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LP
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FTR 567LP
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"At last, a new studio LP from superb London duo, The Left Outsides, to follow up on 2018's amazing All That Remains. The basic building blocks remain the same -- half of the sound is Alison Cotton and her viola and keys, the other half is Mark Nicholas with a stunning array of guitars -- but the structures they create this time are darker and more forbidding than their antecedents. This album feels very much a piece of the season in which it is being released, as the leaves strip themselves from trees and the sky grows colder, greyer by the hour. More than once while Are You Sure I Was There spun I was put in mind of the classic Rainy Day LP, masterminded by Kendra Smith back in 1984. The Left Outsides possess the same sure grasp of that place where sorrow, ecstasy and psychedelics meet in a shower of dying stars. The tunes here are wonderful. Most are new, although a few have been heard before in different forms (if you knew where to listen.) 'The Wind No Longer Stirs the Trees' (with its glorious blend of backwards and forward motion) was on a 7" lathe, backed with 'As Night Falls' (a beautiful ode to the promise of winter.) The track 'Séance' was first recorded as part of a celebration of Help the Witch, the debut novel by former music critic Tom Cox. And 'My Reflection Once Was Me' (which recalls The Trees' epic tunes by combining massive blocks of raging guitar with Alison's steady vocals) was featured on the live A Place to Hide LP (FTR 552LP). The other compositions are all-new and utterly great. The tunes that Mark sings tend to evoke a certain '60s whisp. Whether it's the Floydian lilt of 'Only Time Will Tell,' the freakbeat pop of 'November on My Mind,' or 'Pictures of You,' which stacks a dreamy '60s overlay upon contempo pop structuring. Alison's vocals often display a more folky essence. 'The Stone Barn' has a vibe very similar to some of Sandy Denny's later solo work, grounded by stately piano chords. 'Things Can Never Be the Same' centers on a gorgeous mid-paced vocal performance, encased in spinning webs of very elegant guitar. And the conjoined vocals on 'A Face in the Crowd,' sit atop a huge fuzz riff, sounding like the perfect anthem for the new Slow Music Movement. They won't back down! And you shouldn't either..." --Byron Coley, 2020
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LP
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FTR 552LP
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"Much needed vinylization of an amazing live set, previously issued as a CDR in an edition of 100 by the fine Borley Rectory label. Finally, for the good of all mankind, the music from this great night, opening for Robyn Hitchcock at London's Betsey Trotwood in October 2018, is turntable ready. A Place to Hide begins with the album's one new original tune 'My Reflection Once Was Me.' The song brims with harmonium-iced vocals that cannot fail to bring a certain German-born chanteuse to mind. Built over a lovely droning base, and slow, martial pulsing, the song answers a rarely asked question -- what might it have sounded like if Tim Buckley had written a tune for Nico to do on Chelsea Girl? I think you'll be damn happy with this reply. About half the album is made up of songs from their then-newly-released masterpiece, All That Remains. But the way they attack those tunes here has an additional shroud of moodiness drawn over it, adding a whole 'nother layer of dark richness. This is not always the tone the band shoots for in a live setting, but it's a truly otherworldly treat when they do. Because they really nail it, with a feel that makes me recall early work by the legendary Opal. The same is true on the two cover tunes. The traditional 'Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime' (done so memorably by Shirley & Dolly Collins on Love Death & the Lady) is a tune the duo previously recorded for the Ptolemaic Terrascope's great 2016 comp LP, Paper Leaves. But precious few copies of that one managed to get into the right hands. And this version is perfect -- stark, haunting, electric. The other cover is a revelatory take on 'Splash 1,' from The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The Left Outsides gently lift up one of the most beautiful songs the Elevators ever did, turning it into something even more charmed and wistful than the original. And that's it. A truly beautiful album from start to finish. And a great place to start exploring the band's sound if you've not done so yet. Don't be afraid to play catch up. There's plenty more to come." --Byron Coley, 2020
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LP
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FTR 496LP
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"A new reissue of this masterpiece by the Left Outsides, originally issued on cassette in 2015, then first put to vinyl in 2017, as the long-format follow-up to the classic The Shape of Things to Come LP. The current edition is demarcated by a glossy cover and metallic gold printing. Its music remains as timeless a gust of dark autumnal wind as any you'll ever hear. Some of the music here was written as part of the soundtrack to Gus Alavrez's 2009 noir-pastoral short, Stand and Deliver, but the songs evoke their own host of images. The band, consisting of Alison Cotton and Mark Nicholas (once of the beautifully Fairport-tinged, 18th Day of May) blend vocals and stringed instruments in a way that recalls more traditional UK folk artists as much as it does their more acidic contemporaries. Their songs feature gorgeously plain melodies that emerge as though they have always existed, before disappearing in a swirl of primeval mist. The surprise cover they do, "Civil War Lament" (originally by Go-Betweens side project, Jack Frost), is of a piece with these originals. And the layered guitars of the last track, "The Creeping Fog," take the record out on waves of drone and feedback stretching from dusk until near dawn, at which point, Alison intones a poem of shadows. There Is a Place is a gentle monster of a record, and will well reward your careful attention." --Byron Coley, 2019 45rpm; Edition of 300.
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