missive 119
18-03-2007
Off the beaten track, down the dust layered dirt track a small copse of trees invitingly waved in the breeze. Once amid the trees it was as though the world outside had been shut out. What had first appeared inviting from the outside now appeared strangely haunting on the inside. Through a haze of shadowy lit gloom the trees appeared menacing, their wind swept rustles resonated in a strangely excitable whisper as though in deep eerie conversation with the subject matter and source of their chatter amid them; weary, lost and undeniably scared. There had been tales of hidden treasures that lay deep in the copse that had been passed down for as long as residents of the village outside could remember. Yet with those fabled recollections of a riches to be had came hushed whispers of ill fortune ands macabre happenings bestowed on all who had dared to venture off the beaten track. Of course it had been laughed off, nobody could remember where they started and who indeed had been subjected to these dark fates yet in their heart of hearts they knew it to be true, yet the more they thought the cloudier the haze that dulled their memory became. He had wished he hadn’t laughed now, alone, weary, lost and undeniably scared the shadows fell ominously over the prospector, fighting his way through the branches, brambles and stinging overhung nettles he came at last to a clearing, a glade. A rich spectral aura bathed the glade, around its edges the trees, brambles and overhanging nettles hissed their discontent as though partly willing the prospector to continue with his folly. Too scared to go back, too scared to go forward - he was rooted to the spot. The silence was deafening, his heart beat raced with such impatience it punched against his chest so much so that he swore it was seeking someway to burst out of its captivity. Suddenly in the distance towards the centre of the glade he saw something twinkle. With a deep breath he cautiously moved towards the spot, ever closer now the twinkling became stronger and brighter, it wasn’t twinkling it was shining he thought to himself now literally a dozen steps from the source of his attention. Several more steps, he could now make out what looked like a chest. The treasure he thought. Closer still he was upon it, he could now hear the frantic chorus of the trees, brambles and overhanging nettles - they seemed beside themselves with panic - or was it - joy. Stooping down for a closer look the chest was fixed by a huge rusted padlock. A nearby rock soon saw to that. With trepidation e slowly opened the chest. It creaked and yawned releasing a pungent aroma part decay part stale air. Inside their lay a dusty scroll held together by a moth eaten ribbon. There was no need to undo the ribbon as it disintegrated in the chilled still air. He unfurled the scroll and gasped -

‘Bollocks it’s another Singled Out’


Singled Out
Missive 119
For Kelly and Mark….

Singled Out - waffles from the wiles of wilderness.

Okay a very, very quickly dispatched Singled Out - the greater populace are no doubt gnashing their teeth at the prospect of more unrivalled badly written Queen’s English….ho hum….

My space gubbins….

http://www.myspace.com/fuvkin9 - off kilter strange pop very loosely Lemon Jelly in design - rip ‘toby’
http://www.myspace.com/misterdreadmusic - crisply melodic softly trod porch pop kinda pre Rough Trade era Beachwood Sparks meets Kevin Tihista’s Red Terror - rip the drifting ’don’t stop’
http://www.myspace.com/afterthem - check out the Beefheart-ian Trout Mask Replica’ -esque ’zero dark thirty’
http://www.myspace.com/jonroniger - check the breezily honky tonking ’carved in stone’
http://www.myspace.com/molypopi - while we do quite admit affection for the Serge like ’l’herbe verte’ we suggest you rip the deftly laid arabesque psyche tinged ’je fume plus’
http://www.myspace.com/minoa - those cheeky young scamps - describing their sound as metal / ambient / hardcore - rip the vicious and furious no nonsense cranium crunching ’I’ll tell he world’ - you have been warned…..
http://www.myspace.com/charlienorth - lilting chilled out down tempo smoochiness - rip the Orb meets Transglobal Underground ’wide open spaces’ and check out the subtle though delicately grafted ’some velvet morning’ nuances
http://www.myspace.com/manideum - haunting archaic folk from Greece which should appeal to fans of the ever excellent rise above imprint - rip the fragile though eerie dead can dance like ’idumea’ and the Andi Sex Gang like ’nemesis’
http://www.myspace.com/retrodate - did you honestly think we’d pass up a chance to hear a sample laden synth’d out analogue red rill of Barry Gray’s theme tune for the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson cult sci-fi show - irresistible - rip ‘UFO 2007’ - like - right now. As though that weren’t enough there’s a rather tasty retread of the classic Dr Who theme - can it really get any better I wonder.
http://www.myspace.com/petewylie - just cos we are feeling misty eyed and homesick for God’s Country a classic past master class in pride pouring pristine pop - rip ‘heart as big as Liverpool’
http://www.myspace.com/unknownrecords2006 - new Brummie label - check out their forthcoming debut release by the voices made me do it
http://www.myspace.com/thepurrs - day-glo sun soaked 60’s uber pop from Seattle blended with a curious Brit vibe - rip the forlorn drenched cool shimmer of ’taste of Monday’
http://www.myspace.com/jesterjests - more crisply delivered softly lined adorable jangle pop - rip ’heard it all before’ which is taken from the long overdue DVD release of Gerry Anderson’s 80’s cult animation ’Dick Spanner’ - which for those with distant memories first surfaced on Janet Street Porter’s yoof tv concept ’network 7’ - a stop motion animation gem - basically a luck less PI piss take of mike hammer with the noire-ish intones of Raymond Chandler - eyes peeled kids for the whole 22 part series on one DVD from One Media shortly.
http://www.myspace.com/loopypop - a wonderfully crooked hit and miss A to Z of indie pop is what I seem to remember their recently released ’Evel Knievel’ full length provided before it went AWOL in the singled out listening room - expect a review when we’ve hooked the blighter in - for now rip ’better off’
http://www.myspace.com/erezyaary - something of a certifiable treat for fans of early career Jean Michel Jarre, analogue electronics recalibrated in lush 70’s styled landscapes and teased seductively with elements of old school FSOL and filleted with ethnic accents and lunatic swirls - rip ’atmosphere pt. 1’
http://www.myspace.com/thejamesdeansyndrome - classically drilled blissed out groove laden blues boogie from Hull - rip ’hip to the trip’ a tenaciously frazzled slice of smoking meaty rock funk - think Faith No More getting down and dirty with T-Rex…need I say more…
http://www.myspace.com/soundhackeraudio - currently to be found on the rather tasty ‘brittle behaviour’ compilation via those lovely people over at Cactus Island - who here and now we apologise to as we’d received, heard, loved and momentarily lost said CD - review in a day or five…..for now Sound hacker - who it seems craft rather shy though it has to be said flirty electronically re-tuned lunatic jewels braided with crunchy beats and lovingly festooned in all manner of delightfully nuzzling star lit IDM symphonies - rip ‘squeeze machine’ and see if I ain’t wrong….

http://www.myspace.com/encym - long standing readers of these pages may well remember us reviewing a mighty fine EP by Format a few years ago. Format was of course the alter ego of the multi talented Munich based musician Roland Reinke. Taking time out from working with Michael Fakesch (Aemic, Funkstorung) Reinke returns to the fold for a spot of solo work under the guise of Encym. Described loosely as electronica / house / jazz these four new postings will at some stage form part of a proposed EP. A delicious and strange music hybrid is what’s on offer, ’As Yet’ perhaps the pick of the quartet is a superbly chilled noire like snake charming arabesque dub fuelled soundscape braided by shuffling beats and a seriously bulging floor board peeling bass underpin - think Mancini and Budd meets Wagon Christ. ‘Tief Dep‘ similarly toys with late night rain swept landscapes a la old b/w Chandler movies and in so doing dips sumptuously into the outer edges of the early 90‘s Bristol scene with a guide tour provided for by Gnac. ’Where’ delicately coos, pops and flirts in glitchy lunatic realms which leaves the amorphous ‘Reibe’ to work its delicious haze of crafted laptop manipulations and slender tipped tripping reggae accents a la Muslim Gauze with elements of smoking down tempo laced Depth Charge and Dreadzone nuances thrown in for good measure.


Observation of the week comes from the biggest selling independent fanzine the Word - who incidentally celebrate their landmark half century issue in barnstorming style - wherein they remark of Julie Christie ‘every subsequent rebel girl owes her existence to JC’ {Screen Idols box set released by Optimum - review} - elsewhere quote of the week - same magazine (they do put it about don’t they) from Octogenarian comedy legend Leslie Phillips - ’old films are the only place I can see my friends’ - which follows on from an interview I remember hearing with Leslie Phillips some years back when he chatted at length about friends who begged him to record his famous ’oh hello’ catchphrase on answer phone machines and the ensuing tales of people calling such numbers retorting ’fuck me its Leslie Phillips’ and dropping the phone. Elsewhere there’s the obligatory cover mount CD featuring stuff by Ry Cooder, the Decembrists, Karen Ann, M.Ward, the Broken Family Band, Cat Power and more plus features / interviews with Joni Mitchell, Brett Anderson (who is everywhere at the moment - one fears he will shortly be doing the weather) and the very excellent mash up vinyl terrorist Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions fame.


First up on the inspection boards…

The High Wire ’Saint Bees’ (Impatio Sound). How we have fallen in love with this sweetly turned delicious debut since it arrived on our welcome mat just this weekend. A lushly treated spectacle of shimmering symphonic pop is I suppose the best way to describe the utterly disarming ‘Saint Bees’. Softly spun breezy harmonicas liberally lace the entrance to this lazy eyed slice of dream pop. Adorned with the mercurial elegance that gently stole the hearts of all who fell spellbound to the breathless delights of Derrero’s ’Radar Intruder’ and Trembling Blue Stars ’Abba on the jukebox’, ’Saint Bees’ sleekly romances amid a lilting haze of intoxicating and suggestively woven stratospheric shoe gaze accents and freckled with soft psychedelic nuances that together have been teasingly diluted and slowly pulled apart by seductive sheens of whispery effervescence as though Chapterhouse’s ‘Pearl’ had been super chilled and rethreaded by the Sundays or Bang Bang Machine. And with that it’s not even the best track here, ‘You don’t know what I know’ over on the flip will tear hearts at several paces. Like some kind of heaven sent pristine pop package, this gliding beauty is a meeting of Velvet Underground and Spiritualised with early career Earlies twiddling the mixing desk knobs, an angelic slice of string swirling emotion freezing good to be alive grandeur (of the type that only appears on hi-fi’s once in a blue moon if you are lucky) that’s lovingly despatched to radiate with a princely prowess, poise and beguiling sense of perfection. Sheer class in other words. Those wanting more - and you will believe you me - go to www.myspace.com/thehighwire for further moments of beautified grace in the company of ‘Easy’ and the crushing ‘Rope Walking’. For now Single of the Missive. www.thehighwire.net

Patrick Wolf ‘the magic position (radio mix)’ (Loog). Taken from his recently released third full length, ’the magic position’ is a deliriously effervescent pop pic ‘n’ mix laced with a vibrant array of 80’s motifs that nibbles away at the riff from Roy Orbison’s ‘I drove all night’ while investing itself with a prickling sunshine radiating prowess that suggests some hitherto uncovered lost treasure from the Dexy’s song vault re-animated and re - scored devilishly by the inspired and invigorated talents of Divine Comedy and luxuriously swept along amid a pulsating cortege of sugar tipped string arrangements supplied by Edwin Moses. Seducing a radio near you shortly. Nuff said r’ kid. www.patrickwolf.com

Louie ’I know what you’re doing tonight’ (waKS). Damn it - yea I should know these things but I can’t remember whether this is the third or fourth outing from Louie, one thing we are sure about is that ’Trees’ (their debut - see singled out missive 85) and ’the curves and the bends’ (see missive 89) where much loved here and enjoyed a rather selfish residency on the Singled Out hi-fi. With a Stephen Street album in the can and due to twat the shit out of all would be on comers later in the year, the download ‘I know what you‘re doing tonight‘ serves as a card calling warning of what‘s to come. A scalding hybrid of prime time Mudhoney do MC5 rawk ‘n’ roll wired and nailed down to a frenetic proto punk blueprint supplied by the Dead Boys that culminates in a bulging behemoth of blistering bravado. Lanced with a twin vocal delivery, one of which that sounds like a mutant maniac shit faced and out of it David Johansen / John Lydon crossover that’s found careering vulture like across a spiked cauldron of searing riffs and skin peeling frenzy lacerated with pounding puke ridden pogo panic attacks. Get the ultra limited 7” version and you’ll find the strutting psychotic ’Smoking Champagne’ looming ominously over on the flip. A manic adrenalin frying rampant speed freaking rocker is what’s on offer, scorched riffs, head crunching mania and an edge so sharply cool you can cut a whole new fashion movement from it. www.louie.uk.com

Arms ‘Whirring’ (Melodic). Shimmering debut solo release from Brooklyn based musician Todd Goldstein AKA Arms here found taking time out from his hectic day duties for Harlem Shakes and Sea and the Gulls. ‘Whirring’ is a deliciously sun baked slice of shade wearing melodically astute soft psyche freckled in a lilting spectral haze of seductively strummed crystal tipped uber pop laced upon a bedrock of ’Regret’ era New Order accents decoded by Will Sergent-esque slender treatments that glint and twinkle amid a delicately woven quilt made from the stuff that holds stars together. ‘Jon the Escalator’ over on the flip is a more measured and considered affair and with that the favoured of the two cuts here. The initial entrée curdles with a longing intimacy and directness that suggests an early career Billy Bragg reared on Barrett as opposed to Guthrie, this honey crusted gem soon sugar bursts into a resplendent and arresting colliding glaze of emotion sweeping starlit cloud caressing candour buoyed and tenderly threaded with a cortege of push pull dynamics and slyly affecting harmonies drafted in via an arresting west coast breeze. www.melodic.co.uk

Output Message ‘Someill’ (Melodic). Staying with Melodic a wee while longer for a release which appears to have slipped under the net only recently resurfacing much to our undying love and affection. Those with fleeting memories may well recall us recommending without question the debut full length ‘Nebulae’ from Virginia based electro musician Bernard Emmanuel Farley - better known to the IDM fraternity as Outputmessage. A wonderful albeit brief release with much of interest for fans of Expanding and Morr releases. One of the stand out tracks form the set came in the guise of ‘Someill’ (which in our humbled opinion we likened to an evening drive through the Metropolis with a squelch laden re-drill of Kraftwerk’s classic ‘Autobahn’ for company) which is on this occasion placed on the inspection blocks for a spot of remix treatment. Five re-drills feature within opening with the ‘Ukemi’ mix which unless we are very much mistaken, is Mr Farley himself digging out the canvas and paint palette and teasing the textures a tad. What results is a crafted cosmic cocktail of intoxicating hybrids formed of aerodynamic Dusseldorfian galactic flurries and chilled nocturnal futuro-funk with snow tipped ISAN overtures for good measure. Left in the hands of, perhaps the best of recent Melodic signings following their multi - faceted self titled debut full length and the recent ‘Rocket’ EP, Working for a Nuclear Free City - ‘Sommeil’ is stripped of its Kraut-tronic chassis and lovingly recast with a whirring, click happy twinkling dreamscape of lunatic dub accents and pulsating ‘Magnetic Fields’ era Jean Michel Jarre nuances. My Robot Friend serve up the best re-jig with his ‘Sleepwalkers’ update, adding his own lyrics and vocals he scores a deliciously conceived mutant west coast cosmic bopper of sorts as though ‘Organisation’ era OMD had been re-grafted and tenderly coaxed into the light by the Earlies. Next up American Pop Band (no info here) deliver their eerie appraisal by combining heavy set dub treatments with up tempo hypnotic waves curdled from ice cream vans left unused and rusting on forgotten alien promenades. Last up Person who revamps and recalibrates the whole spectacle with a certifiable floor rumbling grind - perfect for the club land cognoscenti. Recommended. www.melodic.co.uk

Long cut ‘Idiot Check’ (Melodic). More Melodic goodies no less - this time, frankly in our opinion, the best thing ever committed to release by Manchester’s Longcut. Seemingly finding home on Melodic following previous releases for the uber cool Delta sonic - this killer release features in essence two tracks with an additional bonus of two extended remixes of those said tracks - confused? Well we are - ha ha. ‘Idiot Check’ the lead cut here was due to appear on the bands acclaimed debut full length from last year (‘A Call and Response’) but was pulled at the last minute with the band feeling it didn’t quite fit the mood and flow of the overall sound. Instead it did make a brief appearance on the down load only ‘Airtight Sessions’ EP. Brittle and minimalist in texture (a la ‘unknown pleasures’ era Joy Division) yet set on edge by a razor sharp like pulsing undercurrent and a front line assault of late 70’s vibed electro percussion (a la Human League’s ‘Sound of the Crowd’), this unnerving slice of obtusely glacial coated sparse layered angular pop whirrs and mooches ominously within a barbed playground of dimly lit decay led from the fore by a solitary drip feeding needle like riff only shaking itself of its parched gloom 1:36 in wherein it sublimely sheds itself to blister into a splintered and ravaged pyrotechnic floorshow and in the process paying several well aimed nods in the direction of early career Chameleons. The same cut is given a rather tasty and aloofly left field electro-clash treatment on the James Rutledge remix which somehow manages to sidestep the originals minimalist nuances and yet strangely imparts upon it a more divisively fraught and ice cold to the touch exterior. Also included here a superb re-cut of the Source’s ’You got the Love’ which by all accounts has proved to be something of a live favourite, a curdling floor crunching skinny hipped beaut oozing sleaze and tension by the shed load and at times sounding - if truth be know - not a million miles from the Shamen’s ‘Jesus loves Amerika’. Of course there’s the obligatory re-drill to be found elsewhere entitled ‘shadow dancer remix’ which to these ears sounds not unlike ‘Construction time again’ era Depeche Mode being reworked by a collaborative force featuring SPK and Front 242. Goes without saying - essential like. www.melodic.co.uk

The Loungs ‘Armageddon Outta here’ (Akoustik Anarkhy). Second release from St Helens based six piece the Loungs following last years highly acclaimed and deservedly well received debut ‘I’m gonna take your girl’. With a full length (‘We are the Champs’) in the can and slated for record store action in May, ‘Armageddon outta here’ serves as a neat reminder (as though you needed one) and taster for what’s to come. ‘Armageddon outta here’ (great title eh - think about it) is an immediately infectious dusting of summer fried hand clapping jingle jangle riff happy brass laden power pop that takes its cue from Van Morison’s ‘Bright side of the road’ and sounds for all the world like a rather frisky Housemartins spaced out of spiked smarties Possessing a whistle and hummable factor to the power ten, once inside your head this deliriously ‘well fuck you then’ portion of tongue in cheek perkiness will claim squatters rights and boogie on hard - removal by cranial keyhole surgery might be required. Flip over for the quite frankly warped and wonderful ‘Cats’. A 2 minutes and 12 second frantic and fried candy coated psychedelic cosmic opera of sorts or perhaps rather more a studio fisticuffs with amps and pedals drawn between Magoo, the Beatnik Filmstars, Sparks, Vivian Stanshall and Cud - still makes for a wonky rollercoaster ride whichever way you paint it. A must have thing. www.akoustikanarkhy.co.uk

Dextro ’Hearts and Minds’ (Gronland). Sadly we missed Dextro’s recently released debut full length ‘Consequence Music‘ - though that said we do have a overwhelming feeling that if we were to rustle up a dedicated search team we’d needlessly unearth it among the dotted piles of discs that pass for the Losing Today CD mountain range and if this rather fine four track release is anything to judge by such determined efforts would, one would assume, be repaid abundantly in kind. Dextro is better known to family and friends as Ewan MacKenzie, a musician who we’d like to think you’ll be hearing more of over the coming years. Described in passing as Scotland’s answer to Phillip Glass, MacKenzie has been crafting sounds for 13 years now over the course of time picking up an MA in Music and Sound Technology. ’Hearts and Minds’ culled from the aforementioned full length features the original album mix plus a further three interpretations applied and diligently grafted by Arkham, Alias and Warp’s Clark. The original mix opens the proceedings providing a florescent spangle laced cornucopia of psychedelicised ambient hypno-pop, looping scratched pastoral chimes and swirling cosmic kissed electronics build gloriously across middle eastern sound mirages crafting haze laden atmospheric backdrops which themselves flirt flightily to assume orbital trajectories around the mind’s eye, kind of neu-folk for space cadets with a particularly chilled and laid back Slipstream blended sumptuously with Fly. Arkham applies a wide screen frosted sheen for his re-treatment drawing into the open and emphasising the originals spectral intones to nail upon it a driving floor rumbling space rock underpin to make even Boom and Co a tad green with envy. Alias similarly imparts a lilting spectra montage of stuttering crunchy beats while braiding the silken star lit fabric with kindergarten lulling chimes and lunatic swirls. Last but not least Warp’s Chris Clark, who these days is simply known as Clark, radically rethreads the original blueprint into an almost unrecognisable smorgasbord of eerily dissipating dream sequencing grizzled abstract and obtuse left field electronics. www.groenland.com

Hush the Many ‘Song of a Page’ (Label Fandango). Ninth outing from Label Fandango (which pardon the indulgence for whenever the F word comes to be typed we feel obliged to do a spot of brief but tempestuous ‘Galileo Galileo’ rock opera posturing which I don’t mind telling you has been something of much debate in the neighbourhood and I suspect for all the wrong reasons) the label born out of the celebrated Club Fandango (see - there it goes again) music and entertainment soirees headed up by the blokes from Fierce Panda and Pointy records. Last time out causing us all manner of ridiculous swooning around the hi-fi for that rather essential Fanfarlo release (sadly slices of goodness provided for by Air Traffic, Assembly Now, the Moths and the Hot Puppies have so far proved elusive - darn). For regular observers of these quaint yet highly unfathomable missives, Hush the Many (Heed the Few) will surely need no introduction, they have after all - since entering on our radar in the early part of 2005 (see missive 60) equipped themselves and been the deserved recipients of plaudits from are quarters of the ‘industry’ and rightly so because as with the Electric Cinema, Shady Bard and the recent gem like ‘Saint Bees’ by the High Wire, ‘Mind the Scrawl’ provided one of the best collections of songs that passed for a debut release in recent memory and furthermore served notice of a rarified and exquisite talent in the making. Live wise they are an event perhaps easily described as a happening: quite, fragile and prone to moments of unabashed psychosis - it’s a treat alone to observe the audience - mesmerised, still and in dumbstruck reverential awe. And so to ‘Song of a Page’ - previously to be found on that rather essential and aforementioned ‘Mind the Scrawl’ release, this dislocated and fragmented slice of out there and on the edge darkly beset psyche tinged folk draws towards its consuming black heart the disturbed mastery of ‘Stupid Dream’ era Porcupine Tree and with crafted patience wires diligently the abstract and obtuse contra flows of the frazzled mindset that’s now a trademark of Radiohead to freebase, as were, on Syd Barrett’s becoming psychosis as documented on his solo recordings. Metered with stop start dynamics and awash with creaking strings it makes for a schizophrenic nightmare laden with foreboding and edge spiked lyrics to boot. Flip over for the quite simply arresting and spectral ‘In Bloom’ here recorded live at the ‘End of the Road’ festival. In a nutshell encapsulates everything there is to know about Hush the Many. Possessing an un-quenching mystique about its persona this trembling beauty is sweetly braided with an elegance of poise and a haunting intimacy that’s rarely heard these days, a spiritual happening of sorts, ‘In Bloom’ tenderly unfurls to impart an affecting majesty, aching boy / girl vocals only serve to undo your surrendering defences - yet in its short and painfully sweet life span you’ll weep, swoon and be bewitched by the disarming intensity of desire it radiates throughout. I know we keep bleating on about this but for further listening pleasure take a peek at the bands my space site and prepare to be beguiled and romanced by the utterly disarming ‘Storyend’ clip, frankly the nearest you’ll get in terms of a recording to some kind of heavenly visitation. For now, Label Fandango (here we go again!) have themselves a truly inspired twin set of classically cultivated folk psyche that will leave a lasting impression and legacy for many years to come. Deputy single of the Missive. www.clubfandango.co.uk www.myspace.com/hushthemany

The Owl Service ‘Wake the Vaulted Echo’ EP / ‘Cine’ (Hobby Horse). There’s a deliberate reason for following the Hush the Many review with this brace of uber limited releases from the Owl Service. Both share that sense of adept timeless song craft; both are steeped with an unnerving texture and sense of enchantment that these days is seemingly lost, forgotten and buried and consigned to objective folklore and both carve out such sweetly freckled and sensitively crafted musical fancies that you’d swear they’d both slipped through some kind of fracture in time straight from the late 60’s. The Owl Service - named no doubt after the short lived but cult TV series of the same name from the early 70’s is not a band as such but rather more a fluid folk collective of sorts with mainstay and chief song writer Steven Paul Collins providing the anchor. Two releases to date both of which are sold out sadly which in some respects can either be seen as devaluing this appraisal or else appear as though we are gloating to the fact that we have - what is in essence - the last known copies. The more savvy among you should be able to source these EP’s, and you should because you will be rewarded for your efforts by the sublime grace, tenderness and ethereal presence that these things of beauty betray. Added to that - as though you needed any further prods - the attention to detail of the packaging deserves a merited mention especially the ‘Cine’ release which is housed in a dinky soft card sleeve / envelope inside of which you’ll find stills from the films from which the three covers within are taken. No to be out done ‘Wake the Vaulted Echo’ features artwork and an Owl Service pin badge. As to the music ‘Cine’, incidentally limited to just 50 hand numbered and handmade 3” CD’s and tailor made you’d suspect for Stuart Maconie’s ‘Freak Zone’ radio transmission via BBC6 Music, features (as previously mentioned) three cover versions of classic film sound tracks from the late 60’s / early 70’s. Though it may be only brief - three tracks clocking just under nine minutes - there’s a precision at work here that defies Collins’ self depreciating liner notes remark as to the originals being better. First up ‘Psychomania’ which in terms of comic kitsch horror kudos is up there with the best and surprisingly featuring a cast comprising of George Sanders, Beryl Reid, June Brown (Eastenders) and Bill Pertwee (Dad’s Army). Looping in samples from the film, Collins nails the feel, mood and underlying tension (though obvious people who’ve seen the film may well raise an eyebrow as to the use of the word ‘tension’) perfectly by incorporating a suitably spaced out ‘yea man we are with the kids’ acid drenched pining riff that’s sumptuously braided with loose smoking jazz codas. ‘Daniel’ is up next - well we say up next - blighter wouldn’t play, originally appearing in the X rated ‘Girl on a motorcycle’ staring Alain Delon and Marianne Faithful no less - I’m sure it was good nonetheless. The same gremlins that spoilt our listening pleasure for track 2 similarly spoilt our overall joy for the third and final cut - though not before we managed to hoodwink the cute blighter for two swift and brief peaks. Taken from the classic underground film ‘the Wicker Man’ - ‘Searching for Rowan’ / ‘Cave Chase’ sublimely fuses together two key moments from the films score - that sense of impending foreboding which is littered throughout and the breezy spring hued lightness brought on by the jaunty swells of the Gaelic flurries to which Martyn Kember-Smythe’s delicious fiddle arrangements bring to bear an audacious and vividly Technicolor charm to the proceedings at large. Limited to just 100 hand numbered / hand made CD’s and housed in a cutely crafted envelope styled sleeve - the ‘Wake the Vaulted Echo’ EP is or was the collectives debut release and features a luxurious treat in terms of classically honed psychedelically tipped folk fare with elements of progressive indulgence thrown in for good measure. Modern day reference points would have you at intermittent intervals pitching this somewhere between the polar realms of Men -An -Tol, Porcupine Tree, Candidate and Circulus. ‘Wake’ plays home to four tracks - six if you include the two interludes - amid the glinting gems on offer a traditional arrangement (‘the two magicians’) and a loose cover of the late Lal (Elaine) Waterson penned nugget ‘Fine Horseman’. The set opens with the title track, a slow to unfurl lilting with passion affair combined of softly hypnotic and measured pastoral chord plays, a softly flicked tambourine and gentle piano key sweeps that pulsate to recall the introductory Tavern sequence in ‘the Wicker Man’ only to blossom at 1:08 into a sweetly chilled sky piercing trippy coda a la Floyd / Steven Wilson c. ‘Up the Downstair’. ‘The Two Magicians’ is you feel right up the street of Andy Kershaw, a delicious smorgasbord of Martin McCarthy and the Watersons knee knocking flirty fiddle filled archaic fayre that features the Straw Bear Bands Dom Cooper assuming lead vocals. Elsewhere ‘Interlude I’ despite its blink and its gone brief 82 second visitation still imparts enough elegiac romance as to suggest the ghostly linger tipped touch of Tuung about its wares (likewise on Interlude II - with its nimble cascades of rustic charms) and sets up perfectly the frankly mercurial and magnificently rendered ‘Fine Horseman’ cover. This spectrally charged slice of poetic enchantment canters delicately amid a wind swept wide screen cortege of haunting strings, bells, cymbals and tingling piano codas that breathlessly ebb and flow to caress the ethereal vocal provided for by Rebsie Fairholm. ‘By the setting of the sun’ wraps up the set, a captivating hybrid entrée of gaellic fancies, pristine pastoral airiness lushly threaded with lysergic treated middle eastern sitar accents that mid way through superbly shifts perspective into something more richly textured in the vein of ‘Wish you were here’ Floyd before dissipating dream like into a warping wig flipping smoking psychedelic jazz jam. Just the right side of perfect. Frankly kids you need this. Further listening experiences can be had via a - by all accounts - delicious free to download EP featuring the tracks from ‘Wake the Vaulted Echo’ re-drilled and re-calibrated by a cast of admiring musicians while it’s tooted that there will shortly be an albums worth of Owl Service wonderment entitled ‘A garland of song’. www.midwich-cuckoos.co.uk

Till later in the week - take care of yourselves

Mark
X