The Cold Spells - Interstitial

The Cold Spells' new LP captures the mood of the nation.

interstitial

/ˌɪntəˈstɪʃ(ə)l/

adjective

adjective: interstitial

of, forming, or occupying interstices.
"the interstitial space"
*ECOLOGY
(of minute animals) living in the spaces between individual sand grains in the soil or aquatic sediments.
"interstitial fauna" 

noun COMPUTING
noun: interstitial; plural noun: interstitials
an advertisement that appears while a chosen website or page is downloading.

The Cold Spells released their self-titled debut last year. Not only was it one of my favourites from 2018, I can honestly say it's way up the list of my all-time favourite albums. The record took around four years to make. So when a follow up was announced, only a year on, anticipation became mixed with trepidation. What if it fell flat? The history of music is littered with bands who released classic debuts only to then put out some lacklustre facsimile second time round. Or perhaps worse, they changed tack stylistically in a misguided attempt at being radical and risk-taking.

I need not have worried. Interstitial is, if anything, an even stronger record than its predecessor. There's a pleasing continuity of sound - the blending of of acoustic guitars and gentle electronics is intact, as is the Estuary English dialect and accent, but it's the songs that impress most. The Cold Spells invoke a world that's familiar but ethereal, with story songs featuring small moments with a bigger emotional resonance. You could call it 21^st century folk but that would infer an optimistic sheen that's not present here. The sentiments are street-weary rather than street-wise. Sample lyric - “Half-cut as I duck in the Crown, a too regular thing. It's a shit-hole, a rough house, I know. I guess it beats staying here.”

Much like fellow Thames Estuary band The Singing Loins, The Cold Spells make Folk music that's aware of its tradition but in no way reverential. They're not trying to be Heron or Comus, or pretending to live with faeries in their local woods. They're more likely to reference Poundland or Plusnet in their lyrics, than they are Pentangle. (That said, Ezra Pound or TS Eliot might get a look in.) In short it's music that's very much on the frequency of modern Britain, with all it's faults and foibles. In twenty years time when record labels will be putting together compilations that give a sense of the music of Brexit Britain, Interstitial should be one of the first ports of call.

The Cold Spells are -

Tim Ward (songs/guitar/vocals)

Michael Farmer (keyboards/vocals)

Click here for The Cold Spells on Twitter.
Click here for The Cold Spells on Facebook
Click here for Gare du Nord Records.

The Cold Spells - The Cold Spells

From the margins of south-east of England. The first great album of 2018.

It's rare these days to discover an album that when listened to, doesn't divulge who the band have been listening to. And that dear readers is often the sign that you're onto something good. The Cold Spells' eponymous debut is not without predessessors – there are similarities with both Robert Wyatt and Shirley Collins both in the simple song structures and the unadorned straightly delivered vocals. But importantly The Cold Spells are not aping or mimicing. And here lies just one of the album's strengths.

So what does it sound like? Well there's the afore-mentioned simple folk-song tunes, gentle electronic backing with snatches of static, white noise, occasional backwards vocals drifting in and out. The organic meeting the technological. An intoxicating sound alone but strong poetical lyrics and stories will pull you in further.

It's an album that speaks of and to the lost, lonely and marginalised. To people on the forgotten edges of society, the dispossed, those away from metropolitan glamour. Empathatic stories that touch on delusional paranoia, quiet haunted lives and familial traits that echo through the ages. Mixed in with eulogies, a little folklore, and even a song about drowning. Modern, yet mysterious. The aural equivalent of a hillside containing a chalked white horse and a mulititude of mobile phone masts.

There are plenty of arch, all-too-knowing bands (and labels) that release referential, hauntological music that's often little more than a stylistic pastiche. The Cold Spells has lyrical depth however, and has a timeless quality in it's melodies. Sure you could place it under banner of folktronica given the gentle ambient instrumentation but it's an album that won't date. It's not trying desperately to sound like it's 2018, 1972, or even 1872. It sounds both modern and peculiarly ancient. I guarantee it will sound similarly undated and timeless in years to come.

Apparently it took 4 years to make the album so they may not be bringing out another anytime soon or maybe even ever, which would be a shame. Hopefully The Cold Spells' LP will get the recognition it deserves in the here and now rather than drift off into obscurity. If it doesn't then I'm in no doubt that in 20 years time it will be hailed as something of a lost classic.

The Cold Spells are -

Tim Ward (songs/guitar/vocals)

Michael Farmer (keyboards/vocals)

Catherine Plewa (bass guitar)

Click here for more on The Cold Spells.

Click here for The Cold Spells on Twitter.

Click here for Gare du Nord Records.