This album may have a January release date but there’s a mood to this album that suggests the inspiration lies in the last days of Summer. Looking at the press release, it says about the Brazilian title that apparently ‘Obrigado’ means ‘thank you’ whilst ‘Saudade’ is not a word that can be directly translated but is to do with “something between nostalgia, homesickness and lovesickness”. As you can imagine, there’s some beautiful music with a sunny kind of sadness pervading it. Multi-instrumentalist Adam Pierce plays a wide variety of instruments on here with great flourish. You can hear a great many kindred spirits in the music. There’s elements of Four Tet, Bark Psychosis, a pinch of My Bloody Valentine. ‘Obrigado Saudade’ is a gorgeous album rich in magic and music.
Category: Albums
A Small Good Thing – Imaginary Westerns Vol.II
A SMALL GOOD THING – “IMAGINARY WESTERNS VOL II” (LEAF LABEL)
It all sounds very implausible, a film director from London, a psychiatric nurse from Leeds and a gas fitter from Hull. Together they hook up as A Small Good Thing and make incredible sound-scapes. Nods abound to sources as diverse as classical music, Western soundtracks, ambient acoustics and the vibe of great Western outdoors (among others). It might sound a bit bloated and pompous, but the whole project is handled with great subtlety and understatement. The atmospherics are heavy and the key words seem to be melancholy and minimalism.
Just when you are beginning to think this is a chill-out album ‘El Mariachi Loco’ bursts into a Mexican brass dance for a fleeting moment. However, this contrasts nicely with the dark, industrial landscapes of ‘Slow Rotating Machine’. As you can guess by the title, the images conjured up by this album all relate to the alternative West. The fact that the album’s most haunting moment, ‘Richard Brautigan’, is named after one of America’s great alternative writers – a man who could amuse, enthrall and disturb – serves as a strong pointer to this album’s inspiration. Dark, widescreen sounds for the early hours
Pinkie Maclure – From Memorial Crossing
The voice. Has any instrument been more abused, confused and misused or misrepresented? What makes a good singer? The ability “to sing” is not enough. How many club records are spoiled by people who can “sing” in a technical sense but are incapable of imparting any soul or emotion through their voices. They just want “to sing” but have nothing to sing of and nothing to sing with. Here is a singer who can do the business. Pinkie Maclure has a voice that sounds like it’s coming straight from the bottom of a large and complicated soul. Pinkie has found an ideal musical collaborator in John Wills, formerly of psychedelic rockers Loop and avant-garde indie band The Hair And Skin Trading Company, which counts as probably my favourite band name. The record uses a stripped-down approach to the music reminiscent of classic late-period Talk Talk, especially the keyboards. A wonderful array of objects are utilised for percussion and many live atmospheric sounds are mixed into the recordings. A haunting, beautiful and sensual record that was born to be played after dark with the lights off.
footnote: the collaboration of Pinkie Maclure & John Wills became known as Pumajaw and this album has been reissued digitally under the Pumajaw name