Jacco Gardner - Somnium

(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)

It's five full years since the release of Gardner's instantly classic debut LP Cabinet Of Curiosities. Since then he's opted to give the people what they don't yet know they want rather than repeat any psych-pop formula. Somnium is inspired by Johannes Kepler's 1608 novel of the same name, and Gardner's recent relocation to Lisbon. By opting to make a vocal-less instrumental album Gardner takes a big risk but the investment of immersive listening reveals the album's singular meditative qualities.

With soothing layers of analogue synths, gently propulsive bass-lines and an emphasis the listener's inner journey, the music has precedents in the ambient explorations of Tangerine Dream and the library music used on TV programmes for schools and colleges in the 1980s. It may not be the echo of '60s psych-pop many of his listeners were hoping for but does signal Gardner's growing confidence in taking the road less travelled.

Jacco Gardner announces new single & album!

Psych's leading light returns with a new single "Find Yourself". A full album, Hypnophobia, will follow in May.

The Dutch maestro's eagerly anticipated follow up to Cabinet Of Curiosities is set to be one of  2015's top albums. Fans of late '60s psychedelia as well as the post-Temples new breed of neo-psych lovers will have this top of their wants list.

Check out the single via the Soundcloud widget below and click over the jump for full details of forthcoming long player Hypnophobia, due for release on May 4th on Full Time Hobby.




Click over the jump for the full press release.

Smoke Fairies - Tour Dates Plus New LP

Good news for fans of ethereal bluesy folk duo Smoke Fairies. A string of live dates have been announced for May and June, along with the promise of a new eponymous album due for release on April 14th on Full Time Hobby.

The album will be available on CD, heavyweight vinyl, download as well as a special deluxe edition. There's also going to be a limited Record Store Day only vinyl version. The deluxe edition box will be available for pre-order from 4pm GMT this Friday via www.smokefairies.com

The Leisure Society - Into The Murky Water

Joyously kaleidoscopic 2^nd album from the UK's top indie-folk collective.

The Leisure Society return with their follow up to 2009's The Sleeper. It sees them build on the sound of the first album, and the demos and B-sides collection A Product Of The Ego Drain.

The album opens with the title track “Into The Murky Water”. A few bars of portentous drum fills and marimba riffs give way to a sound which can only be described as Vaughan Williams challenging Jethro Tull to a musical version of the game Twister. Like many of the nine songs that follow it contains a chorus that will get under your skin like a tattoo. If we still had milkmen in this country no doubt they'd be whistling it.

It's a very English sounding record, with plenty of strings and folksy arrangements but there's also an American West Coast thing going on with some of the backing, most similar to Arthur Lee's Love. (Love's track “Alone Again Or” actually gets a mention at one point.) And “You Could Keep Me Talking” sounds like Jethro Tull's “Living In The Past” (them again!) covered by the Beach Boys.

Click over the jump for more on Into The Murky Water.