Warning: It's a bit of a lengthy one - I have spent a WHOLE DAY on it! I hope you do not fall asleep whilst reading it! There are loads of links to click if you feel your eyes irresistibly closing... In a recent article entitled “The problem with literary festivals”, The News Statesman wondered whether there was a future for literary festivals in our austerity-scarred, celebrity-led and technology-obsessed times, and if attending them was really worth the trouble, both for the audience and the authors. The comments are as interesting as the article itself, so go and have a look. Even the London Book Fair is losing its Earls Court home and its future is now uncertain as the publishing powers that be are fiercely disagreeing about where to hold the next events. There seems to be an ever-increasing chasm between traditional publishing and less corporate, more independent and forward-thinking authors/publishers. It looks like one constant in the industry is the lack of interest shown towards small independent publishers and self-published authors; there is still a belief that if you haven’t got an agent and are not published by a “proper” publishing company, you are bound to be an amateur who cannot string two sentences together. Thankfully, it looks like there has been an explosion of small, independent literary festivals around the country ready to take a few risks, but they are not widely publicised and you would need to do your research yourself. Anyhow. This leads me to the second edition of Shorelines: Literature Festival of the Sea. This biennial event – the first one of which took place in 2011 in Chalkwell Park, Westcliff-on-Sea – is curated by local resident and acclaimed author and artist Rachel Lichtenstein – who, incidentally, is working on a book about the Thames Estuary. When I participated in Metal’s Culture Lab: on writing fiction in October 2012 (my blog about it HERE), I knew that the week-long creative lab would enable me – an author without an agent or a publishing contract and completely deprived of any contact in the industry – to take part in a literary festival, and I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me by. Since the lab, I have created my own small imprint and published my first novel. In due course, I was invited to do a reading at Shorelines with the other members of the group who took part in the Culture Lab. I also thought that it would be a good idea to volunteer to help at the event. I really wanted to see what was going on behind the scenes and learn a little bit more about how to set up and run a small cultural event – I would love to have a go one day at setting up my own small literary/artistic event, you know, something a little bit different, with music, collaborations between visual artists, musicians and writers; stalls would be offered to independent, alternative publishers and authors. I already have a few names lined up in my head… So, then. I volunteered, and ended up working four days at the Leigh Community Centre. I can’t deny that it has been some kind of a challenge for me, as I am not a very sociable person and have been happily indulging in the solitary life of a freelancer and writer for the past four years! But I’ve survived, learning a lot along the way, which can only be a very positive thing. I have been going to events put together by Metal for several years now, and it was brilliant to get to know the team a little bit more. I was very impressed by the amount of work necessary to prepare the venue for the event – the main hall was unrecognisable on opening night, transformed into a proper intimate venue; one of the upstairs classrooms was turned into a welcoming Green Room, complete with deck chairs! Someone has to stick up for art and creativity these days, and Metal does that brilliantly and with a very contagious enthusiasm. What ensured the success of this festival, I think, was its modern, refreshing approach to the world of literature: there were well-known authors and self-published ones; novelists and adventurers; artists, cabaret singers and musicians; there were multi-media performances and art workshops; oh, and most of it was entirely FREE. So no moaning about art and literature being for a wealthy elite or any such nonsense. There was a bookshop in the reception area where I was able to display copies of my first novel, I Am a Muse. Of course, I bought several books – but didn’t sell any of mine… That’s life! Obviously, the fact that I was working at the event and taking part in a group reading prevented me from attending quite a few events. I missed Robert Macfarlane, whose talk was exactly at the same time as mine; I had brought along my copy of Holloway for him to sign as I am working on a book about Dorset, but I didn’t even catch a glimpse of him… To help me deal with my disappointment, I bought The Old Ways, which I have been meaning to read for ages. I also missed Justin Hopper’s Public Record – a walk around Old Leigh’s fishing village accompanied by poems inspired by archival reports of 19th-century Estuary sea accidents. Local author Syd Moore had also organised a walk around Old Leigh, where her first novel The Drowning Pool is based. Apparently, the walk was so successful that it began with 18 people and ended with 30! The opening event on the Friday was a stunning performance by Norwegian-French writer and performer Caroline Bergvall of her new piece of work, Drift. I have to admit that I didn't know Caroline Bergvall at all before Shorelines. I had had a bit of time before the festival to have a look at her website and I have to say that I have found it pretty much fascinating. Caroline works with languages; she is bilingual herself (French-Norwegian) and speaks English fluently, albeit with a slight accent. I have a French ID card but I have been having an intense, very emotional relationship with the English language since childhood - a relationship that is extremely difficult to explain and make sense of. I have always been fascinated by bilingualism and what it does to your personality - I have experience of it. I also have a thing for Scandinavian landscapes and culture. I do find Bergvall's work simply enthralling because it speaks to something deep inside of my head and heart... Drift is a live performance mixing words, electronic visuals and music performed by percussionist Ingar Zach. The performance is high-hitting, hypnotic, atmospheric. It uses language in a creative way just as a sculptor would use clay or stone or a painter would use paint; it links past experiences to present ones, a theme that I have always been interested in. From the artist's website - I think I wouldn't explain Drift in a better way: “Drift takes you on a journey through time and space, where languages mix, where the ancient cohabits with the present.[It] invents a language of connections and of extremes: from Anglo-Saxon and ancient Nordic seafaring literature to rare pop songs to human rights reports of contemporary sea migrants’ disaster. A complex and haunting meditation on sea travel, exile and history.” I also took a bit of time out to listen to the delightful Cathi Unsworth, who was one of the guest speakers at our Culture Lab back in October last year. She brought in a bit of alternative grittiness and rock’n’roll edginess to the festival by reading from her powerful latest novel, Weirdo. She took us on a bleak yet incredibly evocative walk along the seafront of the fictional Norfolk town featured in her book - based on Great Yarmouth, where the author grew up... Another fiction writer present at Shorelines was Deborah Levy, who talked about Swimming Home, shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize. A very charismatic personality, Ms Levy took us to Nice in the South of France and to a very dead Mediterranean sea, then was invited by Craig Taylor, the editor of Five Dials magazine, to press the “send” button on his laptop to send issue 29 to its subscribers – the next issue will contain some Shorelines-related articles… Throughout the weekend, people could slip into Room 6 upstairs to watch Mikhail Karikis’s multimedia installation, Sea women, about a disappearing community of female divers on the island of Jeju, located between South Korea, Japan and China. But even better than the installation itself – for me – was the talk this multi-talented, fascinating artist, performer and academic gave about his project, from the background to his research to his encounter with the Jeju community; he described in detail “the vocal practices of the women, including the unique sounds of their ancient and trans-generationally transmitted breathing technique”. Interestingly enough, the women he has met are the last divers on the island. The money they have made thanks to their speciality has enabled them to educate their daughters so they do not have to perpetuate the tradition and can go and find a better life for themselves. The weather had been awful on the Saturday - thankfully, the rain had stopped just on time for the beginning of the walks at 4 pm - but Sunday morning, it was just glorious. I walked from my flat to Leigh-on-Sea via the seafront; it was full of runners and happy dogs! I was determined to catch the whole of the glamorous Lili La Scala’s sea-themed brand new show, Siren. The seasoned cabaret performer admitted to being very nervous about the show – this was the first ever time she was performing it in front of an audience – but of course, it didn’t show. As confident and witty as ever, Lili sang a bunch of lovely sea-related songs with her trademark theatrical panache, only accompanied by a piano. Behind her on the screen, photographer Simon Fowler’s beautiful images of the Thames estuary added to the magical atmosphere. Siren brings together songs from different eras and with varied moods: from The Ships of Arcady (1919) to Siren Song, written especially for the show by Michael Heath, via Nick Cave (The Ship Song) and Tom Waits (Fish and Birds), Lili kept the audience spellbound. If a professional performer like Lili La Scala was nervous about her show, imagine the state of my nerves before and during my reading. As I wasn’t the first one in my group to have to stand up and get onto the stage, I had plenty of time to stew and worry. I was reading the 1,000 words I had written during the Lit Lab – I had worked a little bit on it since especially for Shorelines. I also had a visual presentation and a song by PJ Harvey, all minutely timed. Standing on the stage, I think I forgot to breathe for a while and the words struggled to come out; I could hear my voice wobble, and of course, I read too fast – without the pauses between the different sections, as I had planned – I think I just wanted it to be over. So I managed to get to the end of my reading without any major mistake but too early in the presentation! The extract I read was the opening of my third novel, The Right Place, which is in the development/research phase at the moment. I have added the extract to The Right Place page on this very website. There, you can read a little bit more about the novel and watch the official video of PJ Harvey’s The Wind – it has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of the song, sadly. I predict that Shorelines will grow over the years, and I hope I will be able to participate in the next edition – as an artist or volunteer. As Southend has been identified by The Sunday Times as one of the places London "hipsters" and creatives are flocking to - once again as recently as two weeks ago - it is only logical that we should see an explosion of creative endeavours in the area, and it can only be a good thing. Bring it on. Find some pictures of the event HERE.
A great blog about the festival was posted HERE – the author managed to go to some of the events I couldn’t attend! The Shorelines festival is branching out and is paying a visit to the National Maritime Museum as part of its event “Lost at sea Late with the Thames festival” on November 28th. More details HERE. 3/11/2013 Shorelines is this week!So the Shorelines festival is this weekend (Friday 8th-Sunday 10th November...)
I will be working at the festival as a volunteer and hope to see as many things as possible - and take notes and photos for this blog! On Sunday 10th November, I will be reading the first pages of my third novel, The Right Thing, which will be published in 2016 - it is at the research stage at the moment and will be for the forthcoming year! There will be copies of I Am a Muse for sale in the bookshop the whole weekend - at a special festival price! - and I hope to have my brand new flyers ready for the event! Cello rocks. Hard. The two acts below would be absolutely perfect for The Pleasure Gardens, the eccentric club night featured in my first novel, I Am a Muse. Its founder, Constance Blackwell, wouldn't rest until she had secured Rasputina and Jo Quail for her next event! Legendary "cello-rock" band Rasputina were in town last Wednesday, and there was NO WAY I was going to miss this event! Led by the incredibly charismatic Melora Creager, Rasputina have been a huge influence on trends such as Modern Victorians, Steampunk and Freak Folk and are championing DIY, art-school values and work ethic. Rasputina are cultured, alternative, highly original and absolutely unique. Heavily influenced by history - social, cultural and in a wider sense - Rasputina's body of work is made of fascinating, vivid storytelling and fantastic melodies. Seeing them play live is a thrilling experience: Melora's voice is incredibly versatile and clear; she is one with her instrument which obeys her every whim. Daniel is a real virtuoso and his cello rocks harder than any guitar in the land; Dawn's drumming is tribal and occult. The audience was enthralled, understandably. More pictures! Here's a video of Rasputina performing 1816: The Year Without a Summer I was also simply blown away by the support act: Jo Quail. An extremely talented - and in demand - professional cellist, Jo writes, records and performs instrumental music that encompasses a wide range of genres. A virtuoso classical musician, she also has one foot firmly planted in the alternative scene(s). Her beautiful compositions are haunting and haunted, mysterious, with a dash of the occult; classical mixes with dark folk and industrial to create intriguing, bewitching soundscapes. I have been looking for the perfect music to accompany The Book of Thoth, my second novel - I always have one or two tracks to use as the soundtrack to one particular story. I think I have found them! I particularly love this track, Jhanoem The Witch 4. 22/10/2013 PIL at Shepherd's Bush EmpireI kind of miss going to gigs. Not that I have stopped altogether, but I no longer get in for free and I no longer live in London - the train journey is not too long but ticket prices keep rising and rising... Which makes it imperative that I really pick my gigs very cautiously. When I was a music journalist, I would sometimes attend two to five gigs a week! Luckily, after several almost gig-free months - unheard of for me! - I now have several ones lined-up. And I won't forget my camera, next time... Yesterday, the Arcane Publishing team was at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London to see PIL (Public Image Limited)... And we forgot our camera! Unfortunately, I do not have the time to write a review, but I can tell you that it was a fantastic gig. Great songs, fabulous musicians, great atmosphere... John Lydon - a legend if there is one! - is a very expressive frontman, and actually - some people might be surprised - quite focused and humble. And what a voice! And they played "Open Up", Lydon's collaboration with Leftfield, which is one of my favourite tracks of all time! Here's a video of yesterday evening ... Open Up! And here's the original track... 18/7/2013 The past month has been busy...I haven't touched The Book of Thoth for about a month... During the week, I've had some work to do - the bills need to be paid! - and at the weekend, well, we haven't been home much, lately.
I haven't got time to write a long blog about it, but I'm a lucky girl because Matt ArtPix took the plunge yesterday evening and posted a wonderful blog full of lovely pictures summarising our busy month... Expect a cute pooch, some steam engines, a masonic hall, some classic cars, a church tower and a few pictures from the Village Green festival. Our last vintage fair of the summer is next week and in August, we do not have any events planned. We will be taking a break to write and create. Matt ArtPix has a few events lined up for the end of the year so go to his NEWS PAGE for more details! 10/7/2013 A little bit of promo...This Saturday is Village Green, the arts and music festival organised by Metal Southend.
The culture magazine Level 4 has produced a pocket edition of the mag, and in there, you should find a review of I Am a Muse, as well as an ad for Arcane Publishing and one for Matt ArtPix! :-) I am really pleased to have my little book in there. I will post a scan of the article in the review section next week. About two weeks ago, I finally finished my review of The Eden House's gig at The Lexington and sent it, together with some photos, to the guy who puts all the articles online at La Magicbox. Unfortunately, it looks like he's so busy that he still hasn't found any time to post it, and it has been sitting there for a fortnight... Therefore, I have decided to put the article here in the meantime. The photos are not very good as my trusty "gig camera" doesn't work anymore... When the review is up on La Magicbox, I will come back to this blog and link it (there will also be a French version of the article on there.) Supporting were Jordan Reyne (whose new album The Annihilation Sequence I have reviewed HERE) and Red Sun Revival. *Update 24/07/2013: the English and French versions of the review are now on La Magicbox website: ENGLISH FRENCH THE EDEN HOUSE – RED SUN REVIVAL – JORDAN REYNE The Lexington London, UK 9th June 2013 The launch of The Eden House’s second album Half Life (reviewed by me HERE) feels like some kind of laid-back, good spirited family affair. The Lexington hasn’t got the barriers and the overzealous security meat-heads that so often spoil the gig-going experience. We are left free to enjoy some of the best music around without the corporate beer and the idiots watching the bands through the tiny luminous screen of their smart phones. I first came across New-Zealand artist Jordan Reyne last October when she supported Fields of The Nephilim at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Tonight, Jordan is smiling, relaxed and chatty, her tumbling curls looking ablaze under the red lights. She is a charismatic performer and born storyteller armed only with an acoustic guitar and a machine that mixes sounds and vocals live. Her work is an intoxicating and intriguing mixture of folk and industrial with a dark heart and a fascinating and fluent narrative core. Her set mixes songs from her brand new album, The Annihilation Sequence, and from the previous one, the excellent Children of a Factory Nation. She also plays the powerfully evocative The Proximity of Death from her 2009 album How the Dead Live, a real treat! Another highlight is the stunning, hauntingly visceral The Narcissus – from the new album – a track that burrows itself under your skin and makes your hair stand on end. To see Jordan perform it gives the song the flesh and bones it crucially requires. Thundering machines beat the rhythm of Factory Nation and a mosaic of sounds inhabits London, whilst A Woman Scorned is incredibly poignant in its bare simplicity. A truly riveting performance. I didn’t know Red Sun Revival before I checked them out ahead of tonight’s gig. A relatively new band – formed in 2011 – comprising of accomplished and experienced musicians, the quartet has already built up a faithful following. Their music is a rather traditional gothic rock, full of sweeping melodies and heavy hearts. Frontman Rob Leydon’s sonorous, emotional voice is delightfully theatrical and suits the music perfectly. As the set goes along, I warm to them and their meticulously crafted, perfectly delivered songs. I particularly like Christina Emery’s violin, which really adds an interesting dimension to the tracks, as on Nothing To Hide, Running From The Dawn or the very Fields of the Nephilim-inspired My Child. Red Sun Revival's Rob Leydon is most certainly a much-in-demand musician as he has just officially been announced as a new member of The Eden House, replacing the very busy producer Andy Jackson on guitar. Back on stage as well is Jordan Reyne, who tonight will be one of two main vocalists, together with Laura Bennett.
Now, The Eden House is probably one of the best live bands around, but tonight, we are in for a very special treat indeed. Joining Stephen Carey(guitar), Simon Rippin (drums) and Tony Pettitt (bass) are Bob Loveday on violin and five of the female vocalists who appear on the new album, Half Life – and I’ve got the feeling that if Monica Richards hadn’t been living in the US, she would have been here tonight as well to sing Bad Men. Seeing The Eden House live is a masterclass in musicianship and excellence: Stephen Carey and Tony Pettitt play with a quiet concentration which is nothing but impressive; Jordan and Laura sing with gusto and passion but I would have liked their microphones to be set on a higher level; their beautiful voices are getting slightly lost, overpowered by the sheer might of the music. Three songs from the first album Smoke and Mirrors – God’s Pride, All My Love and Sin – remind us all of why we fell in love with the supergroup in the first place: this unique, intoxicating mixture of grandiose melodies, dark undercurrents and epic sense of the dramatic. Live, liberated from the shackles of the recording format, the beautiful monster that is The Eden House’s music comes alive and finally has a face, a body and a soul – albeit, much like Frankenstein’s Creature, it is made of a multitude of components: singers, musicians, moods, genres… And just like said Creature, it is so incredibly strong and powerful, we can literally physically feel the music taking possession of our senses in the small venue. The mainly instrumental Timeflows keeps the promises of its title: it rumbles like a swollen river of sound flowing across a wild, unforgiving landscape. Soul singer Queenie Moy confidently takes possession of the microphone for Hunger, whilst Anathema’s Lee Douglas is joined by Jordan and Laura for her pitch-perfect, rousing City of Goodbyes. The playful Phoenix J enchants us with her sunny presence and First Light, during which Bob Loveday gets a little pipe out and plays the little bird fleeting around PJ’s head. It is all so heady that when we are denied an encore because of venue time restrictions, we feel a tad lost. And we therefore exit onto the busy Pentonville Road, convinced that we have witnessed something special and magical. It was a privilege to be there. You should have been too. My review of Jordan Reyne's fantastic new album is now online in both FRENCH and ENGLISH, on LA MAGICBOX.
The English version appears below: Jordan Reyne is a multitalented musician whose universe is compelling, complex and original. A true DIY artist, she uses technology to produce her music, on her own in her home studio, and generously shares experiences and technical tips via regular newsletters and blogs. First and foremost experimental, Jordan manages to escape categories: her work encompasses dark folk, Celtic, industrial, electronic and steampunk, but her influences go way beyond those genres. I can detect a writer’s approach beyond the music: there is a solid narrative core here, fuelled by imagination, research and observation; Ms Reyne’s albums are full of places, characters and ‘found sounds’ that intertwine to tell stories that focus on the human experience and condition, an approach both anthropological and philosophical. Her two most recent albums were set in the past – How The Dead Live was about the pioneer women who arrived in New Zealand in the mid-19th century and Children of a Factory Nation was set at the time of the Industrial Revolution. For The Annihilation Sequence, the musician has come back to the present time and set her eyes and ears on London, a monster of a city that attracts and repels all at the same time. This is not some kind of psychogeographical album; it captures personal experiences and deals with the way the metropolis can play havoc with human interaction and exacerbate one’s flaws and desire for recognition. Dark, brooding electronics have replaced the industrial, more mechanical flavours of previous releases. As ever, Jordan’s vocals are an important feature of the album: expressive and versatile, they carry the mood of each track: sinister and dangerous, soothing and seductive, hurt and defensive… First track The Annihilation Sequence features martial drum beats and a sample of a speech by British Prime Minister David Cameron. It sets the tone for the album: everything in life is political, and we are either exploiter or exploited. Then a series of nameless urban characters enter the frame; each could represent a concept or a facet of the human character: The Player, The Gentleman, The Narcissus, The Cab Driver. The first three are themselves the twisted actors on the London stage of life. The Cab Driver takes us on an evocative drive around the West End. The cabbie represents the everyday man witnessing the unravelling of the action and detects the shallowness behind the glamour of his clients; despite his lucidity, he cannot help looking into his rear mirror and turns into a voyeur. The twisted electronics and sharp spoken word in The Player convey a build-up of tension and pent-up aggression; The Narcissus is splendid and disturbing, swathed in sexual malaise. Jordan’s acoustic guitar is back for The Gentleman – a beautiful song introducing us to an aristocratic Marquis de Sade character – as well as for the hypnotic Pieces of Me. Bite (The Hand that feeds) is written like a folk story in which lost humans appeal to their absent god for guidance in a traditional-sounding prayer and The Wall evokes a bigger sense of fate, with fluid synthetic sounds and ethereal vocals that reminded me of some of Björk’s songs. Here again, we can sense the pervasive sense of history that has shaped Jordan Reyne’s previous releases. The Annihilation Sequence is a bewitching, powerful and chilling album by one of the most interesting artists around; it’s one of those releases that you listen to again and again, just marvelling at how it came to be. 18/6/2013 Something differentI've recently started writing music reviews after a four-year hiatus. I am not going to writing as much as I did between 2000 and 2009, as I need to concentrate on my books, but it is a nice writing challenge - although I am definitively rusty. I used to write everything from CD and gig reviews to label profiles and artist features and I even edited a music news page for about a year.
One day I might create a "music journalism" page on this website and put some of the articles I have written. In the meantime, if you wanted to have a look at a few things, go to LA MAGICBOX ARCHIVES. Under the "Reportages" and "CD etranger" headings, you will find loads of my articles! I have just done a live review of KLOQ at Chinnery's in Southend. There is an English and a French version. The picutres are not very good as my trusted "gig camera" is seriously playing up and I cannot use it anymore. I also think the resolution they've been saved at is a bit low. I (email) interviewed Kloq for Alternative Magazine back in 2008 when their first album came out... I've done a scan of the page and magazine cover (below)! I have just finished writing the review of The Eden House's second album Half Life. This review, as well as its French translation, will appear on the French music website La Magicbox in the forthcoming weeks, but I wanted to put up the English version on here. This album has been the soundtrack to my writing these past few weeks! *Update: The French and English versions of the review are now online HERE.* Enjoy... Half Life, The Eden House’s eagerly-awaited second album, arrives four years after their splendid first album Smoke and Mirrors. Between the two albums, the collective have extensively played live and released The Looking Glass – a two-CD affair split between a lavish live video and an audio CD of covers – and a mini-album, Timeflows. The revolving doors policy of the project – by which collaborators come and go for each recording and live appearance – ensures a constant freshness and element of surprise. Once again, founding members Stephen Carey (Adoration, NFD) and Tony Pettitt (Fields of The Nephilim, NFD) have surrounded themselves with an array of talented musicians and singers: Phil Manzarena (Roxy Music), Simon Hinkler (The Mission), Bob Loveday (who has played with Van Morrison, Bob Geldof and Rachid Taha among others), Lee Douglas (Anathema), Monica Richards (Faith and The Muse), Jordan Reyne, Queenie Moy, Phoenix J and Laura Bennett. Much like on The Eden House’s previous releases, the music flows in your ears like the most magical of potions; there is real chemistry – or should I say alchemy? – at work here between the various female vocals and the multi-layered, intricately woven melodies. And like every good mythical brew, the recipe of The Eden House’s music remains mysterious and elusive: it escapes categorisation, mixes up genres, influences and moods – prog and gothic rock as well as trip-hop have all been mentioned; it shapeshifts at will to create its very own soundscape(s). No song follows a linear path but instead, each of them takes us by the hand – and ears and heart too! – and leads us off the beaten track to wander around a totally wild and enthralling sonic world. The backbone of the album is of course Tony Pettitt’s distinctive bass, to which are added sonorous and virtuoso guitars, thundering drums, dark electronic gurgles and the sweeping flights of Bob Loveday’s violin. And then, there are the vocals… The six very different, unique female voices stamp their mark on the tracks – or rather singe the flesh of each song with their branding iron of a voice; if the music is the body, then their voices make up the soul of the songs. Bad Men, The Tempest and Wasted on Me, with their ever-so-slightly tangible sense of menace, have an out-of-this-world beauty in which the ethereal and the hard-edged intertwine. Indifference features multi-layered vocals and an incredibly infectious chorus, while Butterflies possesses a gripping narrative quality and benefits from the gorgeous, vibrant vocals by NZ musician Jordan Reyne, who, I must admit, is a personal favourite artist of mine. The Empty Space and City of Goodbyes take things to another atmospheric level; even though the pace has slowed down, we get swept away by the rich, majestic melodies. On hearing the sonorous instrumental section in City of Goodbyes, my feet almost left the ground. Elsewhere, Queenie Moy’s jazzy and soulful voice dominates The Hunger, an epic, stirring song worthy of the best James Bond theme tunes – and also probably the most ‘commercial’ track on the album. I like the way Half Life concludes with the brighter First Light, a song peppered with flavours of dub and ska. Towards the end of the track, the sound of the sea and the bird songs communicate an unforeseen sense of inner peace and contentment. This album is an absolute success and is utterly bewitching. And now, it is your turn to succumb. Half Life will be released by Jungle Records on 27th May 2013 Watch below the video for the single Bad Men (On Their Way To Do Bad Things), featuring Monica Richards. |
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