Arch Hill News for November
Look out for the new Grand Prix album out on Monday the 15th of November, plenty of Ghostplane, Boxcar Guitars, Pine and Bachelorette gigs, Head for the Hill CDs on website and Arch Hill has a new distributor.
Grand Prix - “The Way of the Racer” album out on the 15th of November. On November the 15th Grand Prix will be releasing their second album the Way of the Racer on Arch Hill Recordings, distributed in NZ via Rhythm Method.
In late 2004, with a new line up, a new set of songs, and new attire, the band headed into Wellington’s Inca studios to begin recording “The Way of the Racer” with Mike Gibson. They recorded all their songs live in the studio – meaning what you hear on record is what you hear coming from the stage – there’s no studio trickery hiding musical inadequacy on this album. And as Phil Reed (Real Groove) writes, they have a “kick-ass live set”…which means Grand Prix are a pretty tidy combo. Why, you may ask, are all the songs about racing cars? Well, a few years ago and faced with writers block, songwriter Andrew McKenzie came to the realisation that racing was the perfect metaphor for life. Speed, victory, loss, death, love, honor, power, going in circles; all the grand narratives – they are perfectly encapsulated in the dusty oily world of racing car culture. And the more Andrew explored the highs and lows of this super octane world, the more the inspiration flowed, the more the songs kept coming. In other words, less equaled more.
NZ Musician writes: “A new band line up introduces trumpet, drums and bass, which provides a rich and full sonic experience while drawing upon some Mexican-flavoured elements that add a distinct edge to the otherwise country genre they obviously ride in...with musical interest and lyrical allure it’s well worth getting” and A Low Hum describes their sound as “While the first release could be described as 'country' music, 'The Way of the Racer' is far more Morricone/ Mariachi than Weissberg /Grand Ole Opry, that is to say, more Nuevo Laredo than Tennessee and it's that south of the border element that defines Grand Prix's latest work.”
Listen out for the first singles “The Way of the Racer” and “Walking on the Surface of the Moon” on the radio, or the video for “The Way of the Racer” - which you can watch at the Arch Hill website at www.archhill.co.nz
Grand Prix will be having a slightly early release gig in Wellington at Indigo on Thursday 3rd of November. They will also be playing shows in Auckland and Wellington in December.
Upcoming November Gigs
Thurs 3rd November – Ghostplane at Short Sets (11.30pm) – Kings Arms - Auckland Thurs 3rd November – Grand Prix – Indigo – Wellington
Fri 4th November – Ghostplane, with Odessa – Leigh Sawmill – Leigh
Sat 5th November - Ghostplane , with Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns – Odeon – Auckland
Sat 5th November – Pine – Nelson Arts Festival, Trafalgar Square - Nelson
Thurs 10th November – Bachelorette with Stefan (Mestar) - Shanghai Lils – Auckland Fri 11 November – Boxcar Guitars at Cheap Thrills with The Rainy Days and The Whipping Cats – the Masonic - Auckland
Sat 12th November – Mestar – Edens Bar – Auckland
Sat 12th November - Ghostplane (loud show) & Over the Atlantic – Happy 9pm
Sun 13th November - Ghostplane (quiet show) & Good Laika – Happy 7pm
Thurs 17th November – White Swan, with the Broken Heartbreakers – Dogs Bollix – Auckland
More upcoming gigs in December
Free copy of the ‘Head for the Hill’ compilation with any purchase over $25 on the Arch Hill website If you didn’t make it along to the gigs in October then you can get one of the limited edition “Head for the Hill” compilation CDs (with poster and sticker) with any purchase of over $25 on the Arch Hill website (www.archhill.co.nz) There aren’t heaps left so get in quick. The CD features the following tracks
1. Ghostplane - Final Destination (previously unreleased) 2. Grand Prix - The Way of the Racer 3. David Kilgour - G Major 7 4. Boxcar Guitars - This Heat, This Heat 5. Pine - Overground 6. Punches - Four Feet (previously unreleased) 7. Bachelorette - Down in the Street 8. White Swan - Down in the Valley (previously unreleased) 9. Fang - Crystal Clear 10. David Mulcahy - T-Shirt Nirvana (previously unreleased) 11. Salon Kingsadore - Loma (previously unreleased). The website is also always being updated with new tracks, videos, news, releases, blogs etc, so keep your eye on it.
Arch Hill changes distribution to Rhythm Method
Due to the term expiry of our distribution agreement with FMR, Arch Hill has decided to change distribution to Rhythm Method – and they very generously agreed to have us! FMR staff have been very good to Arch Hill and we would particularly like to thank Dylan, Paul, Charlotte, Richard, Ngaire, Darryl, Ashley, Ingrid, Dorothy, Kim, Wayne, and Jonathan for all their help and wish them all the best. We would particularly like to say thanks to Dylan Pellett who has helped well above and beyond the call of duty - with advice, tolerance and good will. We are also really pleased to be hooking up with the good folks at Rhythm Method, who not only have some of the coolest international indies on their roster (Matador, Sub-Pop etc), but have had some pretty good successes with locals acts like Fat Freddy’s Drop and others.
...below are some reviews for the recently released Boxcar Guitars, Ghostplane and Bachelorette CDs
Reviews:
BOXCAR GUITARS – LAMP LIGHT EP (Released 19th September)
REAL GROOVE – George Kay (4/5 Stars)
Auckland’s alt. Country Boxcar Guitars’ Lamp Light EP definitely falls into the (intermediary between the abbreviated art of the single and the expansive testimony of the Long Player) category. Not quite ready for the examination of an album, they’ve parceled their rural charms into a six track foray that was essentially recorded raw and live in a dining room somewhere in Hellensville. Centered around the undoubted talents of singer/guitarist Ben Maitland, the jewel in their crown is undoubtedly “My Love is Blue”, a gorgeous melodic gem that wouldn’t disgrace Gene Clark built around John Segovia’s aching pedal steel and Maitland’s own forlorn delivery. Elsewhere, “This Heat, This Heat” is a piece of jaunty country-blues picking, leaving “Broken Hills” to map out a colonial blues scenario and “the Ballad of Ma Ave” to do the Neil Young Crazy Horse-sustained-notes/crunching guitars/grunge thing. Harmonies, and the live in a hall feel are carried by the bittersweet “Fading, Love is in Decline” before the band departs with the “Grand” more electrically charged version of “My Love is Blue”. Bring on the album.
RIP IT UP – Narelle Jackson (3.5/5 Stars)
There’s a timeless simplicity and purity about the Boxcar Guitars’ alt-country sound – like someone’s mum stored it safely in a tupperware container a couple of decades back, and only recently re-opened it. Five of these six tracks were recorded during a week long stay at Helensville’s historic Grand Hotel, with Ed cake recording and mixing two tracks (This Heat, This Heat and Broken Hill). Bearing more than a passing resemblance to early Phil Judd-era Split Enz is Fading, Love is on Decline. Radio favorite My Love is Blue is featured here in duplicate (the second version a comparatively raw and hurried version). This is an endearingly stripped back and spacious debut.
GHOSTPLANE - BENEATH THE SLEEPY LAGOON (Released 5th September)
THE DOMINION POST By Simon Sweetman (4.5/5 stars)
It's been a long time coming for Ghostplane's debut long-player. Their ep, The Panther Valley Country Club, was an assured debut, but they've raised the bar here. Thanks, in part, must go to new member Mike Scudder, whose trombone, keyboards and percussion add textures to the alt-country meets indie-rock song templates. Touchstones are sometimes obvious with traces of Beck and The Beta Band permeate Lazy Bones, but most often hinted at on Southern Hill, which combines the feel of Calexico's musical tumbleweeds with the indie Kiwi approach of Mestar and Fang. Holy Mother uses shimmering feedback to achieve its Daydream Nation-styled goal; Guided By Lights takes its time to move past gentle atmospherics, a Thurston Moore-like voice is eventually joined by hushed band harmonies. Wash of Gold is a piano-driven snatch of Wilco (circa Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and the closing Half A Glass carries this tone on, with flashes of the earlier Uncle tupdelo, a sleepy voice even suggesting the 3Ds. Elsewhere, there are traces of The Pixies, Superette, The Mutton Birds and - to my ears - Robert Wyatt (In Blue Light) but to mention too many other band names suggests a magpie approach, when, actually, Ghostplane are so much more than the sum of many disparate influences. These tunes are lovely and well-realised, perfectly executed and like their local contemporaries, The Phoenix Foundation, Ghostplane is a band that has worked hard to consistently hone its approach. In my opinion, though a different beast in many ways, Beneath The Sleepy Lagoon should sit alongside Phoenix's Pegasus as one of the albums of the year. And it's a bonus that we can consider them locals.
SALIENT, by Tessa Prebble (4.5/5 stars) I have been charting the progress of band Ghostplane (formerly Dana Éclair) over the last couple of years and with their latest release, the full-length album Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon, something seems to have clicked into place. That’s not to say that their previous effort, The Panther Valley Country Club, was something you could look down your nose at but, like a good wine, Ghostplane are definitely improving with age. Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon has all the indie pop hooks, lilting alt-country vocals and sense of quirk that you might expect from Ghostplane, but there is something else that wasn’t there before. It seems like between Panther Valley and Sleepy Lagoon someone tripped over the missing piece of the puzzle. It’s not something I can really put my finger on, so I’ll have to rely on my lame puzzle metaphor. But whatever it was, it has resulted in a sexier, darker sound that you could picture listening to as you drove in a convertible through the desert. In particular, “Silver Culture” is one to listen out for with its hypnotic bass lines and gentle coaxing vocals. Another stops-your-typing-its-so-good track is “Guided By Lights”, which sounds like some tragic fairytale, delving into murky depths of fragility. I just can’t get enough of that song. I have always thought Ghostplane were on the verge of something. I’m so glad it turned out to be this. If you don’t believe me, check them out yourself on Friday at Indigo.
SUNDAY STAR TIMES by Grant Smithies (4/5 stars)
Wellington band Ghostplane's debut Panther Valley Country Club EP (Arch Hill 2004) was a splendid thing, but it's eclectism annoyed as many people as it delighted. Those who found the records multiple personalities distressing will be relieved to hear that the new Ghostplane album Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon is more sonically co-herient. The stylistic soup has boiled down to a compound of indie guitar noise and backwards country twangery, but the sound is rich in wonderful wonky arrangements, unexpected instrumentation (trombone, moog synthesiser, vibraphone, surf guitar, beer bottles) and twisted wit. Achilles Botes and Mark Dryburgh continue to impress as songwriters, investing their songs with strong visual imagery and a sinister emotional undertow. You'll hear fragments of Calexico, Pavement, Lou Reed and Lambchop in there, but when then band punks out, it does it in a distinctlly local way. Forget the Southern Gothic sound of the American Deep South; here we are witnessing the birth of it's Antipodean offshoot - South Pacific gothic.
NZ HERALD, reviewed by Russell Baillie (4/5 stars)
Like their close capital-city cousins the Phoenix Foundation, Ghostplane have a rare ability - they don't just deliver a bunch of songs, they create their own sound world. And they do so without breaking into a sweat. There's something neatly effortless about Ghostplane's approach. Sure, their guitars can surge big and noisy when the mood takes them, as it does on Southern Hill and when they're doing elegant country-sur'n'tremolo things elsewhere. But most of this is art-rock - with alt-country trappings - that does imaginative things with its many spaces rather than filling them with decibels. That makes most of Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon both gentle and unsettling, a hushed after-dark kind of album. All that melancholy mood comes with some lovely songs. Among the most graceful are the hushed hymnal Wash of Gold and Guided by Lights. Others can cause grasping for reference points - In Blue Light could be the Blue Nile roughed up a bit and dragged out of the 80s; Lazy Bones reminds of Don McGlashan in reflective mode, the final Half a Glass comes from the Go-Betweens' folk-rock template; the twitchy High Sierra can sound like a long-lost Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood duet. But as with the earlier Panther Valley Country Club EP, Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon makes Ghostplane's world more intriguing with each visit. A haunting we will go.
METRO by Gary Steel
Lachrymose post-Flying Nun guitar music from Wellington. A slow narcotic beauty of guitar textures and almost-whispered vocals that takes several hearings to reveal itself. Moments of alternative pop charm recall the Gobetweens.
RIP IT UP by Lyndon Walker (4/5 stars)
Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon is dark atmospheric indie rock that was born in a white brick church studio in Island Bay. The album can be seen as an extension of the acclaimed Panther Valley Country Club EP, however there seems to be a stronger sense of cohesion amongst the songs. Some of the sounds on the album were fed into the cavernous church studio room then re-recorded, which adds a great reverb and atmosphere to the tracks. The album is a good listen from beginning to end, with High Sierra being one of the standout tracks. Its distorted vocal harmonies and catchy bridge create a highly addictive song which is the feature of a very promising album.
PULP by Joanna McLeod (4/5 stars)
An obvious point of comparison if you've ever heard Ghostplane before would be the Phoenix Foundation (and thats not just lazy reviewing, given that three Foundationers play on Lagoon) but Ghostplane have a lot in common with their labelmates Fang too - like sugary backing vocals and twangy guitars, or Skallander with their heavily layered sound. But make no mistake, Ghostplane are their own band on this follow up to the EP the Panther Valley Country Club. The guitars get a little more soaring on Holy Mother\ while \Body To Body\ has sexy swagger and \Lazy Bones is one of those choice sing along numbers. Repeated listenings will reward your ears with new details to discover.
GROOVEGUIDE by Kate Foster
OK, are you ready to do some soul searching? Are you ready to push some boundaries of your listening capabilities? Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon - an intelligent release with many layers, will take a few plays to fully bathe yourself in the rippling harmonies encased here. At frist Beneath...has a stoned '60s dessert jam band trudge feel going for it with vocal delay and mysterious percussive beats on 'Lazy Bones'. Modest and relaxed however, featuring urgency in the tracks due to how much has been crammed into every song. Two guitars, three full time vocal contributors, bass, drums, trombone, keyboards and a myriad of little toys knit together, including Ghostplanes skill at unlocking the under utilised musical properties of the humble beer bottle. Stand out tunes for me include 'Body to Body', slinky and sexy with hand claps...if you don't like recorded hand claps you have no soul. Also 'Flash Photography' which is immediatly the most poppy and listenable of the seemingly improvised songs. Ghostplane have created a very organic album, not disguising the whispered chatter of artists contributing and what a list of musicians have put their two cents in for this album. Along with the five members we also see Will and Con from the Phoenix Foundation, Chris Yeabsley from Twinset; Luke Buda and others feature here. With a September tour run of seven dates stretching from Auckland to Dunedin, you'll want to jump on this band wagon now before that annoying NZ music aficionado friend tells you that they have been listening to Ghostplane for ages. If you need an international benchmark to measure these boys up against, I'd say fans of Desert Sessions series would be quite pleased with what they hear, picture Gomez or Queens of the Stoneage at their most hippy and experimental.
NZ MUSICIAN by Jessie Scoullar
In keeping with their earlier thematic EP release 'Panther Valley Country Club', the debut full-lengther from Ghostplane is again strongly theme-based and acts as an extension to the story set up by the EP. Creating their own territory someplace between indie pop and alt-country, Wellington's Ghostplane have produced a sound replete with underststed complexity, requiring multiple listens - and repaying divedends for your efforts. With the recording process taking place over several studios, the album came together with a concentrated mixing session at Nic McGowans Island Bay studio, with all manner of production whims catered to, such as feeding the recording through the large cold former church studio and re-recording the resulting sound into the mixes. Peter Stenhouse's artwork is stunning - you'll want to put it on your wall rather than hide it away in your CD rack - and in combination with the substantial musical content creates a dark, almost Gothic, red velvet and low light atmosphere.
BACHELORETTE – THE END OF THINGS (Released 22nd August)
Dominion Post - Lindsay Davis (4/5 Stars)
There's an alluring dreamlike quality to the quirky songs of Auckland's Bachelorette - which is basically the home recorded musings of Annabel Alpers, helped out by friends Andrea Holmes (Fang) and Mick Elborado. The sweet sounding simplicity recally Dunedin's Cloudboy or especially Young Marble Giants, whose sparse soundscapes captured all that was bleak about cardiff in the 80s. Bucking current trends, Alpers is deliberatly slow with quiet, almost emotioally detached, vocals which ride over her melodic layers of synthesisers, with only the occasional drum loop and acoustic guitar strum. It's a very private, post party, lights-down-low sound and times, like during 'Down in the Street' and 'Pebbles and Dirt, you feel like a voyeur prying into some personal memory. Setting the scene is 'My Electric Husband' with it's heartbeat pulse, random blips and supurbly cheesy lyrics - he makes me milkshakes in the morning, he's my blender, he's my juicer, my happiness producer. As a debut, this seven track EP will leave you wanting more
Sunday Star Times - Grant Smithies (4/5 Stars)
The End of Things is the firsy solo EP by Annabel Bachelorette Alpers, and my only problem with it is it is too short. Alpers unusal singing has it's roots in the finger-in-the-ear harmonising style of early 70s folk rock acts such as the Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, which in turn had it's roots in Gaelic and British a cappella folk style. Alpers delivers her intimate little bed-st ballads over gently ticking drum machines, geriatric synths and tentatively plucked guitars and basses. It is indeed a most miraculous sound, slightly krautrock-ish but warmer, friendlier, more female perhaps. Immediate favorites include My Electric Husband, about a perfect partner ready to provide satisfaction at the flick of a switch (My Electric Husband makes me milkshakes in the morning/he's my blender, he's my juicer, my happiness producer) and the soporific Love is a Drug with vocals that are gradually eaten away by echo that ebbs and flows like lapping waves.
Real Groove - Adrian Osman
Noisy but by no means menacing is the debut seven tracker from Auckland's Bachelorette. 'The End of Things' is constructed well within the artful doldrums of urban etiquette. Bachelorette is the working name of Annabel Alpers as she carves out a stark and frequently artificial soundtrack from a gentle, underdog perspective. There's Stereolab in there for sure, and the sound of labelmates Fang (hey, it is Arch Hill) comes into focus from time to time, but in songs like 'On the Four' the gradual build up and synth pile up is remarkably fresh in its stoicism. The electronic pulse that keeps tracks like 'Down in the Street' together is never forcful but leaves a trace of unravelling - an oblivion ride that won't alarm but gradually delivers.
Rip it Up – Lyndon Walker (4/5 Stars)
Solo project of Annabel Alpers, Bachelorette’s electro-pop has been likened to Stereolab or Dunedin’s Cloudboy, with a charming mix of electronic and live musical sounds, including some great vintage synths and drum machines. The mix of instruments helps to create an enjoyable and innovative sound, complemented by Alpers’ great pop voice. One of my favorite moments on the album is the synth driven intro to “Down in the Street”, although every track on this album is very strong and they build together into an enjoyable seven track EP
Grand Prix - “The Way of the Racer” album out on the 15th of November. On November the 15th Grand Prix will be releasing their second album the Way of the Racer on Arch Hill Recordings, distributed in NZ via Rhythm Method.
In late 2004, with a new line up, a new set of songs, and new attire, the band headed into Wellington’s Inca studios to begin recording “The Way of the Racer” with Mike Gibson. They recorded all their songs live in the studio – meaning what you hear on record is what you hear coming from the stage – there’s no studio trickery hiding musical inadequacy on this album. And as Phil Reed (Real Groove) writes, they have a “kick-ass live set”…which means Grand Prix are a pretty tidy combo. Why, you may ask, are all the songs about racing cars? Well, a few years ago and faced with writers block, songwriter Andrew McKenzie came to the realisation that racing was the perfect metaphor for life. Speed, victory, loss, death, love, honor, power, going in circles; all the grand narratives – they are perfectly encapsulated in the dusty oily world of racing car culture. And the more Andrew explored the highs and lows of this super octane world, the more the inspiration flowed, the more the songs kept coming. In other words, less equaled more.
NZ Musician writes: “A new band line up introduces trumpet, drums and bass, which provides a rich and full sonic experience while drawing upon some Mexican-flavoured elements that add a distinct edge to the otherwise country genre they obviously ride in...with musical interest and lyrical allure it’s well worth getting” and A Low Hum describes their sound as “While the first release could be described as 'country' music, 'The Way of the Racer' is far more Morricone/ Mariachi than Weissberg /Grand Ole Opry, that is to say, more Nuevo Laredo than Tennessee and it's that south of the border element that defines Grand Prix's latest work.”
Listen out for the first singles “The Way of the Racer” and “Walking on the Surface of the Moon” on the radio, or the video for “The Way of the Racer” - which you can watch at the Arch Hill website at www.archhill.co.nz
Grand Prix will be having a slightly early release gig in Wellington at Indigo on Thursday 3rd of November. They will also be playing shows in Auckland and Wellington in December.
Upcoming November Gigs
Thurs 3rd November – Ghostplane at Short Sets (11.30pm) – Kings Arms - Auckland Thurs 3rd November – Grand Prix – Indigo – Wellington
Fri 4th November – Ghostplane, with Odessa – Leigh Sawmill – Leigh
Sat 5th November - Ghostplane , with Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns – Odeon – Auckland
Sat 5th November – Pine – Nelson Arts Festival, Trafalgar Square - Nelson
Thurs 10th November – Bachelorette with Stefan (Mestar) - Shanghai Lils – Auckland Fri 11 November – Boxcar Guitars at Cheap Thrills with The Rainy Days and The Whipping Cats – the Masonic - Auckland
Sat 12th November – Mestar – Edens Bar – Auckland
Sat 12th November - Ghostplane (loud show) & Over the Atlantic – Happy 9pm
Sun 13th November - Ghostplane (quiet show) & Good Laika – Happy 7pm
Thurs 17th November – White Swan, with the Broken Heartbreakers – Dogs Bollix – Auckland
More upcoming gigs in December
Free copy of the ‘Head for the Hill’ compilation with any purchase over $25 on the Arch Hill website If you didn’t make it along to the gigs in October then you can get one of the limited edition “Head for the Hill” compilation CDs (with poster and sticker) with any purchase of over $25 on the Arch Hill website (www.archhill.co.nz) There aren’t heaps left so get in quick. The CD features the following tracks
1. Ghostplane - Final Destination (previously unreleased) 2. Grand Prix - The Way of the Racer 3. David Kilgour - G Major 7 4. Boxcar Guitars - This Heat, This Heat 5. Pine - Overground 6. Punches - Four Feet (previously unreleased) 7. Bachelorette - Down in the Street 8. White Swan - Down in the Valley (previously unreleased) 9. Fang - Crystal Clear 10. David Mulcahy - T-Shirt Nirvana (previously unreleased) 11. Salon Kingsadore - Loma (previously unreleased). The website is also always being updated with new tracks, videos, news, releases, blogs etc, so keep your eye on it.
Arch Hill changes distribution to Rhythm Method
Due to the term expiry of our distribution agreement with FMR, Arch Hill has decided to change distribution to Rhythm Method – and they very generously agreed to have us! FMR staff have been very good to Arch Hill and we would particularly like to thank Dylan, Paul, Charlotte, Richard, Ngaire, Darryl, Ashley, Ingrid, Dorothy, Kim, Wayne, and Jonathan for all their help and wish them all the best. We would particularly like to say thanks to Dylan Pellett who has helped well above and beyond the call of duty - with advice, tolerance and good will. We are also really pleased to be hooking up with the good folks at Rhythm Method, who not only have some of the coolest international indies on their roster (Matador, Sub-Pop etc), but have had some pretty good successes with locals acts like Fat Freddy’s Drop and others.
...below are some reviews for the recently released Boxcar Guitars, Ghostplane and Bachelorette CDs
Reviews:
BOXCAR GUITARS – LAMP LIGHT EP (Released 19th September)
REAL GROOVE – George Kay (4/5 Stars)
Auckland’s alt. Country Boxcar Guitars’ Lamp Light EP definitely falls into the (intermediary between the abbreviated art of the single and the expansive testimony of the Long Player) category. Not quite ready for the examination of an album, they’ve parceled their rural charms into a six track foray that was essentially recorded raw and live in a dining room somewhere in Hellensville. Centered around the undoubted talents of singer/guitarist Ben Maitland, the jewel in their crown is undoubtedly “My Love is Blue”, a gorgeous melodic gem that wouldn’t disgrace Gene Clark built around John Segovia’s aching pedal steel and Maitland’s own forlorn delivery. Elsewhere, “This Heat, This Heat” is a piece of jaunty country-blues picking, leaving “Broken Hills” to map out a colonial blues scenario and “the Ballad of Ma Ave” to do the Neil Young Crazy Horse-sustained-notes/crunching guitars/grunge thing. Harmonies, and the live in a hall feel are carried by the bittersweet “Fading, Love is in Decline” before the band departs with the “Grand” more electrically charged version of “My Love is Blue”. Bring on the album.
RIP IT UP – Narelle Jackson (3.5/5 Stars)
There’s a timeless simplicity and purity about the Boxcar Guitars’ alt-country sound – like someone’s mum stored it safely in a tupperware container a couple of decades back, and only recently re-opened it. Five of these six tracks were recorded during a week long stay at Helensville’s historic Grand Hotel, with Ed cake recording and mixing two tracks (This Heat, This Heat and Broken Hill). Bearing more than a passing resemblance to early Phil Judd-era Split Enz is Fading, Love is on Decline. Radio favorite My Love is Blue is featured here in duplicate (the second version a comparatively raw and hurried version). This is an endearingly stripped back and spacious debut.
GHOSTPLANE - BENEATH THE SLEEPY LAGOON (Released 5th September)
THE DOMINION POST By Simon Sweetman (4.5/5 stars)
It's been a long time coming for Ghostplane's debut long-player. Their ep, The Panther Valley Country Club, was an assured debut, but they've raised the bar here. Thanks, in part, must go to new member Mike Scudder, whose trombone, keyboards and percussion add textures to the alt-country meets indie-rock song templates. Touchstones are sometimes obvious with traces of Beck and The Beta Band permeate Lazy Bones, but most often hinted at on Southern Hill, which combines the feel of Calexico's musical tumbleweeds with the indie Kiwi approach of Mestar and Fang. Holy Mother uses shimmering feedback to achieve its Daydream Nation-styled goal; Guided By Lights takes its time to move past gentle atmospherics, a Thurston Moore-like voice is eventually joined by hushed band harmonies. Wash of Gold is a piano-driven snatch of Wilco (circa Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and the closing Half A Glass carries this tone on, with flashes of the earlier Uncle tupdelo, a sleepy voice even suggesting the 3Ds. Elsewhere, there are traces of The Pixies, Superette, The Mutton Birds and - to my ears - Robert Wyatt (In Blue Light) but to mention too many other band names suggests a magpie approach, when, actually, Ghostplane are so much more than the sum of many disparate influences. These tunes are lovely and well-realised, perfectly executed and like their local contemporaries, The Phoenix Foundation, Ghostplane is a band that has worked hard to consistently hone its approach. In my opinion, though a different beast in many ways, Beneath The Sleepy Lagoon should sit alongside Phoenix's Pegasus as one of the albums of the year. And it's a bonus that we can consider them locals.
SALIENT, by Tessa Prebble (4.5/5 stars) I have been charting the progress of band Ghostplane (formerly Dana Éclair) over the last couple of years and with their latest release, the full-length album Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon, something seems to have clicked into place. That’s not to say that their previous effort, The Panther Valley Country Club, was something you could look down your nose at but, like a good wine, Ghostplane are definitely improving with age. Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon has all the indie pop hooks, lilting alt-country vocals and sense of quirk that you might expect from Ghostplane, but there is something else that wasn’t there before. It seems like between Panther Valley and Sleepy Lagoon someone tripped over the missing piece of the puzzle. It’s not something I can really put my finger on, so I’ll have to rely on my lame puzzle metaphor. But whatever it was, it has resulted in a sexier, darker sound that you could picture listening to as you drove in a convertible through the desert. In particular, “Silver Culture” is one to listen out for with its hypnotic bass lines and gentle coaxing vocals. Another stops-your-typing-its-so-good track is “Guided By Lights”, which sounds like some tragic fairytale, delving into murky depths of fragility. I just can’t get enough of that song. I have always thought Ghostplane were on the verge of something. I’m so glad it turned out to be this. If you don’t believe me, check them out yourself on Friday at Indigo.
SUNDAY STAR TIMES by Grant Smithies (4/5 stars)
Wellington band Ghostplane's debut Panther Valley Country Club EP (Arch Hill 2004) was a splendid thing, but it's eclectism annoyed as many people as it delighted. Those who found the records multiple personalities distressing will be relieved to hear that the new Ghostplane album Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon is more sonically co-herient. The stylistic soup has boiled down to a compound of indie guitar noise and backwards country twangery, but the sound is rich in wonderful wonky arrangements, unexpected instrumentation (trombone, moog synthesiser, vibraphone, surf guitar, beer bottles) and twisted wit. Achilles Botes and Mark Dryburgh continue to impress as songwriters, investing their songs with strong visual imagery and a sinister emotional undertow. You'll hear fragments of Calexico, Pavement, Lou Reed and Lambchop in there, but when then band punks out, it does it in a distinctlly local way. Forget the Southern Gothic sound of the American Deep South; here we are witnessing the birth of it's Antipodean offshoot - South Pacific gothic.
NZ HERALD, reviewed by Russell Baillie (4/5 stars)
Like their close capital-city cousins the Phoenix Foundation, Ghostplane have a rare ability - they don't just deliver a bunch of songs, they create their own sound world. And they do so without breaking into a sweat. There's something neatly effortless about Ghostplane's approach. Sure, their guitars can surge big and noisy when the mood takes them, as it does on Southern Hill and when they're doing elegant country-sur'n'tremolo things elsewhere. But most of this is art-rock - with alt-country trappings - that does imaginative things with its many spaces rather than filling them with decibels. That makes most of Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon both gentle and unsettling, a hushed after-dark kind of album. All that melancholy mood comes with some lovely songs. Among the most graceful are the hushed hymnal Wash of Gold and Guided by Lights. Others can cause grasping for reference points - In Blue Light could be the Blue Nile roughed up a bit and dragged out of the 80s; Lazy Bones reminds of Don McGlashan in reflective mode, the final Half a Glass comes from the Go-Betweens' folk-rock template; the twitchy High Sierra can sound like a long-lost Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood duet. But as with the earlier Panther Valley Country Club EP, Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon makes Ghostplane's world more intriguing with each visit. A haunting we will go.
METRO by Gary Steel
Lachrymose post-Flying Nun guitar music from Wellington. A slow narcotic beauty of guitar textures and almost-whispered vocals that takes several hearings to reveal itself. Moments of alternative pop charm recall the Gobetweens.
RIP IT UP by Lyndon Walker (4/5 stars)
Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon is dark atmospheric indie rock that was born in a white brick church studio in Island Bay. The album can be seen as an extension of the acclaimed Panther Valley Country Club EP, however there seems to be a stronger sense of cohesion amongst the songs. Some of the sounds on the album were fed into the cavernous church studio room then re-recorded, which adds a great reverb and atmosphere to the tracks. The album is a good listen from beginning to end, with High Sierra being one of the standout tracks. Its distorted vocal harmonies and catchy bridge create a highly addictive song which is the feature of a very promising album.
PULP by Joanna McLeod (4/5 stars)
An obvious point of comparison if you've ever heard Ghostplane before would be the Phoenix Foundation (and thats not just lazy reviewing, given that three Foundationers play on Lagoon) but Ghostplane have a lot in common with their labelmates Fang too - like sugary backing vocals and twangy guitars, or Skallander with their heavily layered sound. But make no mistake, Ghostplane are their own band on this follow up to the EP the Panther Valley Country Club. The guitars get a little more soaring on Holy Mother\ while \Body To Body\ has sexy swagger and \Lazy Bones is one of those choice sing along numbers. Repeated listenings will reward your ears with new details to discover.
GROOVEGUIDE by Kate Foster
OK, are you ready to do some soul searching? Are you ready to push some boundaries of your listening capabilities? Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon - an intelligent release with many layers, will take a few plays to fully bathe yourself in the rippling harmonies encased here. At frist Beneath...has a stoned '60s dessert jam band trudge feel going for it with vocal delay and mysterious percussive beats on 'Lazy Bones'. Modest and relaxed however, featuring urgency in the tracks due to how much has been crammed into every song. Two guitars, three full time vocal contributors, bass, drums, trombone, keyboards and a myriad of little toys knit together, including Ghostplanes skill at unlocking the under utilised musical properties of the humble beer bottle. Stand out tunes for me include 'Body to Body', slinky and sexy with hand claps...if you don't like recorded hand claps you have no soul. Also 'Flash Photography' which is immediatly the most poppy and listenable of the seemingly improvised songs. Ghostplane have created a very organic album, not disguising the whispered chatter of artists contributing and what a list of musicians have put their two cents in for this album. Along with the five members we also see Will and Con from the Phoenix Foundation, Chris Yeabsley from Twinset; Luke Buda and others feature here. With a September tour run of seven dates stretching from Auckland to Dunedin, you'll want to jump on this band wagon now before that annoying NZ music aficionado friend tells you that they have been listening to Ghostplane for ages. If you need an international benchmark to measure these boys up against, I'd say fans of Desert Sessions series would be quite pleased with what they hear, picture Gomez or Queens of the Stoneage at their most hippy and experimental.
NZ MUSICIAN by Jessie Scoullar
In keeping with their earlier thematic EP release 'Panther Valley Country Club', the debut full-lengther from Ghostplane is again strongly theme-based and acts as an extension to the story set up by the EP. Creating their own territory someplace between indie pop and alt-country, Wellington's Ghostplane have produced a sound replete with underststed complexity, requiring multiple listens - and repaying divedends for your efforts. With the recording process taking place over several studios, the album came together with a concentrated mixing session at Nic McGowans Island Bay studio, with all manner of production whims catered to, such as feeding the recording through the large cold former church studio and re-recording the resulting sound into the mixes. Peter Stenhouse's artwork is stunning - you'll want to put it on your wall rather than hide it away in your CD rack - and in combination with the substantial musical content creates a dark, almost Gothic, red velvet and low light atmosphere.
BACHELORETTE – THE END OF THINGS (Released 22nd August)
Dominion Post - Lindsay Davis (4/5 Stars)
There's an alluring dreamlike quality to the quirky songs of Auckland's Bachelorette - which is basically the home recorded musings of Annabel Alpers, helped out by friends Andrea Holmes (Fang) and Mick Elborado. The sweet sounding simplicity recally Dunedin's Cloudboy or especially Young Marble Giants, whose sparse soundscapes captured all that was bleak about cardiff in the 80s. Bucking current trends, Alpers is deliberatly slow with quiet, almost emotioally detached, vocals which ride over her melodic layers of synthesisers, with only the occasional drum loop and acoustic guitar strum. It's a very private, post party, lights-down-low sound and times, like during 'Down in the Street' and 'Pebbles and Dirt, you feel like a voyeur prying into some personal memory. Setting the scene is 'My Electric Husband' with it's heartbeat pulse, random blips and supurbly cheesy lyrics - he makes me milkshakes in the morning, he's my blender, he's my juicer, my happiness producer. As a debut, this seven track EP will leave you wanting more
Sunday Star Times - Grant Smithies (4/5 Stars)
The End of Things is the firsy solo EP by Annabel Bachelorette Alpers, and my only problem with it is it is too short. Alpers unusal singing has it's roots in the finger-in-the-ear harmonising style of early 70s folk rock acts such as the Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, which in turn had it's roots in Gaelic and British a cappella folk style. Alpers delivers her intimate little bed-st ballads over gently ticking drum machines, geriatric synths and tentatively plucked guitars and basses. It is indeed a most miraculous sound, slightly krautrock-ish but warmer, friendlier, more female perhaps. Immediate favorites include My Electric Husband, about a perfect partner ready to provide satisfaction at the flick of a switch (My Electric Husband makes me milkshakes in the morning/he's my blender, he's my juicer, my happiness producer) and the soporific Love is a Drug with vocals that are gradually eaten away by echo that ebbs and flows like lapping waves.
Real Groove - Adrian Osman
Noisy but by no means menacing is the debut seven tracker from Auckland's Bachelorette. 'The End of Things' is constructed well within the artful doldrums of urban etiquette. Bachelorette is the working name of Annabel Alpers as she carves out a stark and frequently artificial soundtrack from a gentle, underdog perspective. There's Stereolab in there for sure, and the sound of labelmates Fang (hey, it is Arch Hill) comes into focus from time to time, but in songs like 'On the Four' the gradual build up and synth pile up is remarkably fresh in its stoicism. The electronic pulse that keeps tracks like 'Down in the Street' together is never forcful but leaves a trace of unravelling - an oblivion ride that won't alarm but gradually delivers.
Rip it Up – Lyndon Walker (4/5 Stars)
Solo project of Annabel Alpers, Bachelorette’s electro-pop has been likened to Stereolab or Dunedin’s Cloudboy, with a charming mix of electronic and live musical sounds, including some great vintage synths and drum machines. The mix of instruments helps to create an enjoyable and innovative sound, complemented by Alpers’ great pop voice. One of my favorite moments on the album is the synth driven intro to “Down in the Street”, although every track on this album is very strong and they build together into an enjoyable seven track EP
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