, it cuts through to maximum effect.

With LUXURY OF REFLECTION, nostalgia seeps through every single note of this beautiful track. Falling snow (referenced in several songs), wistful strings, bells and an icy, Goldfrapp Felt Mountain melody are key ingredients that will surely tug at your emotions.

The memories are warm and sepia-tinged, apart from the quite sharp line towards the end.

“Of all the songs I’ve written for you
Here’s the one you’ll never hear”

RADIUM already seems to be an early fan favourite from reading the comments on social media. An unconventional love song spraying its deep longing amongst the mushroom clouds, sadly RADIUM was released a little too late to be included in the soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, as it would have been a perfect fit.

AMERICA is perfectly placed in the running order next to RADIUM. Both are similarly paced and are both paeans to the culture and idealism of the ghost of America. Amongst the beautiful, delicate arrangements on AMERICA comes a discordant guitar line that jars and jolts you, before quickly giving way to mellotrons and atmospheric, spacey guitars.

The love and endless exploration that has gone into the production on this song makes it a pure joy to listen to. Real hairs on the back of your neck stuff, as instruments pan back and forth across the rich soundscape.

At the time of writing, this is my personal favourite from the album.

“And I’d have liked to have found
Wild blueberries after the first frost
And I’d have dressed warmly
Brought my camera along”

Regan & Bricheno - photographer unknown

ROSES ROUND THE DOOR, with guitars set to stun, has all the ingredients of a classic All About Eve song of old. Sad songs say so much and boy, is this a sad song. A key takeaway from ROSES… is to always tell the ones you love how you feel about them. Before it’s too late…

“Won’t you promise me that you won’t make the same mistakes
And that you honestly
Won’t forget to tell your darling you adore them
And get to smell the roses round the door”

DEAR LONELY HEART is a song that appeals to my inner goth and my dark, twisted heart, grabbing the All About Eve template to simply rip it up and start again. Featuring some of Mr Bricheno’s finest guitar lines, and a chorus to die for from Julianne, it is an instant classic.

Just as the song hits its peak, it’s over, leaving you wondering if the scars were ever healed? A heart-breaker.

“Someday a girl will come who doesn’t love guitars”

HONEY’S OCEAN is built from sparse acoustic guitar, mellotron and an 80s drumbeat that gives way to a sumptuous chorus, and Ray Bradbury referencing sci-fi lyrics.

The ghost of David Bowie haunts several tracks on APPARITIONS, and his influence on Julianne and Tim feels strong on HONEY’S OCEAN. As throughout the whole album, the production and the arrangement is as much of a star as the two artists themselves.

WHAT TO WEAR TO A FUNERAL closes APPARITIONS. Any song that mentions the sublime Wichita Lineman is instantly a friend of mine.

The reference to funeral playlists in WHAT TO WEAR TO A FUNERAL reminds me that I need to write my own funeral playlist down. I was discussing mine recently with my better half, and mentioned that Follow You, Follow Me was one of my requests for when I shuffle off my mortal coil. On discussing at a later date, I was presented with “you wanted a Genesis song, I can’t remember which one”, so I’ll probably get something horrific like Jesus He Knows Me. A haunting, I must go.

Sorry, I digress. Back to WHAT TO WEAR TO A FUNERAL, it rounds off a perfect album. So much attention has gone into the sequencing of the album, with 5 or 6 second gaps between tracks, giving you the time to recover and reflect before the journey continues.

Julianne has one of the most unique and recognisable voices in pop. Add to this her production, bass / keyboard / programming and arranging skills that work so well alongside her rekindled musical partnership with Tim, it helps the duo deliver a perfectly crafted album, that is lyrically strong and builds on their significant past history, whilst laying strong foundations for an exciting future.

APPARITIONS is available to purchase now as a download via Bandcamp, with a physical release to follow, hopefully later this year.

Buy APPARITIONS on Bandcamp

Tracklisting

RAINDROPS
PALE BLUE EARTH
SÉANCE
LUXURY OF REFLECTION
RADIUM
AMERICA
ROSES ROUND THE DOOR
DEAR LONELY HEART
HONEY’S OCEAN
WHAT TO WEAR TO A FUNERAL

Recorded by Tim Bricheno and Julianne Regan at Shabbey Road Studios, London, and Little Box Studios, Somerset.

Singing by Julianne Regan.
Electric and acoustic guitars by Tim Bricheno.
Bass guitar by Tim Bricheno & Julianne Regan.
Keyboards and programming by Julianne Regan & Tim Bricheno.
Co-produced by Julianne Regan & Tim Bricheno.
Mixed and mastered by Tim Bricheno.

Artwork:
Lana Bricheno – Cover art photo collage
Julianne Regan – Design and lyric booklet artwork

Additional contributions:

Toby Bricheno:
Co-mixing on Roses Round The Door and Pale Blue Earth
Co-arrangement of strings on Luxury of Reflection
Kevan Gallagher:
Acoustic Guitar tone on Honey’s Ocean
Tony Kiley:
Drums on Roses Round the Door and Dear Lonely Heart


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News: Regan & Bricheno – In the Bleak Midwinter and The Snows They Melt the Soonest – Winter single

24 11 2023

Julianne Regan & Tim Bricheno, formerly of All About Eve (Wild Hearted Woman, Every Angel, Martha’s Harbour), have reconnected in recent years and this has led to them writing and recording together again, with the occasional release on YouTube. The duo have now amassed enough material to be planning a full album release for 2024, on digital and hopefully physical formats.

Regan & Bricheno - In the Bleak Midwinter and The Snows They Melt the Soonest - a woman walking in the snow.

Regan & Bricheno (they decided against going out under the All About Eve name) have announced a Bandcamp digital release of their new interpretations of two seasonal, traditional ‘winter’ songs on 1 December 2023. Just in time for that most wonderful time of the year.

Julianne and Tim play everything on In The Bleak Midwinter and The Snows They Melt the Soonest, and they engineered, produced and mixed the tracks themselves.

In the Bleak Midwinter has music adapted by Regan and Bricheno in 2022, from Holst (circa 1906). The original poem / lyric from 1875 was written by Christine Rossetti, with an additional lyric by Julianne Regan in 2022.

In the Bleak Midwinter was often referenced in the recent TV series Peaky Blinders, particularly when a character was close to death, so has dark undertones. The Regan & Bricheno interpretation is solemn and very moving, with a reverb-drenched intro section, consisting of heavily chorused guitar and multi-layered vocals.

The arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter reminds me of This Mortal Coil, which is a very good thing! Julianne’s vocals are stunning, with the duo lifting the mood as the percussion and bells arrive towards the songs mid-section.

One of my personal Christmas traditions is watching Victorian Ghost Stories for Christmas, often with M. R. James adaptations, around Christmas Eve and this song could be the perfect theme tune for a future adaptation. Mark Gatiss, please take note.

The Snows They Melt the Soonest is a traditional folk song dating back as far as 1821. It is my favourite of the two tracks. With Twin Peaks / Angelo Badalamenti referencing ice-cold guitar lines, the track is shorn of any Christmas decorations and is a beautiful hymn to the dark, cold and crisp winter nights.

“When somebody tells me that my face they’ll soon forget,
Before we part, I’d wage a crown, they are fain to follow it yet.”

The arrangement is so rich, with strings bubbling under the ice, and a slow-paced build. The percussion suggests a feeling of the elements, snow falling and ice slowly melting. A mournful guitar line signals the end of the song, as the dying notes mutate to the final fade.

Winter single trailer

The two Winter tracks may not be an indication of the music to come from Regan & Bricheno, as they are very much made for the season, but they offer a tantalising glimpse into the quality we should expect from a 2024 album release, and I am looking forward to what this renewed musical partnership could deliver. Let us all raise a glass to 2024 and new music from Regan & Bricheno.

The single will be available on Bandcamp on 1 December 2023.

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North Atlantic Oscillation – United Wire album review

28 04 2023

United Wire is the new album from North Atlantic Oscillation, and the first release since Grind Show in 2018. The album is available as a download or limited (and it really is limited!) CD direct from the band. A streaming release will follow.

North Atlantic Oscillation - United Wire cover art

The cover-art suits the album perfectly. The bright pinks, blues and purples of the artwork match the colourful and vibrant sound of the tracks on United Wire, an album thats built to be played in one sitting, with the tracks linked to each other with no gaps.

Clock is stuffed to the brim with found sounds, deep hit you in the gut bass and jittery percussion as the sequencers swirl up and around you as the beats and Eastern synths transport you on the first part of the United Wire journey.

“Everything is a clock
A novella, a rock”

There are lots of little Easter Eggs lurking in the lyrics. Lines from previous songs sneak into other tracks almost un-noticed, and the dog from the first track (in audio-form) is referenced (but not heard) in the second track, Corridor. There is a contunuity to the sonic palette, the bright and colourful synth’s take us through the whole album, lifting and decaying to hit the listener emotionally.

I’ve always loved the drums and percussion on NAO songs, and United Wire offers us more of the same high quality rhythms, this time with the beats often mangled and distorted, but all the more powerful for it.

Rosewood adds a little classic rock flavour to the mix, I hear hints of 70s The Who in the urgency and power. Let me know if you think I’m deluded in the comments!

Glyph is one of the most immediate tracks. A laid-back vocal from Sam Healy, and a more minimal backing tick over until the song bursts into life, and as suddenly as it does, it breaks down again and mutates with a rare appearance of audible guitar on the album.

“And I’m all for breaking up monopolies
If the fragments all contain the recipe”

Glyph’s are typographic marks, and the lyrics reference this, with talk of imagery and how things are presented. Glyph the song certainly leaves its mark, referencing the power of previous NAO songs in a welcoming way.

Matryoshka is one of United Wire‘s key songs, and one of my favourite NAO songs of all time. Automaton spewed lyrics ride on top of a delicious tribal beat, that builds and builds, and then bam, it drops off to the most natural and organic piece of music on the album. A jazzy, at times quite progressive Radiohead sounding interlude, with loping drums and beautiful guitar lines, rapidly distorts before you have time to really appreciate its brief and stark beauty, turning into an industrial, visceral end section.

Coil is a slow-paced piece. Aching strings and an occasionally slightly discordant piano, with a wonderful reverb tail on Sam’s vocals, make for an emotional performance.

“The wanting builds a cage
So we crawl back, start again”

The percussion changes as the song comes to its conclusion, with an almost military precision that ushers in Torch, a dark and punishing song with the vocals laid low in the mix. On my first listen to Torch, I thought the song was a little “business as usual” but worry not, as at around one minute thirty the song drops off the edge of a cliff and ushers in a pulsating burst of electronica that almost coats an early 90s rave gloss over the song, before it sheds its skin by sleight of hand and becomes a rock song once more.

Cage dials in the electronics, with shifting time signatures, and as the longest track on the album, is given the time and space to develop at a natural pace. The mood and the arrangement shifts several times during Cage, with some parts of the song being just Sam’s voice underpinned by an electronic backing.

A feeling of familiarity coupled with nostalgia is delivered with the unfamiliar (for NAO) use of presumably sampled or VST brass instrumentation and some lyrics repeated from earlier on in the album.

The track then slips off down a swirling black and white time tunnel to greet us with Powder. The lyrics seem to reference past material, and are maybe a farewell of sorts, or possibly the signalling of a new beginning. The drum pattern reminds me a little of the iconic performance by Mick “Woody” Woodmansey on David Bowie’s Five Years, about an impending apocalyptic disaster that will fall upon Earth soon.

Whatever its meaning or inspiration, its a wonderful song, the last full track before the short, hidden piece Recoil, a mutated static filled outro to the album.

There are layers of mystery with United Wire. No performance credits are listed, so I don’t know if anyone other than Sam still remains in North Atlantic Oscillation? I presume this is the case, but NAO is still instantly recognisable in its current format, whilst touching on new horizons that bode well for future releases from an artist that has been away for far too long. Welcome back.

1 Clock
2 Corridor
3 Rosewood
4 Glyph
5 Matryoshka
6 Coil
7 Torch
8 Cage
9 Powder
10 Recoil

Released by Vineland Music

Buy the limited CD

Buy the download

North Atlantic Oscillation Bandcamp

If you are new to the music of North Atlantic Oscillation, why not pick up a copy of the excellent compilation Lightning Strikes the Library, which is well-priced (whilst stocks last), along with other NAO releases, at Burning Shed.

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Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Somapolis track-by-track album review

9 10 2022

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases via this website.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim, now a duo comprising multi-instrumentalists Jana Carpenter and Tim Elsenburg, will release a new album, Somapolis on November 4 2022 via Republic of Music. Their story involves a Mercury Music Prize nomination, the IT Crowd, the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Late Junction and The Culture Show.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Somapolis album cover

Guests on the album include Kate St. John (Dream Academy) with string / horn arrangements and Darren Beckett (Brandon Flowers / Madeleine Peyroux / Bryan Ferry) on drums.

Somapolis opener We Are The Bright Carvers is a real statement of intent. Featuring the deepest bass I have heard for many a year, anchoring a hyper addictive song with powerful drums and a hard-hitting, emotional arrangement. The use of space is highly evident on Somapolis, with real and synthesised strings flitting in and out, alongside scratchy, mournful new wave guitars and delightful tag-team vocals from Jana and Tim.

Jana and Tim’s vocals blend so well together, adding a unique colour and personality to the songs. The production is perfect, adding a warmth and clarity to individual instruments and featuring short sound-designs linking each track, to give the feel of one whole, linked piece. Cities are linked by their transportation systems, which is maybe why all the tracks on this album are linked, often with transport or people interaction found-sounds.

Bliss Maps is initially a rich slice of electronica, evolving as acoustic instruments, including spaghetti western guitar lines, are thrown into the mix. The beautiful vocal arrangement, as Jana and Tim are joined by a collection of other voices, works so well with the trumpet, saxophone and funk bass taking the song home.

“Did I put something in your Chardonnay?
Close your eyes…”

Attacus Atlas continues with the squelchy, Bootsy Collins bass and mellotrons that adorn many of the tracks, in a song referencing the worlds largest moth, whose brief and beautiful emergence lasts for just days before it dies. The chorus seeps into your soul, as Jana takes the lead on one of the albums key songs.

Instrumental lines appear and disappear when you least expect them, keeping you on your toes, and revealing new wonders on repeated listens.

“It’s the light that leads me home”

Attacus Atlas is a story of brief, breathless and fragrant love that undergoes a complete metamorphosis as Pass Muster, with its jittering rhythm (definitely not a dancer!) appears, layered with a honey-sweet vocal topping that transports the track into gospel directions that seemed impossible to imagine from the songs beginning.

The piano waltz of Down I Go (heralded by a tube-station sound-sketch, very clever) is simple but effective, with some of the albums strongest lyrics. When the synth sequence and percussion kicks in, the song hits you hard in your heart. The simplicity and directness of Down I Go‘s arrangement makes this song all the more powerful, following the previous songs rich and often complex arrangements.

“There is a river runs under the city at night, and down I go out of the light”

The arrangement builds for the songs final descent, and then washes away leaving just Tim’s solo vocal and piano. Down I Go quickly established itself as one of my favourite Sweet Billy Pilgrim songs.

Dead Man Dancing is an anthemic beast, featuring a mixture of 70s and 80s referencing synth sounds, with a hint of late 70s Bowie in the chorus. Stress Position returns to the dual vocals and a more widescreen arrangement, and could well be a tale of crime, but going on past Sweet Billy Pilgrim lyrics, the true meaning is probably hidden somewhere below the surface and is always open to the listeners interpretation.

Jana Carpenter and Tim Elsenburg, of Sweet Billy Pilgrim.
Jana Carpenter and Tim Elsenburg

The processed music-box intro of The Night Watch quickly switches to a pure Steely Dan groove. The thoughts I had on first hearing The Night Watch included how on earth did the band afford to hire Donald Fagen to produce the song? It sounds so well-produced that I fully expect to see his name on the album credits. The attention to detail lovingly painted onto every detail of this song, from the shuffling drum pattern to the multiple layered vocal, make this an album highlight that I think will resonate with so many people.

A sweetly nostalgic 1960’s back-beat and organ swells underpin Pilgrim, which like Down I Go, has a feel of simplicity that makes the magical choral sections and more expansive moments all the more powerful. With no synths in sight, Pilgrim feels like a song from a bygone, long-lost era. Along with Big Big Train, Sweet Billy Pilgrim are not afraid to head back to the past and utilise more traditional tools such as brass bands, to convey emotion and help splash colour onto their wide musical canvas. The subtle production touches lift the arrangement, making Pilgrim a song that sticks with you long after the last reverb-drenched vocals fade.

Get Back To Where You Started drops you back into the here and now. After the two lighter songs that preceded it, the mood is buoyed with such a joyous chorus. The band throw everything at the production on this song, nothing is held back. Trumpet solos, big beats and deep Rhodes piano all make a welcome appearance, along with that funky as hell bass sound that is a star of the album. In an alternative universe, when the spirit of the 80s is still strong, this song would be the big hit single.

The album closes with its longest song, Skywriting. Another initially uplifting track, using a similar musical palette to songs earlier in the album, the discordant piano adds a slight feeling of apprehension that feeds into the dual mood that the song delivers. An almost classic rock driven instrumental section is simply delicious, and the synths, strings and deep electronics that see out the last minute or so hint at an ascension as the final part of the journey, with the album having lots of references to travel within the city, whether purely physical movement or through the individual journey’s that make up our lives.

There is so much love, care and a vast array of different styles shared throughout Somapolis, which appears to be the story of a city and tales of how the people who live within interact, travel and are affected by their surroundings. Somapolis is adventurous, rich, uplifting and meditative in equal measures, making it the most fully realised and satisfying release so far from the band.

Enjoy the journey.

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Order Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Somapolis CD from Amazon

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Buy Somapolis from the Sweet Billy Pilgrim artist store

We Are The Bright Carvers
Bliss Maps
Attacus Atlas
Pass Muster
Down I Go
Dead Man Dancing
Stress Position
The Night Watch
Pilgrim
Get Back To Where You Started
Skywriting


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CousteauX – Stray Gods review

19 07 2021

Cousteau were a London based band active from 1999 to 2005, releasing three studio albums and known for the songs The Last Good Day of The Year and Mesmer.

Core Cousteau members Liam McKahey and Davey Ray Moor returned as CousteauX (it’s a silent X apparently!) in 2016 and after releasing their first album under the CousteauX name in 2017, are back in 2021 with a new album, Stray Gods.

As I mentioned in my review of 2017’s CousteauX album, this incarnation strays far from the lighter, more easy listening style of their early 90s music. This is often uneasy listening, and the experience is all the more stronger for it.

Cheap Perfume sets the template for much of the album. Stuttering guitar lines and a steady, mid-paced rhythm give way to a delicious chorus, with “that” voice in full flow. There is a real edge to latter day music from Liam and Davey, with dirty, sleazy guitar riffs often in evidence.

Love The Sinner has an inventively percussive pace, with duelling guitar and keyboard riffs below the deepest, simmering baritone, topped by a multi-layered chorus that Bowie would have been proud of. The demons win the battle in this song.

On first hearing Karen Don’t Be Sad, I was not aware it was a cover of a song written by Miley Cyrus, Wayne Coyne & Steven Drozd. I thought it was the band’s take on the recent “Karen” phenomenon. Or maybe a tribute to the great Karen Carpenter (there are strong Carpenter vibes on this song). But nope, got that wrong on both counts, though there is a slight possibility that my ears could be deceiving me, as I think there have been some slight lyric changes to reflect current events, so maybe my first instinct was true. I guess I will find out when I have the pressed CD in my possession.

The essence of the earlier band incarnation runs through Karen Don’t Be Sad , the most gentle, delicate piece on the album. Its a doozy. As is the 60s flavoured Yesterday Eyes, which simply oozes Monte Carlo spy thriller. The smooth, measured arrangement graced with a dreamy chorus that seeps into your soul. One of my song of the year contenders.

We head towards the half-way mark with the scene setting Bloom Overture that flows into When The Bloom Has Left The Rose, with Liam’s most emotional vocal performance on the album. At this point on Stray Gods, the weather is changing and a storm is clearly approaching. When The Bloom Has Left The Rose is stripped back, with heavy use of atmospherics and mood to convey the deep emotion.

The band take a rare excursion to a 70s sound with So Long Marianne, which has some subtle country leanings, and don’t shoot me, it reminds me a little of prime 70s Neil Diamond, even though it is in fact a Leonard Cohen song. I’m a sucker for this sort of rich arrangement, with Rhodes piano, slide guitar and soulful backing vocals, so this would always be an obvious favourite for me.

Praying For Rain is pure Americana, with bar-room piano solos, and a blues shuffle driving one of the album’s darkest pieces. None of the tracks feel rushed or cluttered on Stray Gods, there is always plenty of space for the songs to breathe and for the lyrics to do their work. This Thing Won’t Fly is a case in point, with a rich chorus escaping from the leisurely verse.

Electrical Storms In Berlin is unlike anything Liam and Davey have released before. The pace is funereal, and the crackling, atmospheric arrangement feels like the film score to a dark noir movie. Its a career highlight for the duo.

“Grabs of news and ballyhoo
drone on and on
dabs of truth ‘bout me and you
so long wrong and gone”

Hush Money is the heaviest track on Stray Gods, both musically and lyrically. Guitars and drums are the main ingredients on this track, with a blues swagger rarely heard from the duo.

The clouds clear for Stray Gods finale, with the gentle, tender torch-song In The Meantime. Stinging ride cymbals and deep synth strings sit atop the piano and double bass of the shifting moods that populate this album closer.

I loved the band’s return in 2017, but Stray Gods feels like a much more rounded, rich and complete piece of work, and is my favourite of the two duo albums. The mood and pace of the album twists and turns, with so much more variety shown by Liam and Davey this time around.

I say this everytime I review one of their album’s, and they always seem to ignore me, but I hope this is a run of new music. Don’t go splitting up on us again CousteauX!!!

Cheap Perfume
Love The Sinner
Karen Don’t Be Sad
Yesterday Eyes
Bloom Overture
When The Bloom Has Left The Rose
So Long Marianne
Praying For Rain
This Thing Won’t Fly
Electrical Storms In Berlin
Hush Money
In The Meantime

Released August 20, 2021

Voice: Liam McKahey
Songs & Production: Davey Ray Moor

Buy CousteauX Stray Gods (CD or download) from bandcamp

Buy CousteauX Stray Gods (CD or download) from Amazon


Buy the first CousteauX album

Buy the first CousteauX album, on CD, from Amazon

Buy the first CousteauX album, on vinyl, from Amazon


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Cobalt Chapel – Orange Synthetic album review

30 11 2020

Yorkshire psychedelic duo Cobalt Chapel (Cecilia Fage from Matt Berry & The Maypoles & Jarrod Gosling from I Monster) are releasing their new album Orange Synthetic on 29th Jan 2021.

Orange Synthetic is the second full studio album from the duo, following on from their debut and its companion album, Variants.

“Orange Synthetic is music grounded in the Yorkshire earth: its people, the surrounding nature, landscape, and its mythology, from the distant past to modern life. The story of the Krumlin Festival captures something about this island in its disaster – how you can start out with a dream and end up wrapped in a survival blanket, suffering from exposure, on a cold, wet Pennine hillside. It’s an image which reflects the lost, end-of-days feeling of where we’re at now.” (Cecilia Fage & Jarrod Gosling)

The album opens with In Company, a dark tale inspired by the 80s Neil Jordan gothic fantasy film The Company of Wolves and the story of the writer Angela Carter and her wartime experiences.

Organs fizzle and swirl over a rolling drum pattern and layers of lead and background vocals, setting the scene for the whole album. This is the duo at their most commercial, with a chorus that stays with you long after the song has ended.

The Sequel explores the creative process of writing and connecting with an audience. I could imagine this song being used as an alternative theme tune for Tales of the Unexpected. Vinyl crackles and guitar lines buried deep within the mix see the song out, as Message To rushes in. The pace is increased a little for this song of escape.

“I’ll be your hostage”

I love the psychedelic twists and turns in the arrangement, especially the heavily processed lo-fi loops that weave their way in and out of the stereo field.

A Father’s Lament tells of a family who have lost all their children, as if cursed. The bass and drums drive the song, as it evolves and mutates throughout its fairly short life. This is one of the album’s most engaging performances from vocalist Cecilia Fage.

Our Angel Polygon has a crisp, sharp arrangement and was inspired by RAF Fylingdales on the North Yorkshire Moors, and its tales of listening in to Cold War communications. The chorus of Our Angel Polygon is “We are watching”, which is a translation of the RAF Stations motto “Vigilamus”.

The versions of In Company and Our Angel Polygon on the album are the full takes, not the edits released as digital singles earlier in 2020.

Cry A Spiral is underpinned by a soft bossa nova beat, before giving way to deep bass and frenetic drums. One of the more avant-garde pieces on the album, Cry A Spiral harks back to the sound and style of the first album.

It’s The End, The End is a lively musical bazaar stuffed to the brim with discordant, acid keyboard washes and choral vocals. As soon as you get comfortable with the arrangement, it shape-shifts into something even more obtuse, and is a fitting accompaniment to the apocalyptic lyrical content.

Jarrod’s vintage keyboards take centre stage on Pretty Mire, Be My Friend with its extended instrumental section that propel the song to its delightful finish, as guitar and keyboards get caught in a duel to the death.

The twisted folklore that ran through the veins of the debut album from Cobalt Chapel returns on E.B. Another fine vocal performance from Cecilia Fage, that propels you down a time tunnel to a long-lost era. This is pure escapism, and highlights the power of good music to take you away from your stresses and worries, and transport you to another world, even if its just for 40 minutes or so. And how we need that, in this of all years.

The album ends with its title track, the longest piece on the album, and an early favourite for me. Telling the story of an infamous music festival from 1970, that was left in ruins due to the extreme Pennine weather.

“How does it feel, disappointment”

The powerful insistent drums and infectious (sorry to be so 2020) guitar lines jostle for your attention with keyboard riffs that build and give a feeling of stormy weather wreaking havoc upon those caught in the open, with no shelter within reach.

Orange Synthetic is an altogether more consistent release than Cobalt Chapel’s debut, and holds together so well as a complete album. The psychedelia that runs through the duo’s music remains, but with an increased emphasis on melodies that seep into your heart.

If you ever find yourself lost on the North York Moors, Orange Synthetic will be your company until your rescue surely arrives. Just save some battery life to call for help.

Pre-order Cobalt Chapel – Orange Synthetic from Amazon

Pre-order Cobalt Chapel – Orange Synthetic (orange vinyl) from the official store

In Company
The Sequel
Message To
A Father’s Lament
Our Angel Polygon
Cry A Spiral
It’s The End, The End
Pretty Mire, Be My Friend
E.B.
Orange Synthetic

Words and Music by Cecilia Fage & Jarrod Gosling.
Cecilia Fage: Vocals, choral arrangements, recorders, clarinets.
Jarrod Gosling: Organs, Mellotron, electric pianos, tone generator, effects, drums, percussion, guitars, bass, tape loops, glockenspiel, flute.
Nick Gosling: Guitars


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Iamthemorning – Counting The Ghosts EP review

29 11 2020

Following the success of their most recent studio album The Bell in 2019, Iamthemorning are self-releasing a new EP Counting The Ghosts on 4th December 2020.

Consisting of four tracks and recorded in isolation in the UK, Russia and Canada, Counting The Ghosts features two new original songs from the duo of Marjana Semkina and Gleb Kolyadin, alongside two traditional Christmas choir pieces that have been reimagined by the band.

The EP is perfect for this time of year. Evoking the magic of winter from times long past, I wonder as I wander is a beautiful, dark choral piece, based on an arrangement by John Rutter. A minimal string backing, with reverb-drenched bells and moving vocals from Marjana would make the perfect backing for a BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas episode, if you are looking for inspiration TV producers!

I wonder as I wander offers an intensely emotional listening experience. The direct and simple arrangement makes this a timeless piece of music, that for me sits amongst the finest in the duo’s catalogue.

Cradle Song is a newly written, original Iamthemorning song. Stripped back, with just vocals, keyboards and subtle dual guitar accompaniment, the song builds slowly, and then fades to a misty soundscape. The attention to detail in the gentle performances gives Cradle Song a magical power to hit you hard as the bass notes summon the beautiful, slowly decaying end section.

Counting the Ghosts is the final original Iamthemorning song on the EP. A commentary on 2020, surely the worst year most of us have lived through, the song wisely focuses’ on the human cost and emotions of a bleak 12 months.

I love the arrangement, which reminds me a little (particularly the fine fretless & double bass and Gleb’s piano work) of Never For Ever period Kate Bush. Counting the Ghosts has one of my favourite vocal performances, full of well harnessed restraint, from Marjana. The song is a perfect example of drawing on the past to build something new for the future.

“This year is ending but nothing feels right,
we have come a full circle while burning alive”

The EP ends with Veni Veni Emmanuel, a 12th century hymn that dials up the reverb to take us back to a feeling of a mist-fuelled winter and a nostalgic Victorian Christmas, full of fading memories and lonely ghosts. This is a song that would be so powerful heard in a live setting when this dreadful health emergency is over. Nothing beats the raw emotion of hearing choral music live, so I hope we get the chance to hear these songs performed in a year or so.

Counting The Ghosts is an essential purchase for fans of the duo, and will make a fine addition to any seasonal / winter playlists that you put together. I will take great pleasure in playing these four songs every winter, for many years to come.

Buy the physical EP or the download version from the Iamthemorning Bandcamp site, and support Marjana and Gleb. Now more than ever before, musicians need us to support their art and creativity where we can. Here’s to a better 2021 for everyone.

  1. I wonder as I wander
  2. Cradle Song
  3. Counting the Ghosts
  4. Veni Veni Emmanuel

Gleb Kolyadin – piano, synths, guitar on 2
Marjana Semkina – vocals, backing vocals, guitar on 2
Vlad Avy – guitar (2, 3)
Zoltan Renaldi – fretless bass, double bass (3)
Mr Konin – marimba (3)

Buy the EP from the Iamthemorning Bandcamp site


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Tunng – Tunng Presents…Dead Club album review

15 11 2020

An album about death, dying and grief in 2020? I’m not sure I can listen to that was my initial reaction, but as soon as I read that the album was inspired by Max Porter’s novel Grief Is the Thing With Feathers (I saw Enda Walsh’s mind-blowing adaptation at The Barbican, starring Cillian Murphy in 2019) I dived in headfirst and what an uplifting experience this turned out to be.

Tunng’s Good Arrows was one of my favourite albums of 2007, but this new release takes the band’s sound to another level. For a start, the instrumentation is less electronic, glitchy and is so much more organic and natural. There is space for the music, and lyrics, to breathe in these arrangements. Opening with Eating the Dead, based on the Wari indigenous people of Brazil who used to, well, you have read the title. The song is heart-beat paced, and talks of devouring the memories of the person who has recently passed. Like the majority of the album, the song is incredibly moving, because of, not despite of, its unsettling subject matter.

“Lay you on my kitchen table
Cut you open tenderly
Eat your heart and eyes and mouth
Every word you spoke to me”

The pure, infectious pop of Death Is the New Sex hides the dark message in the lyrics.

“Death is the new Sex
Coming soon to fuck us all”

SDC (aka Swedish death cleaning) is the lyric that hit me hardest, for very personal reasons. SDC is a song about the process of organizing and de-cluttering your belongings before you die, so those left behind don’t have to do this heart-breaking task. Deciding what remnants of someone’s recently ended life gets thrown in the bin or kept within the family as a keep-sake is a harder task than you might first imagine. Something that might have been intensely personal and precious to the person who has passed could be seen as something to be tossed away, as simply junk. That faded picture, or creased and barely legible hand-written letter could contain so much of the person, their hopes and dreams and if not cherished, could be lost forever to landfill.

Three Birds features a delicious bass-line, underpinning a gentle percussion free arrangement. A Million Colours is a simple, Love Cats like song that builds as layers of guitar and strings are dropped onto the topic of not being able to comprehend the impending loss of a loved one.

“You, I can’t quite imagine you gone
You a million bright colours all strewn about”

Carry You and The Last Day touch on the memories that remain after we have gone and what physically happens to us after the process of dying, along with the need for us all to live in the now, living our lives as fully as we can. This film only plays once.

The arrangement on Tsunami is one of my favourites on the album. A decaying note under a simple piano line and lead vocal slowly builds like the incoming deadly wave, getting closer and closer. The band leave us with just the vocal line that soon becomes isolated, stranded and alone in a silent sea. Such a thoughtful and powerful piece of music.

Scared To Death is one of the jewels on this album, featuring luscious strings and feeling like a classic album track from the mid-70s.

“You’re so scared to be what you’re not yet
Hoping love is its own reward”

Derren Brown features on the intro to Fatally Human, another album highlight due to the strong production and string arrangement. I love how disembodied voices float over the slowly departing musical track, as silence finally reigns over all.

The genesis of Dead Club, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, rounds off the final quarter of the album with two tracks written and recorded in collaboration with its author Max Porter. No punches are pulled on Man, and the album’s final track, its companion piece, Woman. It might be uncomfortable at times, but there is a searing honesty that the subject matter demands, throughout these two tracks and the album as a whole.

If you want more than just escapism in your music, and appreciate honesty, beauty and a little dark humour, then please give this album by Tunng a listen. Prepare to be moved.

Buy Tunng Presents…Dead Club from Amazon

Eating the Dead 07:14
Death is the New Sex 04:14
SDC 05:38
Three Birds 03:59
A Million Colours 05:41
Carry You 04:53
The Last Day 05:32
Tsunami 03:11
Man 03:32
Scared To Death 04:53
Fatally Human 06:20
Woman 04:22


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