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