Check out a clip from 30 Days in May featuring the Wes Willenbring track ‘Lost Illusions’.

“Wistful, pretty, and melancholy, Pollard lets loose a truly affecting melody with a wonderfully natural delivery. It’s been said over and over again that he makes it look easy — and even after years and years of songwriting, tracks like ‘You First’ indicate that he’s far from reaching a brick wall.” – Pitchfork on Circus Devils Ringworm Interiors

The album is available now in digital formats (Mp3 and FLAC) and on CD through Hidden Shoal. The CD version of the album comes as a limited edition custom package and includes an immediate digital download of the album in FLAC or MP3 format. The I Razor film is also available for order on DVD (including a DVD+CD deal). Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all the details.

Check out the album and film trailer below to get a taste of the wondrous and challenging sonic and visual feast that is I Razor.

I Razor – Album & Movie Teaser from Hidden Shoal Recordings on Vimeo.

‘Head In The Sand’ streamlines Tangled Star’s inimitable hooks and melodic turns into an immediately addictive and electric slice of slow burn power-pop. The glowing roar of overdriven guitars combined with the song’s endearingly ramshackle sway evokes wide-open roads and cracked sunglasses, with potholes and detours along the way. Craig Hallsworth’s unmistakable vocals and lyrical playfulness, and the incongruous but strangely heartbreaking piano outro, make for classic Tangled Star.

“The rich, gentle roil of sound evidenced on Our Man in Eden Hill, the band’s third overall release, has the same surging, warmly anthemic sound of stellar forebears galore, each sonically different — the Triffids, Died Pretty, perhaps most inevitably the Go-Betweens — but which altogether seem to capture a sense and a style more than might be guessed, something detailed, mournful, and a little crushing even at its strongest…” – All Music Guide on Our Man In Eden Hill

Distilling elements of indie-rock with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weave their own magic place. Through the music’s exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. Their wonderfully titled new collection Let’s Adjourn To The Garden is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. For the uninitiated, Hallsworth has been a mainstay of the Perth indie scene, fronting seminal Australian 80s swamp rockers The Bamboos and going on to front bands such as The Healers, Outstation, The Slow Beings and now Tangled Star.

This is not to be missed folks, so if you’re in or near New York then please check out the details and grab yourself a ticktet here. You can stream the Transpacific Sound Paradise album trailer below and then head to the HSR Store to grab yourself a copy on CD or in digital format. You can also nab Liam Singers latest single ‘Stranger I Know’ for free download here.

“Wistful, pretty, and melancholy, Pollard lets loose a truly affecting melody with a wonderfully natural delivery. It’s been said over and over again that he makes it look easy — and even after years and years of songwriting, tracks like ‘You First’ indicate that he’s far from reaching a brick wall.” – Pitchfork on Circus Devils Ringworm Interiors

“Call an album Medicine Show and some music buffs might expect something very different to this 16 track exercise in edgy atmospherics and controlled noise, but it’s tribute to Todd Tobias’s skill as a producer and arranger that the pace never slackens and that he’s quite effectively produced the audio equivalent of a graphic novel, one that will keep you listening right up until its cataclysmic final moments.” – DOA on Todd Tobias Medicine Show

The album is available for for CD pre-order through Hidden Shoal. The CD version of the album comes as a limited edition custom package and includes an immediate digital download of the album in FLAC or MP3 format. The I Razor film is also available for order on DVD (including a DVD+CD deal). Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all the details.

Check out the album and film trailer below to get a taste of the wondrous and challenging sonic and visual feast that is I Razor.

I Razor – Album & Movie Teaser from Hidden Shoal Recordings on Vimeo.

The five-year gap since Monocle’s debut album Outer Sunset has seen two stunning solo albums by band leader Rich Bennett, which explored a number of areas the Monocle sound hinted at. Transpacific Sound Paradise is the logical and perfect culmination of these progressions. While it’s distinctively a Monocle album, developing the gorgeous template familiar to fans of Outer Sunset, songwriter Rich Bennett brings a different set of influences into focus. On Outer Sunset, it was primarily post-rock, indie electronica and shoegaze, while on Transpacific Sound Paradise there’s Brazilian, new wave, classical, and a soupcon of no wave.

“Essentially the brainchild of Brooklyn based Rich Bennett whose 2010 mini-album on Hidden Shoal Recordings counts as one of that year’s most understated. Monocle’s debut long player Outer Sunset is a transcendental exercise in ambient dream pop where melody rules supreme. Lead single ‘Chances Glide’ features a vocal contribution from Dead Leaf Echo’s Ana Breton and is frankly, sublime.” – Drowned in Sound on single ‘Chances Glide’

Part of their strength as a band is how Monocle re-imagine and craft eclectic musical combinations. Elements of this re-invention include the prominent hand of engineer/co-producer Scott Solter, colourful splashes of brass and strings amid the synths and guitars, and the introduction of Ana Breton (Dead Leaf Echo, ex-Mahogany) on vocals. From the silvery synth stabs that introduce spectacular opening cut ‘Snake’, via the intergalactic cruise-ship groove of stunning single ‘Chances Glide’, to the 21st-century Cocteau Twins vibe of finale ‘Most People Believe’, Transpacific Sound Paradise is a delectable journey through a technologically and melodically advanced pop universe.

Liam Singer – ‘Stranger I Know’

If you’ve not yet given your ears and mind the treasures that Quarrels holds then here’s a path to happiness for you – download the free single ‘Basket Press’, stream the album trailer below, then grab the album for yourself on CD or digital (FLAC + MP3).

The five-year gap since Monocle’s debut album Outer Sunset has seen two stunning solo albums by band leader Rich Bennett, which explored a number of areas the Monocle sound hinted at. Transpacific Sound Paradise is the logical and perfect culmination of these progressions. While it’s distinctively a Monocle album, developing the gorgeous template familiar to fans of Outer Sunset, songwriter Rich Bennett brings a different set of influences into focus. On Outer Sunset, it was primarily post-rock, indie electronica and shoegaze, while on Transpacific Sound Paradise there’s Brazilian, new wave, classical, and a soupcon of no wave.

“Essentially the brainchild of Brooklyn based Rich Bennett whose 2010 mini-album on Hidden Shoal Recordings counts as one of that year’s most understated. Monocle’s debut long player Outer Sunset is a transcendental exercise in ambient dream pop where melody rules supreme. Lead single ‘Chances Glide’ features a vocal contribution from Dead Leaf Echo’s Ana Breton and is frankly, sublime.” – Drowned in Sound on single ‘Chances Glide’

Part of their strength as a band is how Monocle re-imagine and craft eclectic musical combinations. Elements of this re-invention include the prominent hand of engineer/co-producer Scott Solter, colourful splashes of brass and strings amid the synths and guitars, and the introduction of Ana Breton (Dead Leaf Echo, ex-Mahogany) on vocals. From the silvery synth stabs that introduce spectacular opening cut ‘Snake’, via the intergalactic cruise-ship groove of stunning single ‘Chances Glide’, to the 21st-century Cocteau Twins vibe of finale ‘Most People Believe’, Transpacific Sound Paradise is a delectable journey through a technologically and melodically advanced pop universe.

Markus Mehr

Off is available now in digital formats and as a limited edition custom package CD through the Hidden Shoal Store. CD stock is limited so if you are interested the sooner option is better than the later option.

Liam Singer

‘Stranger I Know’ is the first track lifted from Liam Singer’s forthcoming album Arc Iris, out July 11th 2013. The track is currently available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. Singer’s previous album Dislocatia is also available through Hidden Shoal.

Gilded are Matt Rösner and Adam Trainer, both notable composers and performers in the aforementioned scene around Perth, who collaborate together on this album for the first time. Terrane was mostly recorded in the beach community at Myalup, although some of the piano which features strongly throughout the record was recorded in Perth in a room specifically conditioned to provide the optimum environment for the instrument.

When thinking of great experimental music (if you were a child of the Seventies and Eighties at least) I immediately think of Mixmaster Morris or Aphex Twin’s electronica or Philip Glass and Steve Reichat the more orchestral end of the spectrum. Gilded’s music pitches somewhere in the middle, and manages to create soundscapes that, while they are certainly minimal in approach, are nonetheless powerfully evocative. I use the term soundscapes specifically here, as the album title (a geological term apparently*) is highly appropriate because what their music communicates is determinedly about places and environments. The restrained use of repetitions, layered with gradual, patient progressions evoke images of wild and remote places.

The rich texture of their music is partly a function of the care taken in their arrangements, as well as the performance and recording. What adds so much to these compositions is the incredible resonance that they elicit from their acoustic instruments. While piano and guitar feature significantly, the instrumentation is also diverse enough to provide a highly original sound palette. Creating these combinations must have taken immense care and great deal of experimentation, and the overall effect works so well as to produce music that invites a deeply immersive experience.

The eclectic instrumentation is augmented by the use of field recordings. These serve to further strengthen the extent to which the pieces transport you to distant landscapes. Their application is subtle, for example adding a sense of heat shimmer to the scenes that Trainer and Rösner paint with their instruments.

As the tracks build, you may find yourself yearning for more progression in the compositions. The music moves you – but perhaps you want it to move further. However, this is the point of Terrane; it is music which describes places and panoramas – movement is not required and its simplicity is part of its appeal. Fundamentally, what makes this record stand out is the beauty that is achieved through its diverse arrangements. This gives it a richness which encourages listeners to explore the layers and textures, which pleases both aesthetically and through its invention. This music is original and well made, the like of which I have not heard before. – Jim Bennett”

-FREQ

A very small number of songwriters take the trouble to think like this. Brian Wilson and Prince, obviously. Jeff Lynne, Sufjan Stephens and Stephen Merritt, perhaps. Tim Smith, definitely – the interplay of vocal parts on Stranger I Know particularly recalls Smith’s pastoral work with Sea Nymphs or the more delicate moments on Cardiacs records as worked out with William D. Drake (another comparison that can be thrown into the circle). At work in his current hideaway in Queens, Liam Singer belongs to this world of the total song-composers: the ones for whom genre barriers are predominantly bubbles of resistance, and for whom form and content are inseparable.

Stranger I Know sounds like many things. Its links to American minimalism are clear in its collection of elegant cycles (from oompah bass to arching cello; shakers and flute; a mathematical glockenspiel climb) as they move against each other, interplaying in uplifting counter-rhythms. Beyond that, Liam’s omnivorous musical diet is made clear in the breadth of arrangement and intonation, stretching from romantic piano to staccato gamelan pot-clunk. Each instrument comes sheathed in its own immediate mood and pace, hanging onto its place in the dance by a skilful fingertip: just enough to snag a little tension and independence; just enough to flirt.

Shadowed and overflown (as ever) by the spectral caroling of soprano voices, Liam sings in a tone of wonder – and of determination. It’s all a little archaic: a spiritual love ballad with swaying time, an elusive subject and a courtly seriousness which ultimately fails to mask its fervour. “Stranger I know / thy face / from a dream. / All night I’ve yearned to hear that song. / – Once, it sang me.” There are hints of transformation and liberation here – “What was / before me / is now / behind me. / Strings fall / off of / a body,” – but devotion and freedom end up so closely wound together that there’s nothing between them. Liam finally stands set loose on the verge of… something. It’s unclear, it’s unsure, it could even be an end; but it’s welcomed, and while Liam’s left some things behind, he’s not alone. “Saw God’s / features – they / can keep ‘em all. / There is no / voice to follow / now. / And as the / noise / takes over, you / just hold your / breath, I’ll hold / mine too.”

Stranger I Know is also a little exercise in time-travel, working a gentle auger down through several generations of American tune and peeping through the hole. Liam’s previous songs have been beautifully arranged, evoking a classical ambience. This one – balancing a subtle, minimal complexity with fleeting kisses at its reference points – ups the game. In its shifting and its overlaying, you can hear migration at work. A little dose of romantic Europe dapples a line of American mountains: the breathless chorus (its rhythm offset from the dreamy verse) steps in like an old-country village dance setting up against the pistons and presses of a little factory in the hills. Behind the tinkling delicacy, that bass drum which comes in for the bridge hint at a barn-dance stomp: Shaker Loops to hometown hoedown.

All of this activity is encapsulated within less than three minutes. In, out, open. A little wonder.”

- Misfit City

- BluesBunny

The curious postscript to all this is that ‘post-rock’ stuck around and became a genre of sorts: mostly or entirely instrumental music, played by a rock ensemble, lots of effects, often with some sort of classical instrumentation: a violin, a cello or, in Apricot Rail’s case, a flute and clarinet. It may not be popular or critically admired or cool, but it has its audience and a network. There are post-rock bands in every Australian city and, like folk music, they all sound a little alike. I find it fascinating because folk art usually exists to maintain a verbal/lyrical conversation, but what do these bands have to say to each other and the people who like them?

All this is a bit much to dump on Apricot Rail’s shoulders. The Perth six-piece lay out an extremely concise and textured second album with Quarrels, and for the most part it manages to evade many of my least favourite parts of post-rock. There are plenty of chiming harmonics and clean, delayed guitars, gently shifting arpeggios and a glockenspiel lead, but the band also sneak in a few surprises: the droned outro of ‘Cicadas Part Two’; the super intricate structure, almost sampled feel of ‘Third Balloon’; the weird electronics of ‘Eked’; and a dedication to shorter songs. The album was mixed by Scott Solter (Superchunk, The Mountain Goats) with a view to maximum headphone euphoria and the stereo spectrum is given a thorough workout, the band cutting in and out, left to right and back and forth. It comes off as beautiful and exacting, if a little cold. So exactly right then.

Apricot Rail – ‘Basket Press’ by Hidden Shoal Recordings

Dialling into Quarrels makes a lot of sense, especially if I look out the window at sunny suburbia. Apricot Rail share none of Mogwai’s metal or Euro-club/pub tendencies, nor much of Explosions in the Sky’s American bombast, and very few post-rock bands in recent years have tried on the literary expanses of Spiderland. Instead, this band inhabits a world similar to how I see Perth in my mind’s eye: a very pretty and bright city by the ocean, the sort of place anyone would desperately want to live if they hadn’t grown up there (and if mining money hadn’t made dinner for two an upper-middle-class expense).

It’s a tight fit between sound and place. I think bands like Apricot Rail are about approximating the pastoral splendour and the clean suburban streets of Australia, something that might be problematic if it weren’t so niche, and in any case it’s something many of us live within every day. In a rock culture obsessed with painting Australia as a swamp or southern-gothic wasteland or a retched sprawl of rundown sharehouses, how can a small measure of prettiness be such a crime?”

- Mess + Noise

- Drowned in Sound

Largely recorded over a four-day spell during January 2012 in an isolated farmhouse in Western Australia, Quarrels offers a bounty of splendid songcraft and arrangements. The second piece, “Another Roof, Another Proof,” captures the band’s softer side and lightness of touch in beautiful manner, and again demonstrates the rich range of instrumental colour the sextet is capable of bringing to an arrangement. “Cicadas…Part Two” likewise spotlights the band’s softer side when a lovely waltz episode appears at the song’s center.

Folk melodies etched by electric guitar and voice (“Come to Glasgow, my darling / And we’re never coming home again”) lend “Running with an Egg on a Spoon” an appealingly rustic and nostalgic feel, and while I’ve not been to “Surry Hills,” based on the luscious setting evoked by the band, it’s definitely a place I’d welcome visiting, especially when wide open skies and soul-replenishing natural air are conjured so vividly by it. A brief foray into guitar raucousness notwithstanding (“The Sunlight Experiments”), Quarrels impresses as a twelve-song collection that makes a more-than-strong case for Apricot Rail’s particular blend of instrumental pop and post-rock.”

- Apricot Rail

The opening minutes find Off in ambient-drone mode with a hazy loop cycling endlessly until a piano enters six minutes into the piece, at first tentatively as if challenging the ambient elements for the spotlight but then more assertively. The electronic and acoustic elements establish a truce of sorts as one alternates with the other and Mehr wraps the piano in a thick blanket of symphonic synth and field recordings textures. A hint of classical elegance attends the piano playing, which is generally ponderous in mood, but the listener’s attention abruptly shifts when a transporting synthetic swoon emerges at the twelve-minute mark. Though the moment occurs early in the piece, it’s captivating nonetheless, especially when it imbues the piece with such a dream-like aura. The piano re-surfaces, its melancholic character a natural complement to the slow-motion context within which it’s embedded. Time feels suspended as the mass, which fizzles and sparkles with a kind of clandestine grandeur, rises and falls, its tension released by Mehr ever so deliciously.

Halfway through, an undulating vocal choir emerges, before the piano takes center stage, the other elements receding so much that the creak of the piano bench becomes audible. The moment passes quickly, however, and a new episode, one heavy on field recordings of vocal choirs, moves to the forefront. An industrial quality begins to characterize the recording, with low-pitched noises fizzing at a dull roar alongside the vocals until the swooning synth figures resurface to point the recording home, albeit at a slow tempo that grows steadily slower as the end nears. That Mehr is able to sustain the music’s effect so expertly over so many minutes is a testament to his sound-sculpting abilities and sense of control. The literal culmination of his trilogy project, Off offers to the listener a wholly immersive experience that he/she will likely want to re-experience many times over.”

- Textura

In other hands a 42 minute extended synth improvisation might prove over indulgent or even unlistenable, but Mehr’s timing and his compositional skills prevent the piece from sliding out of its focus. When the percussive breaks appear amidst the drone waves and piano motifs, they’re placed not to boost the sequenced sound to club trance levels, although Mehr could and probably does produce music that’s more designed for crowd pleasing : instead, the percussion signifies tonal changes of emphasis as Off develops its fractalised structure and while it remains based around a repetitive synth riff, Mehr draws as much as he is able from his sequential templates and added effects are used sparingly.

This structured, verging upon minimal approach to what is a lengthy piece of experimentation is exactly what makes Off work. Mehr is too experienced a musician to take significant risks with his material, but Off is unquestionably a work which makes demands upon its listeners. That it doesn’t seem overlong is a measure of Mehr’s own skills and as album length ambient electronic epics go, it is again an accessibly scored work, avoiding too much in the way of atonality and retaining a melodic core throughout. Aside from that, it’s an album you might need to put some time aside to appreciate fully. Off may qualify as ambient but it’s definitely something more than just elevator muzak.”

- DOA

Download ‘Blue Ceiling’ for free from the Hidden Shoal Store, stream it on SoundCloud and watch the beautiful music video for the track on Youtube or Vimeo.

”Jo Durbeck’s music is welcoming and gentle, even as it challenges. Deuxieme Bureau explores the positive sounds that are always there, even in the silence, even in sadness” – Foxy Digitalis

Jumpel’s forthcoming album Bloc4 (June 4 2013) centres around the elevated yet lonely world of a tower block, each track poetically investigating its multi-faceted elements and spaces. The songs were written throughout 2012, with ideas collated, reviewed, developed and remixed. Following the wonderful results of his collaboration with Chloë March on Europa single ‘Edinburgh’, Joe Dürbeck presented the ideas for Bloc4 to March and invited her to select tracks and develop vocal ideas. The results are stunning – and offer a perfect counterbalance to the more melancholic, spacious instrumental pieces.

Jumpel – ‘Blue Ceiling’ from Hidden Shoal Recordings on Vimeo.

The release is available now as a limited edition 10″ vinyl as well as CD and digital formats. Check out availability in the Hidden Shoal Store and while you’re there, don’t forget to check out Solter’s stunning solo release One River.

Check out all Markus Mehr releases including On and his latest, Off, at the Hidden Shoal Store.

Markus Mehr – ‘Only For a While’

“Queens-based chamber pop artist Liam Singer delivers another deliriously beautiful adventure in song composition, filled with angelic choirs, tripping xylophone, thudding double bass and solemn notes of cello. This tune, for fans of Patrick Watson, Sufjan Stevens and Patrick Wolf is taken from Singer’s forthcoming sophomore album, Arc Iris.” – Beat Magazine

Grab your free download of the track from the Hidden Shoal Store now.

- Beat Magazine

“Piano intros always get me. So too has All The Good Ones Are Gone the latest single release from Circus Devils, led by Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard. Steeped in melancholy, this is the first track to come from the I Razor soundtrack which features works from brothers Tim and Todd Tobias (on piano and synth here) and Circus Devils.” – Ken McGuire on Circus Devils ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’

Circus Devils ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ is available now for free download ahead of the I Razor soundtrack release on the 16th May. Apricot Rail’s stunning sophomore album Quarrels is available now in CD and digital formats and the first single ‘Basket Press’ is also available for free download.

Apricot Rail – ‘Running With An Egg On A Spoon’

Circus Devils ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’

Thankfully, Monocle is far from a sleep narcotic. Released by the always awesome Australian label Hidden Shoal, the band chases sweeping synth lines with dance centered bass and vocal melodies. This may be Dream Pop, but it would fit well into any party that reaches the 23rd hour and exposes the emotional passion only the evening hours pooled with alcohol can construct. “Chances Glide” only needs a moment’s glance to recognize its pop authenticity, and with that, a simple three minute musical bliss.”

- SpaceRockMountain

Monocle

“…Released by the always awesome Australian label Hidden Shoal, the band chases sweeping synth lines with dance centered bass and vocal melodies. This may be Dream Pop, but it would fit well into any party that reaches the 23rd hour and exposes the emotional passion only the evening hours pooled with alcohol can construct. “Chances Glide” only needs a moment’s glance to recognize its pop authenticity, and with that, a simple three minute musical bliss.” – SpaceRockMountain

The track comes from Monocle’s forthcoming sophomore album Transpacific Sound Paradise (May 1st). Download ‘Chances Glide’ for free from the Hidden Shoal Store.

Monocle ‘Chances Glide’

“Here’s a guy who can begin with a keyboard refrain all but Bachian in its playful convolution (in what appears to be 6/4 time no less), find a melody to sing on top of the refrain, add a chorus too severely syncopated ever to sing along with, float woodwinds and angelic backing vocals through the artfully conceived soundscape, use a cello without showing off, and wrap the whole enterprise up in less than three minutes. And it’s seriously beautiful.” – Fingertips Music

‘Stranger I Know’ is lifted off Liam Singer’s forthcoming fourth album Arc Iris (July 2013). The track is available as a free download from the Hidden Shoal Store.

Liam Singer ‘Stranger I Know’

Here’s a guy who can begin with a keyboard refrain all but Bachian in its playful convolution (in what appears to be 6/4 time no less), find a melody to sing on top of the refrain, add a chorus too severely syncopated ever to sing along with, float woodwinds and angelic backing vocals through the artfully conceived soundscape, use a cello without showing off, and wrap the whole enterprise up in less than three minutes. And it’s seriously beautiful. As the lyrics glide in and out of comprehension, there’s an air of something out of time here. The title refers not to a “stranger I know” but is the beginning of a sentence addressing this stranger, and as such conveys the flavor of some centuries-old ballad (an impression reinforced by the apparent use of the pronoun “thy”). At the same time there’s something not only modern but brand-new seeming in the song’s sprightly lift and distinctive construction. A winner start to finish.

“Stranger I Know” is the first track made available from the album Arc Iris, which is scheduled for release in July by Hidden Shoals Recordings. Singer was born in Oregon and is based in Queens, NY; this will be his fourth album. He was previously featured on Fingertips in September 2010.”

Fingertips Music

There are still a small amount of of the limited edition CD release of Off so please head to the Hidden Shoal Store to secure your copy. If digital is your thing we also have the the album available in mp3 & FLAC formats.

Markus Mehr Off (excerpt)

“Off, as with the two preceding parts [In & On], is available as a download & a stylishly designed CD-R in digipak on Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings… Markus Mehr, a native of Augsburg, is surely  one of the currently most exciting discoveries in atmospheric drone & ambient around at the moment….The strength lies again in the immense intensity of his soundscapes – the shimmering, rising and falling drones produce through their multiple layers like a swell, almost wall-like intoxicating effect, yet without being destructive. Elements are subtley changing between the poles of enraptured relaxation and dissonant confusion, of beauty and menace. In this universe of sound the ear moves from detail to detail and loses itself more and more into a trance…Markus Mehrs Off is an absolutely fitting end to a consistently intense trilogy. It finds no noisy climax, but instead pours out in a slow trickle. Off combines all of Mehr’s strengths, connecting all three parts together and proves once again the international class of Markus Mehr. Absolutely recommended!”

- Cultural Terrorism

‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ is the first official cut from the soundtrack to I Razor, the no-budget experimental feature film directed by Todd Tobias. The track finds Circus Devils at their most introspective, as Robert Pollard’s unmistakably commanding and affecting vocals and wonderful lyrical play roll out over beds of melancholic sequenced piano and synth courtesy of Todd Tobias. ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ soundtracks the final sequence of I Razor, providing a beautifully reflective and suitably dreamy cinematic finale. This is some of Pollard and Tobias’s most nuanced work to date.

“Wistful, pretty, and melancholy, Pollard lets loose a truly affecting melody with a wonderfully natural delivery. It’s been said over and over again that he makes it look easy — and even after years and years of songwriting, tracks like ‘You First’ indicate that he’s far from reaching a brick wall.” – Pitchfork on Ringworm Interiors

The I Razor soundtrack, to be released by Hidden Shoal in May 2013, comprises work by Todd Tobias and Circus Devils, featuring vocals from Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) as well as instrumental versions of some of the band’s existing songs. The album is a cinematic feast within itself, uncompromising, redemptive and always engaging.

Circus Devils – ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’

For the uninitiated I Razor is the no-budget experimental feature film directed by Todd Tobias. The I Razor soundtrack, to be released by Hidden Shoal in May 2013, comprises work by Todd Tobias and Circus Devils featuring  vocals from Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices) as well as instrumental versions of some of the bands existing songs. The album is a cinematic feast within itself, uncompromising, redemptive and always engaging.

‘Stranger I Know’ first tip-toes tentatively along your spine, before climbing into your chest and delicately massaging your heart with ghostly choral voices and chiming, resonant melodies. It exhibits all the hallmarks of Liam Singer’s swooningly beautiful musical universe, while demonstrating how a pop song can still introduce unique, dynamic musical juxtapositions in under three minutes.

‘Stranger I Know’ is the first track to be taken from Liam Singer’s new album Arc Iris, the follow-up to the acclaimed Dislocatia. Once again produced by Scott Solter, Arc Iris is rich in wondrous, resonant details and dizzyingly deft songcraft. It’s rare to find such arresting compositional talent married not only to an innate sense of melody and emotion, but also to a keen sense of texture and atmosphere. Arc Iris merges these elements and blurs any lines that divide them. A sonic collaboration with Scott Solter, the album evolved over the course of ten months, with the extensive layering and tweaking of sounds and arrangements, including the invention of an electronically-aided glass harmonica! Sonically, the album exists in a sort of hallucinatory haze, influenced by both The Soft Bulletin and Pet Sounds, yet resembling neither.

Vocals, while sparse, only serve to accentuate certain melodies without playing an integral part in the sound as a whole.  This is immediately evident from the opening bars of the very first track.  Another thing that stands out with this release is that this band is not afraid to experiment with lullaby-style electronic harmonies or unconventional instrumentation.  More than one track includes strings and several feature full-on horn sections.  This creates yet another interesting dynamic in the music.  During Cicadas…Part II, a horn section almost had me convinced that I was listening to an odd rendering of The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields.  This was a rather astute observation considering that I’m not a Beatles fan.

This album almost literally renders me speechless.  It is that good.  There is something in this music for everyone.  I can’t find a single beef with the flow of this album.  “Quarrels” is certainly an early candidate to make our year-end list.  This is extremely impressive music from a relatively unknown band.  The music beautiful and uplifting in ways that most post-rock fails or does not care to attempt.  If you like instrumental music of any kind, you MUST check this out…”

- Think Muzik

- Chain D.L.K.

It’s hard to do justice to the range of sounds you’ll find here – tremendous, rumbling, industrial atmospherics forming most of the backdrop; plaintiff, space-age whines; kosmische melodies; classical piano; a choir of voices. For something that’s so abstract on paper – and so steadfast and glacial in its pacing – it connects brilliantly with the listener, prompting all kinds of emotional and philosophical responses. It makes you wish some film maker would use the music as a template for an exploration of the origin, or the meaning, of space, earth, life, the cosmos – it would undoubtedly make for an epic, soaring, awe-inspiring journey. ”

- Underground of Happiness

The five-year gap since Monocle’s debut album Outer Sunset has seen two stunning solo albums by band leader Rich Bennett, which explored a number of areas the Monocle sound hinted at. Transpacific Sound Paradise is the logical and perfect culmination of these progressions. First single ‘Chances Glide’ exudes everything that is exciting about the new album – Rich Bennett’s hypnotic lead vocal is backed by the ethereal coos of Ana Breton (Dead Leaf Echo, formerly of Mahogany), bathed in shimmering guitars and synths, all clothed in the multi-dimensional splendour of in-demand sonic magician Scott Solter. ‘Chances Glide’ is the sound of The Beach Boys as intergalactic cruise-ship band.

“… what makes Outer Sunset so striking is how readily familiar elements get used in a way that’s just distinct and thrilling enough… The root of it may be the sense of controlled melodrama and clever arrangements at the heart of songs like ‘Agent Earle,’ which owes far more to, say, mid-period Roxy Music than to the more obvious sonic signifiers… Outer Sunset makes for a promising listen.” – All Music Guide on Outer Sunset

Download ‘Chances Glide’ for free from the Hidden Shoal Store and keep your eye out for Transpacific Sound Paradise which drops 1 May 2013 with pre-orders in April.

“Listening to Off is a challenge, but it’s an incredibly rewarding one. The balance is tricky, because the opposite ends of this equation are the far ends, but Mehr makes its work perfectly. You are pummeled with the unyielding intrusion of blatantly non-musical noise, and you are salved with the reassuring solidity of the piano, and somehow it makes sense. Yes, it requires an open approach to music. If you like it pat and simple, this won’t work for you. And maybe it’s not supposed to. The triptych as a whole has been slim on easy access points, but that’s also a hallmark of Mehr’s work–he’s not easy to listen to. He is, however, well worth the effort, and Off is perhaps Mehr at his most stunning.” – Hypangogue

Stream Off and get your copy of the limited edition CD release or digital package here.

Listening to Off is a challenge, but it’s an incredibly rewarding one. The balance is tricky, because the opposite ends of this equation are the far ends, but Mehr makes its work perfectly. You are pummeled with the unyielding intrusion of blatantly non-musical noise, and you are salved with the reassuring solidity of the piano, and somehow it makes sense. Yes, it requires an open approach to music. If you like it pat and simple, this won’t work for you. And maybe it’s not supposed to. The triptych as a whole has been slim on easy access points, but that’s also a hallmark of Mehr’s work–he’s not easy to listen to. He is, however, well worth the effort, and Off is perhaps Mehr at his most stunning.”

-Hypangogue

Almost four years after the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut album, Perth-based multi-instrumental pop sextet Apricot Rail return with their sophomore album Quarrels, which features the singles ‘Basket Press’ and ‘Surry Hills’. A foray into more experimental territory, Quarrels features lusher, denser instrumentation, is rich in ideas yet toys with new levels of restraint. The band’s trademark harmonic guitar passages and syncopation sit beneath languid brass and woodwind, balanced by glitchy electronica, dramatic crescendos and opium-infused oriental explorations; slow, meandering waltzes give way to moments of ethereal lightness and beauty. This music transcends fads and trends to appeal to anyone drawn to beautiful, supple songcraft.

“Quarrels envelopes the listener like a rain curtain, with Rail’s six individual parts contracting into a tourniquet with exactly the kind of apparent, balmy temperance that actually masks rigid and almost brilliant perfectionism. Simply and quietly, this is an incredible album.” – Drum Media

Apricot Rail – ‘Running With an Egg on a Spoon’

If that wasn’t enough to power your rocket then Rich and Ana also have a special surprise – a sneak peak of the new Monocle single due to drop on Thursday this week (28th Feb). “Chances Glide’ is the first cut from Monocle’s forthcoming album Transpacific Sound Paradise (co-produced and engineered by Scott Solter). The album will shine its light upon the world on the 1st May 2013. In the meanwhile don’t forget to check out Monocle’s sublime previous full length Outer Sunset and Rich Bennett‘s stunning solo outings.

‘Please Hold The Elevator’ is hosted exclusively on MixCloud. The first episode is also available for streaming. Click here to check the show out!

To get you in the mood we have a music video (Youtube, Vimeo) to share for album track  ‘Let’s Go Back to Bed’ by Todd Tobias and the Circus Devils. The video features footage from the film and provides a window into the visual and sonic landscape that is I Razor.  The video precedes the first official single to be released off the album, ‘All The Good Ones Are Gone’ by Circus Devils, available on 14 March as a free download.

Apricot Rail

“Quarrels envelopes the listener like a rain curtain, with Rail’s six individual parts contracting into a tourniquet with exactly the kind of apparent, balmy temperance that actually masks rigid and almost brilliant perfectionism. Simply and quietly, this is an incredible album.” – Drum Media

Quarrels is also one of this week’s RTRFM feature albums so be sure to listen in as you can win yourself one of 5 copies of the album!

Apricot Rail - ‘Running With an Egg on a Spoon’

The album is largely instrumental, and breaking it down commits a fundamental error in prying Mayuka Juber’s woodwind from Jack Quirk’s glockenspiel and the unifying fabric of Nock’s guitar. Quarrel’s first single Surry Hills provides solid ground for an introduction to the record: although superficially indistinct from the album with its cascading arpeggio (a guitar with reverb perhaps, although digital production makes it all a guess), operating as part of a larger whole its place becomes clear. Ibis Snowstorm is concise but immaculate, at only 2:36, it’s a shorter track, but with the precision and subtlety of a mosquito-bite. Third Ballroom counterpoints Ibis, resulting in a rural, melancholic grandeur. Eked is gossamer and sparse as a paddock at 5am, Dore Strach is a spiralling, whirling conclusion.

Etherial and compelling are not adjectives applied to this record with the intention they’ll be bubble-wrapped alongside a styrofoam press release for Yet Another Up And Coming Band That Actually Isn’t: Quarrels envelopes the listener like a rain curtain, with Rail’s six individual parts contracting into a tourniquet with exactly the kind of apparent, balmy temperance that actually masks rigid and almost brilliant perfectionism. Simply and quietly, this is an incredible album.”

- Drum Media, Callum Twigger

- Sunken Sounds

- Think Muzik

- The Underground of Happiness

- Dom Alessio, Triple J

- Mess + Noise