Sold Date:
December 2, 2014
Start Date:
October 27, 2014
Final Price:
£11.95
(GBP)
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GREEK THEATRE - LOST OUT AT SEA (SUGARBUSH SB011), brand new album out on SUGARBUSH RECORDS.
Amazing dreamy West Coast / Psych by new band, with shades of BYRDS, DAVID CROSBY, BEAU BRUMMELS & JONATHAN WILSON. A true gem. This version is the 350 copies limited edition on BLACK VINYL!
Reviewed by Nathan Ford:
Swedish duo the Greek Theatre have a decidedly strange way of going about things.
Sven Fröberg explains : "Through the warm summer of 2009, just weeks
after our formation, we managed to write what will become the complete
Greek Theatre songbook. As none of us have written anything that comes
close, in terms of quality, either before or after, we're stuck with
those songs for better or worse. Our mission is to record and release
our beloved tunes, in chronological order, spread over what will be four
very different albums. When the mission is completed the band will
cease to exist."
Now this is potentially very sad news indeed as "Lost Out At Sea" is one
of the most effortlessly lovely records I've heard this year. While the
prospect of four albums of this quality is certainly a pleasing one, I
must admit that there's a greedy little corner of my psyche that wants
more. Imagine if Dylan had called it a day after "Another Side of Bob
Dylan". Crikey. Hopefully during the course of recording these four
albums Fröberg and partner Fredrick Persson will rekindle the creative
urge that led to these songs being written in the first place.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, you want to know about "Lost at Sea".
And well you should, because it's something of an understated
masterpiece, a record with forebears in albums like Gene Clark's solo
debut and David Crosby and Graham Nash's early solo albums -
overshadowed albums that will never be as famous as they deserve to be
but are nonetheless cherished by those with a more adventurous
disposition.
Consequently it'd be a foolish man who forecast mainstream success for
the Greek Theatre, but critical darlingship surely beckons and if they
can follow up with albums of similar quality then some sort of cult is
assured.
It's a record of two halves (both gorgeous) with the pacier material on
the first side gradually giving way to a glacially slow, but achingly
beautiful second half, which those with a shorter attention span may
misinterpret as the album tapering off.
A few highlights then ; the steel guitars, delicate harmonies and
punctuated brass of "Even You Will Find a Home My Son" captures the
explosive rural psychedelia of "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" better than
the Byrds themselves managed on subsequent albums, while the sublime
"Frozen Highway" breaks into an unexpectedly epic instrumental passage
with some fine, lyrical guitar work.
There's even room for a flute led psychedelic freakout in "Stupid
Constapleton" - an unexpectedly heavy and heady interlude, in what is
otherwise a very subtle album. “As I grow older I tend to gravitate
towards music that sounds effortless, and not so eager to impress,”
Froberg explains. “Help Yourself, Ernie Graham and Eggs Over Easy spring
to mind."
An admirable approach, and an album that's destined for a cult following
Froberg promises that album number two will address the duo's love for
folk-rock of the Albion variety with influences like Nick Drake and
Fairport Convention being thrown around.
Please check out our label's other releases. They are highly recommended and have all received rave reviews.
Sugarbush Records vinyl releases are all high quality audiophile pressing. DMM cut on 140 gram vinyl. Sounding superb, why not collect all our releases. We keep the price realistic and fair and you get a fantastic product. We want you to hear the music and keep vinyl alive.