Post-Punk Monk

Dr. Robert and Matt Deighton Make Time For New Duo Album “Instant Garden” Coming in ’25

Posted on October 30, 2024 by postpunkmonk

In recent years Dr. Robert of Blow Monkeys kept very busy not only with the mothership band, but also a variety of collaborative excursions, like the three [three!] Monks Road Social albums he released while I was struggling to catch up during the pandemic. I recently got the latest Blow Monkeys album [which I need to add to their Rock G.P.A. one day – what you must think of me] and have yet to find the time to sink my teeth into it for a review and we find that Dr. Robert has teamed up with Matt Deighton, his Monk’s Road Social cohort, with an album coming our way next spring.

It’s called “Instant Garden,” and it will also be released on the furiously busy and righteously proper [non-profit!] label Last Night From Glasgow. Who seem to be signing all of my favorite artists these days, so I’m very down with that. The Good Doctor describes the vibe as being akin to “Fred Neil and Marc Bolan bonding over [Nick Drake’s] “Five Leaves Left.” An earthy and intimate excursion to react against the increasingly ornate Soul Pop that The Blow Monkeys are crafting these days.

The first single, the title track, has apparently dropped on the last day of summer [Sept 22, for those who weren’t keeping track…or had a hurricane drop in] so let’s just pop over to the iTunes store and buy it. Don’t worry. I’ll put an embed here you can listen to for free. Let’s listen!

Wow. This sounds very stripped down! Just voice and guitars; both electric and acoustic. The one concession to artifice are the rather elaborate backing vocals [including vocal percussion!] overdubbed in to the mix. The funky wah-wah gets plenty of room to stretch out and wail while the acoustics keep the rhythm flowing steadily. I daresay that John Fogerty would proclaim the duo were “chooglin'” on this session. Listening to it sounds like we’re in the room when it was recorded. Can someone front these two the budget for a living room tour? Pretty please?

Last Night From Glasgow | UK | CD/DL/LP | 2025 | LNFG148

Dr. Robert + Matt Deighton: Instant Garden – UK – CD [2025]

Already There
Dude In A Roller
Giving Up The Ghost
Gardening In The Mediterranean Way
Supernatural Seas
God Is Nature
Instant Garden
Philosophy
Ten Paces Safe
Endless Circle
Superstitious Woman
Crying Like A Child

The release date will be the first day of spring: March 21st, 2025. Last Night From Glasgow have the following on offer:

CD w/instant garden – $17.00
Sage Green LP w/instant herb garden – $35.00
White Rose LP w/instant flower garden – $35.00

How cool that you get seeds to plant along with the music? The next single will happen on the first day of winter [Dec. 21st] so it looks like we’ll have some Dr. Robert to give us a break from the piped in xmas music. If you’re ready for some of this sauce, then DJ hit that button!

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Posted in Core Collection, Want List | Tagged 2024, Dr. Robert | 2 Comments

Chameleons With The Veldt Righteously Rock Radio Room On “Strange Times” Album Tour [pt. 2]

Posted on October 28, 2024 by postpunkmonk

[…continued from last post]

the Radio Room crowd could get up close and personal to Chameleons — The Radio Room crowd could get up close and personal to Chameleons

CHAMELEONS @RADIO ROOM OCT-24-2024

The Veldt had enough time to leave the stage then the roadies worked their magic in under ten minutes. I was astonished to see Chameleons arrive onstage by 9:00 sharp! The quintet took their places then got right into the business of playing the “Strange Times” album from start to finish. The twin guitar attack of Reg Smithies and Stephen Rice defined the melodies with Danny Ashberry’s synths being the icing on the Post-Punk Rock cake. And through it all, the fiery intensity of Mark Burgess meant that one could take everything out of his mouth at face value.

Because at the end of the day it’s the moral force that Burgess brings to the songs, uniformly about the big questions of life that makes these tunes compelling probes into humanity’s psyche. When I first heard the band in 1983, they superficially slotted into the emergent Big Music of the era, but unlike that Irish band, whose singer’s mealy mouthed meanderings never convinced me of his sincerity, Burgess brings a moral force to the music that was palpable. It was for this reason that I always slot Chameleons adjacent to Killing Joke. Even though their styles are usually divergent.

The music began on full simmer and by the time of the songs “Soul In Isolation” and “Swamp Thing,” the needle peaked into the red as the long songs began to build up their edifice of sound. I was excited to see guitarist Rice using an eBow; just like on the record, to drive the droning sustain that was a hallmark of “Soul In Isolation.” For all of the decades I’ve been a fan of eBow playing, I think that this was the first time I’d ever seen a guitarist play guitar with one. A shocking conclusion but there we are.

Then the delicate rondo riffs that “Swamp Thing” was hung upon, were pulse-quickening as they began their outward spiral in minor key with the tune cresting to a glorious climax that found it proffering major chords over seven minutes into the epic track.

Following the final song “I Remember” Chameleons included the song “Ever After” from the bonus album of tracks that initially came with “Strange Times” back in 1986. Then they exited the stage and at that point, since they had played for about an hour. On the one “classic album” tour I’d seen years before [Psychedelic Furs “Talk Talk Talk” album tour…] this marked a break in the set where the band took a short break before returning and playing material from the other albums. I’d assumed that this might be happening this evening, but within a minute or two, the band were back for what wasn’t the second set, but the encore.

mark burgess of chameleons at Radio Room — The encore had Mark Burgess handing off bass duties to Danny Ashberry

At this point, Mark Burgess announced that the band were still working on their “Arctic Moon” album but they still played the first single from it upon returning to the stage. The joy of “Where Are You?” was that the group’s newest material following a long layoff was neck and neck with the caliber of the songs from 1986 that we’d just heard. Burgess handed off his bass to the keys man Danny Ashberry for the encore to free himself up to throw gestures at the audience.

Next we got the band’s bracing debut single, “In Shreds” wherein Burgess put the full fire of his delivery over the guitarists serrated riffs for maximum impact. I was bracing for my two favorite songs from “Script Of A Bridge” to manifest.. That amazing first song I’d heard on college radio 41 years ago, “Up The Down Escalator” and the harrowing “Don’t Fall.” The latter is a song that haunts me regularly every few months and yet I’ve not had a copy to play for nearly 40 years. But the band did serve up two other tracks from “Script Of The Bridge” as “Monkeyland” and “Second Skin” joined the setlist.

This to soften us up before delivering the ultimate song this evening, the darkly anthemic classic “Don’t Fall.” The second that foreboding chord sequence began on the guitars I was in the zone as the defiant tone of Mr Burgess’ performance managed to split the difference between intransigence and hope perfectly. I had been waiting decades to hear this song again and the Chameleons didn’t let me down. As soon as the encore began I had been recording each song until the moment I’d been waiting for had arrived, as seen below.

And with that the evening had reached its climax. There was nowhere to go but home. And that was a good 90 minutes away in the cool evening of this Thursday night. I’d get home and in bed by 12:30 with a scant five hours of sleep before Friday started up, but sometimes you just need to get out of your comfort zone. When we finally get to experience the vaunted Chameleons even in the next state was one such time.

The core members of Mark and Reg meshed well with the two members of Chameleons Vox in Danny Ashberry and Stephen Rice, who jumped from the drum stool in Chameleons Vox to 2nd guitarist in Chameleons! New drummer Todd Demma kept the beat with authority and I’m thrilled that none of Mark Burgess’ fire had ebbed in the decades that have passed since I first heard this exciting band. They were a necessary antidote to the wave of blander music that was beginning to manifest as the waters of the flood of Post-Punk began to recede in the year of their first album. At this juncture, I can only hope that the band hit these shores once more to tour behind the upcoming album next year. I’ve still got a date with “Up The Down Escalator!”

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Posted in Concert Review | Tagged 2024, Concert Review, The Chameleons | 6 Comments

Chameleons With The Veldt Righteously Rock Radio Room On “Strange Times” Album Tour [pt. 1]

Posted on October 26, 2024 by postpunkmonk

My road trip Last Thursday night to the adjacent state for the Chameleons concert was quick; more than vindicating the decision to attend this show. Great conversation with my friend Jacob made the time pass even more quickly. We got to the venue about 75 minutes before the 8:00 p.m. showtime and found a tasty dinner at a very nearby Indian restaurant that lived up to my expectations, which were on the high side after scoping out the menu online prior. We walked into the venue to find it about a third full and ambled over to the merch table to find our trophies. Jacob got the Chameleons hoodie and I was thrilled to see small, silver discs on the counter besides the usual LPs. Against my darkest fears that it would be LPs only.

I was crestfallen to see that “Script Of A Bridge” was sold out. Indeed, every one of the nearly ten CDs was crossed off the price list, but they had obviously leaned heavily into “Strange Times” stock, since this tour was playing it in full, and that was my number two target. I bought the Blue Apple reissue on 2xCD and then thought that I needed the T-shirt as well. By the time we staked out a place on the floor, openers The Veldt were coming out and testing their guitars.

THE VELDT @RADIO ROOM OCT-24-2024

The Veldt were blending disparate genres with studied brilliance in a very wonderful performance

I’d bought new earplugs for this show and fitted them in as I could tell that the guitars were going to be loud. The Earasers worked like champs for the entire show. My brother-in-law recommended them to me and they attenuate the lower frequencies to allow more musical detail in while chopping down overall volume levels by 31 db. The live sound, while loud, wasn’t criminally so. I was not feeling every drum hit in my solar plexus. But neither was the musical detail being smothered by indiscriminate earplug blanketing…very nice.

I’d seen The Veldt at one point in the 90s opening for Cocteau Twins on possibly their “Four Calendar Café” tour. Robin Guthrie had famously produced their debut album for Capitol only to not release it, but the band was definitely taking a page from the Cocteau’s rulebook with three guitarists, bass, and a drum machine. The massed guitars definitely had a Guthrie tone as the music went other places.

The band were exploring psychedelic spaces adjacent to shoegaze while lead singer Daniel Chavis brought the power of Soul singing to the game, which was rich with hybrid vigor. The vibe was suffused with beauty and power filtered through the eloquent singing of frontman Daniel. Meanwhile, his identical twin brother, Danny Chavis was at stage right exploring the deep space of guitar drone for the entire show. I was already enjoying this show to the utmost and would hope to not wait another 30+ years before I caught The Veldt live once more. I was happy to see them get a generous 50 minute opening set and I treasured every minute!

Next: …Strange Times Indeed

Posted in Record Review | 1 Comment

Chameleons Revisit Past In The Present On “Tomorrow Remember Yesterday” EP

Posted on October 24, 2024 by postpunkmonk

Tonight is an auspicious time! I’ll be seeing Chameleons at a club in nearby-ish Greenville, South Carolina with my friend and neighbor Jacob and thinking back to the time 41 years ago when I first heard the band on WUCF-FM [“Up The Down Escalator”] I could have hardly imagined a time when the band would be playing anywhere near me at all. I was wondering if there would be any reissues of their first two albums on CD at the merch table to buy and it seems like silver discs of Chameleons are only dating back a generation with everything since then on the licorice pizza. So I don;t anticipate being able to buy CDs at the merch table this evening.

But there was a silver lining to my tale; in making the investigation, I found a brand new EP of very early Chameleons songs that the current lineup we’re seeing tonight have recorded to bring the past into the present. The DL EP was released on October 11th, while we were without internet after the hurricane, so that’s my [good] excuse for just posting this review now! I bought the EP this morning and we’ll hold on tightly to hammer out a review on only two listens to the material! So let’s dig in!

Chameleons: Tomorrow Remember Yesterday – US – DL [2024]

The Fan And The Bellows – 3:46
Nostalgia – 5:21
Nathan’s Phase – 3:32
Every Day I’m Crucified – 3:46
Things I Wish I’d Said – 6:31

“The Fan And The Bellows” dated from the earliest days of 1981 and the band and like many of these, it has surfaced in a BBC radio session or two over the years. It was built on a serrated rhythm guitar riff and a series of collapsing drum fills that maintain urgency throughout the song. It also helps the conceit of recording a new version of a band’s song over 40 years later when we factor the vitality of Mark Burgess into the equation. His vocal prowess sounds undimmed by the march of the years.

I’d heard the 1981 version of “Nostalgia” on the “What Does Anything Mean, Basically” CD as a bonus track. The version here also features synthesizers prominently rubbing elbows with the guitars the band is best known for. I especially liked the rhythm guitar figure adding an element of hope to the vibe. The climax where Burgess repeatedly exhorts “nostalgia will lead me away” while the swell of backing vocals perform an evocation of an e-Bow solo sends warm chills down the spine.

The ringing guitar lines of “Nathan’s Phase” contrasted with what sounded like double picking overlaid on it [it might be synths and a delay] that gave the brief song a breathless sense of hanging in midair right up to the cold ending where Burgess simply said “stop.” The lurching riff that “Every Day I’m Crucified” hung on bore slight, ironic resemblance to the one from “My Sharona.” But Mark Burgess was exploring instead a vivid metaphor of life’s essential struggle, not trolling for underage girls. He wouldn’t waste our time and mind with that! As the defiant and circular riff on the chorus drove home its point with brio.

The closing “Things I Wish I’d Said” was the longest song here at 6:31 but the energy with which it defined its position enlivened this rare glimpse of Burgess singing about how he’d managed to say and do the wrong things when presented with a romantic opportunity. I do think that this was the first Chameleons song I’ve ever heard that was not about the highest philosophical stakes in life but instead about the dance we all stumble through.

The EP will serve as a appetizer for the next move for Chameleons, which will be their upcoming “Arctic Moon” album on Metropolis Records, now mooted for 2025. Earlier this year I had imagined that it might be ready in time for this show but apparently not. Fans can get this EP at the band’s Bandcamp page in a variety of lossless/lossy formats [the best thing about Bandcamp is that you can have them all once paying] for $6.00 so DJs hit that button! Meanwhile, we see Chameleons in just a handful of hours now so join us tomorrow for the concert review.

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Posted in Immaterial Music, Record Review | Tagged 2024, Bandcamp, download, The Chameleons | 4 Comments

OMD’s Next Single “Look At You Now,” Hits All Three Formats while US Tour Dates For 2025 Manifest

Posted on October 23, 2024 by postpunkmonk

OMD paul humphreys + andy mccluskey — Paul + Andy keep the ties thin 45 years later

So I got an email from the OMD mothership while I was in the throes of calamity about two weeks ago touting the third and final single from the “Bauhaus Staircase” album. As soon as I found some wi-fi, I pounced like a cat on all three formats as I like to own the modern OMD singles even on record, though bless ’em for putting out CD singles! We were flush with cash…why not? What’s the A-side and what do the formats feature?

100% Records | UK | 7″ [mauve] + 12″ [mauve] + CD-5 | 2024

OMD: Look At You Now – UK – 7″ [pink vinyl] [2024]

Look At You Now – 3:20
Tomorrow Is Today – 3:33

The B-side here was the song exclusive to the digital deluxe [one day sale] version of the album that came and went before many even knew about it. The 7″ is on pink vinyl and limited to 1000 copies. £10.00/$14.00

OMD: Look At You Now – UK – 12″ [pink vinyl] [2024]

Look At You Now – 3:30
Look At You Now [Walt Disco Remix] – 4:51
Look At You Now [Andy’s Amarone Afternoon Extended Mix]
Look At You Now [Live In Edinburgh]

The 12″ is also on pink vinyl, with four different versions of the A-side. The remix is by North American Tour opener Walt Disco [?] but Andy’s own extended old school mix also figures in there. Along with a live version. Also 1000 copies but at £15.00/$20.00, this one is already sold out.

OMD: Look At You Now – UK – CD-5 [2024]

Look At You Now – 3:30
Tomorrow Is Today – 3:33
Look At You Now [Andy’s Amarone Afternoon Extended Mix]
Look At You Now [Walt Disco Remix] – 4:51
Look At You Now [Live In Edinburgh]
Look At You Now [inst.]

The CD-5 is of course, the format with the most copies, the most tracks, and also the lowest cost. Go figure. 1500 copies at £8.00/$11.00 and still available. If you really want that pink 12″ [a throwback to Hambi Haralambous [r.i.p.]?] there are still bundles of all three discs available for £30.00/$40.00. So DJs hit that button!

I bought this single without thinking and when I thought about it, I couldn’t even remember the song. When I played it this week, I thought to myself, “oh yeah…that one.” Even the sleeve designs for this entire album campaign have been some of the worst OMD sleeve art ever. So it’s doubly underwhelming. Scuttlebutt has posited “Bauhaus Staircase” as the last OMD album with this poised to be their final single, and if so, they should have put this one out second to have “Kleptocracy” have the final word on the OMD career.

Look At You Now” is not prime OMD goods, but if you think they’ll go off gently into that good night after scoring a number two on the UK album charts with “Bauhaus Staircase, ” I’ve got some prime Asheville property in the flood plain that I’ll let you have cheaply. I think those guys are hooked, but if they make another album, it had better be worth more than the tepid “Bauhaus Staircase.” Meanwhile, they come once more to the shores of North America for their tour next summer. New dates added due to sellouts.

OMD ‘BAUHAUS STAIRCASE’ N. AMERICAN TOUR – 2025

May 2025

June 2025

July 2025

Since there’s no hype that this is the FINAL TOUR!!! I’m guessing the notion of their last album being just that has been quietly tabled following its commercial success. If that were the case, I might be tempted to catch them in Atlanta. The Buckhead Theatre is a nice venue! But we’ll be sitting this one out unless cosmic gears shift of their own accord. The new album only has one song I’d want to hear live, anyway. And I’ll bet that they still don’t play any “English Electric” tracks on this tour as well. I’m also amazed at them once more playing Orlando at the venue that now seem to soak up all of my old fave core collection acts that never used to play in Florida, much less in O-town itself! So let’s appreciate this slow, stately turn of events, now that I’ve managed to move to a different cultural backwater town that will no doubt be getting hologram shows of all of my favorite bands only when I’m gibbering into a drool cup in my dotage.

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Posted in Core Collection, Tourdates, Want List | Tagged 12" remix, 2024, 7" singles, CD single, Colored Vinyl, OMD | 9 Comments

Logan Sky Dropped Twin Singles Last Friday On Bandcamp – Let’s Catch Up!

Posted on October 21, 2024 by postpunkmonk

It’s been almost a year since the “Silver Rain” EP from Steven Jones + Logan Sky and now more material from the duo reach our ears in the form of the “Voltage” maxi-single at the same time as Mr. Sky maps out a new collaboration with Japanese artist RIS-707. The latter was a new artist for my ears, but based on her excellent guitar tone, I hope that this won’t be the last time I sample her talent.

LOGAN SKY + RIS-707

logan sky + RIA-707 everything everywhere endlessly — Etrangers Musique | UK | DL | 2024

Logan Sky + RIS-707: Everything, Everywhere, Endlessly – UK – DL [2024]

Everything, Everywhere, Endlessly – 3:58
Everything, Everywhere, Endlessly [Can’t Get Enough Remix] – 3:58

A rising wave of whirring energy reached its apex and then the loping, Moroderesque Disco beat kicked in and the languid guitar licks of RIS-707 began issuing peals of metallic sound arcing over our heads. The bass synth loops burbled in their circular paths and the sound of good old Simmons drum pads laid down the big beat. Echoes of RIS-707 singing the line “no time for anything” was caught in a repeat loop for the duration of the verse structure.

Then the chorus of “everything [x4], everywhere [x4] circled overhead for the next four bars. Consolidating a minimalist banger from the simplest of materials. And it vacillated to and fro forming a Möbius loop of synthetic Eurosound. The keening guitar of RIS-707 attaining a Paul Reynolds tone that made it very much at home in the greater synthetic structure of the song. Leaving the last “no time…no time…” to reverberate on the fade as finally, RIS-707 sang the word “endlessly” swooping the octave while drenched in eerie vibrato.

The “Can’t Get Enough Remix”‘ was altogether more playful and rhythmic. Substituting a skittery, complex rhythm for the streamlined Eurodisco of the original mix. RIS-707 vocal was dubbed out into even more abstract forms but more room in the mix was made for her guitar. At the mix’s midpoint we learned how it received its name as the first six notes of Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” were sagely interpolated into this mix for a whole new context. Sound bites of RIS-707 speaking Japanese were woven into what constituted the middle eight here.

Logan was branching out in a new shoot here with a collaborator who brought very different energies to the mix. Her website cites “glam rock, punk, new wave, techno, and electronica” as her touchstones and based on what I heard here, New Wave was winning that battle! Mr. Sky will be joining RIS-707 in her native Tokyo to perform this single on a show this October 29th. Gloryoski! Meanwhile, there also this…

STEVEN JONES + LOGAN SKY

Steven Jones + Logan Sky: Voltage EP – UK – DL [2024]

Voltage [2024v] – 3:34
Voltage [I See Your Face] – 6:15
Voltage [I Need My Energy] – 5:26
Voltage [Zim In-Between] – 7:45
Fragmentation – 4:10

“Voltage” was a pulsating Mororder land cruiser from the duo’s “The Electric Eye” album of 2018. At the time commenter Echorich suggested that its best destiny was to be a Visage song, and I chimed in “…with Robin Simon and Steve Barnacle on guitars?” Time has caught up to my musing since this new version added lonesome guitar and fat bass licks courtesy of the duo’s current third spoke Jan Linton. It’s a real pleasure getting what you asked for, even years later!

The new mix fills in the space around Steve Jones’ vocal and if the Eurochill of the original, more minimal mix was sacrificed for something a little more fiery this time then I’ll have to admit that synthesizers and guitars sound better and stronger in each other’s company. Next, two remixes by known collaborators with Jones + Sky manifested. The “I See Your Face” mix scraped off the guitars and sported a spoken word intro from Steven Jones familiar to the original version before settling into a high BPM, almost house-like mix that opted to feature the spoken word vocal with greater prominence.

Then Electro pioneer Man Parrish proffered the “I Need My Energy” remix that got off the starting block on a slightly queasy footing as a distorted, synthetic voice chimed “I need my energy” before it settled into his distinctive hard, minimal mix. Jones vocals were slathered in a heavy chorus effect as the arid beats and the perky sequenced notes reverberated with their staccato energy for a Kraftwerk-like vibe. Interestingly, Parrish kept Lauren Duvall’s original backing vocals in this mix alone.

The final mix was from Jones + Sky and it also gave prominence to Jones’ spoken word segments while keeping the glorious Jan Linton additions to the track prominent in the mix. Think of this one as the old school “extended version” and not the “remix.” The middle eight here was shimmering and glassy with thunderous synthetic keyboard percussion jousting with the guitars in the coda.

Then we had a new Jones + Sky composition with the somber “Fragmentation” reaching for Numan-space in the intro with synths chittering like insects while downtempo piano and curdled string patches took its good sweet time to coalesce into a groove. Spinning apart at the middle eight to have the song plunge into deep space for its chilling coda. Was that real bass guitar I was hearing in there…from Mr. Sky since Jan Linton was not credited for this track? Are you holding out on us Mr. Sky?

Ever since running across Logan Sky on the last Visage album we’ve been following his exploits with interest as he’s been weaving a gloriously analog synthetic tapestry across his solo, group, and collaborative efforts. He’s gone back to an old gem from Jones + Sky and given it to Jan Linton to add more melodic polish into it with his guitars. And then he formed an all new alliance that was something else entirely.

As I await his next new opus with Steven Jones, I’m also charged up with what RIS-707 brings to the fertile ground she’s plowed up with Mr. Sky. I certainly hope that there’s more where this came from. And in the interim, each of these DLs are yours for a scanty £1.00 each, so don’t forget to top up your purchase on Bandcamp. DJ’s hit that button!

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ENDLESSLY

VOLTAGE V.2024

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Posted in Immaterial Music, Record Review | Tagged 2024, Bandcamp, Logan Sky, RIS-707, Steven Jones | 1 Comment

The Metamorph Reaches A Disquieting “Zenith” On New Dystopic Ambient Album

Posted on October 18, 2024 by postpunkmonk

The Metamorph: Zenith – UK – DL/CD/CASS [2024]

Zenith
The Discovery Of Radium
Archipelago, Viewed From Above
The Golden Man
Underwater Cinema
Secondhand Regret

The Metamorph continues apace on his fourth new release so far this year. Putting that charlatan, Bill Nelson very much in the shade! And this time he’s exploring what he describes as a “dystopian ambient” vibe. Well, dystopic times call for dystopic music. Music with much longer timespans that we’re used to from the synths of The Metamorph. rather than his usual concise, two to three minute songs, these compositions really stretch out into much longer frameworks.

A distant hum throbbed on the horizon. The title track, Zenith,” was static with a monolithic implacability. Content to be unfathomable. Suggesting a vast and ancient power at work. A modest whirring was content to break the tension at random moments. On occasions, a plaintive sibilance would issue like steam from fissures in the earth. Minutes later, one might notice that the sonic landscape had completely changed without it ever being immediately apparent. Events like this had plenty of time to slowly manifest in the 15:20 opus before its coda became an inscrutable hum overpowering a distant melody.

The mystery and intrigue of “The Discovery Of Radium” pull us into the environment. Foreboding undercurrents are layered stealthfully during the 9:30 composition. Was the barely perceivable neigh of a horse actually present here? Sibilant electronic coos were content to bubble up from the depths of the anonymous choral patches.

A dramatic synth flourish heralded “Archipelago, Viewed From Above.” Deceptively bright vapors of synths wafted aloft, redolent of an old China Crisis instrumental B-side, but the need to unsettle was triumphant, as the shards of groaning synths and the sound of howling winds erased all hope. “The Golden Man” sported what was almost a bass line in this program until liquid pools of sound and lowing synths set the place for a pianistic melody snaking through the song. Wooshing synthesizers issued like spray from a whale’s blowhole until the main theme manifested on its circuitous route once more.

Thus endeth the DL and CD version of “Zenith” but the extremely limited cassette edition [20 made] provide a pair of bonus tracks that I feel badly even mentioning since the cassette sold out within a few hours of release as The Metamorph’s ardent cult audience are prone to eagerly snatch up his limited editions.

“Underwater Cinema,” besides sporting a John Foxx adjacent title, opened with sonar beeps and the first hints of light in the twilight environment of this album. Shafts of sunlight began to penetrate the nurky depths of the song as an electronic claxon sounded the warning call as is passed from right to left in the soundfield. Making me wonder when Steven Wilson might take a few minutes out from his busy schedule to perform 5.1 mixing honors on some of The Metamorph’s music; this album first? While “Secondhand Regret” was redolent of Robin Guthrie vibe until its midpoint where eruptions of earth shaking sound suggested a behemoth awakening.

The sound was carefully mixed in the soundfield here, rewarding headphone listening to discern the subtle details. Or play it on the living room mains for a broader womb of sound to experience. I’ve listened to this all morning on repeat and it all seems to last mere minutes instead of the near hour it occupies. The first track alone would have been a full side on a Vangelis album of the 70s! But unlike examples of The Vangelis Effect®, there’s no surface noise to compete with the music here. Listen now, below.

color vinyl artwork on the scarce-as-hens-teeth cassette version of “Zenith.”

Fans of The Metamorph may now obtain this music as a 24 /44.1 DL or as a compact disc [with DL] for the same price of £7.00 /$9.12. But the cassette pictured above we can only hope that The Metamorph will re-issue one day with those bonus tracks on a simple CD for us all to hear the full monty of this subtle, yet fascinating program. DJs hit that button!

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