Stick In A Pot
A Number More Than Nothing At All
Sad Sentry
BANDCAMP
Stick In A Pot hit me up with this, his debut full length album months ago and I've been playing steadily ever since, constantly expecting to finish this write up, intended to get it before its release date in March but never quite squeezed it out. It's a grower as much as it is instantly likeable; took me a while to really recognise the subtle nuances of the vocals styles as something more than an amalgamation of Stuart Murdoch and Nick Drake; there's a real tapestry of sound weaving the songs together that might not be instantly noticeable - especially if at first you're presented with it being an album by one Piers Blewett, when in fact it has been recorded with a band of six people and more than twice as many instruments again beyond the expected acoustic guitars and drums, including glockenspiel, synths, drone machines and radio frequencies, mandolin and dulcitone, none of which are used arbitrarily. There's a great intuitive ear going on with the compositions, plenty of space to let notes hang when at other times there will be some neat tone or unhurried counter melody sliding through the opening.
Of the ten tracks on the album Synaesthesia is probably my favourite though I'm a sucker for the subject matter it helps that the song is a beguilingly layered up piece about psychological dissonance. Leaving folk structures and lyrics aside Procrastina features lovely humming loops of droning guitar melody overlapping and weaving round each other in long cycles of plangent elation.
Brighton has quite a wealth of folk oriented artists and a scene that has been in rude health in recent years with the Woodland Recordings and Wilkommen Collective groups alone offering a number of inspired performers and this album compares favourably to those established and seriously talented artists.
Here's the video to Navel Lint, the first single taken from the album in February:
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