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BLANC 019CD
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The second Blancmange instrumental album, 14 electronic tracks written and recorded by Neil Arthur. Slow-mo synths, dark swirls of sound, and a characteristic flair for melody can be found with every subtle change of mood and style. But there's also emotion under the surface, sometimes breaking through and catching the listener off-guard. It all adds up to an atmospheric and quietly moving follow-up to the original Nil By Mouth which was released back in 2015.
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BLANC 016CD
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In Shadow is the second album from Fader, a duo consisting of Neil Arthur (Blancmange, Near Future) and Benge, whose work includes his own solo albums, co-productions with Gazelle Twin, and being a member of three other critically-acclaimed bands: Wrangler, Creep Show, and John Foxx and The Maths. Opening with the pulsing darkness of "Always Suited Blue", the tone of the new album is more haunted than their first -- cascades of analog synths falling over rich, sonorous vocals and lyrics that switch between midnight introspection and something more sinister. This slow creep towards something undefined but menacing is partly due to Arthur's vocals, pitched so low they sound like they're coming through the boards on the likes of "What Did It Say" and "Reporting". However, there's also a vulnerability in his voice, trying to make some kind of sense out of all the random thoughts and disturbing emotions. "Enemy Fighter" is eerily beautiful, as is the title track which is almost Zen-like in its minimalist gloom. These unsung heroes of underground minimal electronic music seem to be reveling in Fader's outsider status as they offer a deeply personal album of subtle heartbreak and slow-burning pop songs.
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BLANC 012CD
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Blancmange's Wanderlust is ten songs composed by Neil Arthur and arranged, co-produced and mixed with Benge (Wrangler/Creep Show) at the latter's Memetune Studios. This is the pair's third album together. Wanderlust is focused on similar themes but there's a new energy to the approach - wistfulness turning to anger; dislocation morphing into a powerful desire to be somewhere else, and always a sense of someone fighting for forward motion, dreams, family and the joys of life while seeing, as Arthur puts it, "the pretense of a normal world being erased." This spirit is also in the music, which is vital, percussive, and full of analog machine-noise and chunky bass lines.
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BLANC 012LP
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LP version. Blancmange's Wanderlust is ten songs composed by Neil Arthur and arranged, co-produced and mixed with Benge (Wrangler/Creep Show) at the latter's Memetune Studios. This is the pair's third album together. Wanderlust is focused on similar themes but there's a new energy to the approach - wistfulness turning to anger; dislocation morphing into a powerful desire to be somewhere else, and always a sense of someone fighting for forward motion, dreams, family and the joys of life while seeing, as Arthur puts it, "the pretense of a normal world being erased." This spirit is also in the music, which is vital, percussive, and full of analog machine-noise and chunky bass lines.
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BLANC 011CD
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Near Future is the collaboration between Blancmange's Neil Arthur and solo electronic artist Bernholz. Files were swapped, sounds, and lyrics re-wired, and Ideal Home is the gloriously minimal result. The album is icy and detached; beautiful and otherworldly; Bernholz's spoken word monolog on "Dawn" sounding like a warning signal from the subconscious, while digitized electronics usher in some of Neil Arthur's most intimate vocals.
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BLANC 011LP
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LP version. Near Future is the collaboration between Blancmange's Neil Arthur and solo electronic artist Bernholz. Files were swapped, sounds, and lyrics re-wired, and Ideal Home is the gloriously minimal result. The album is icy and detached; beautiful and otherworldly; Bernholz's spoken word monolog on "Dawn" sounding like a warning signal from the subconscious, while digitized electronics usher in some of Neil Arthur's most intimate vocals.
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BLANC 010LP
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LP version. Written and recorded by Neil Arthur and co-produced by Benge (Wrangler, John Foxx & The Maths, and Gazelle Twin co-producer). It's been a fantastically creative period for both of them; the duo released their debut album as a new electronic duo -- Fader's First Light (BLANC 009CD/LP), released in July 2017 -- followed immediately by the final sessions for Unfurnished Rooms. For the new Blancmange record, all the songs were written by Arthur while Benge added percussion and layers of analog synth, with the pair then mixing the record together in the latter's Memetune studios in Cornwall. "Don't Get Me Wrong" features John Grant on piano and backing vocals. "Listening to Blancmange obsessively. Probably the most underrated electronic act of all time." --Moby
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BLANC 010CD
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Written and recorded by Neil Arthur and co-produced by Benge (Wrangler, John Foxx & The Maths, and Gazelle Twin co-producer). It's been a fantastically creative period for both of them; the duo released their debut album as a new electronic duo -- Fader's First Light (BLANC 009CD/LP), released in July 2017 -- followed immediately by the final sessions for Unfurnished Rooms. For the new Blancmange record, all the songs were written by Arthur while Benge added percussion and layers of analog synth, with the pair then mixing the record together in the latter's Memetune studios in Cornwall. "Don't Get Me Wrong" features John Grant on piano and backing vocals. "Listening to Blancmange obsessively. Probably the most underrated electronic act of all time." --Moby
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BLANC 009LP
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LP version. First Light is the debut album from Fader -- a new band formed by Neil Arthur (Blancmange, Near Future) and Benge, whose work includes his own solo albums, co-productions with Gazelle Twin, and his work with Wrangler and John Foxx And The Maths. The music was recorded and mixed at Benge's MemeTune Studios while Arthur worked on lyrics and vocals in his home studio. The album is full of powerful electronic pop songs -- up-tempo, dark, with flickers of beauty in the sounds and rhythms. Opening with the psychedelic strangeness of "3D Carpets", the album launches with a salvo of exhilarating electronic rock/pop songs including "Check The Power" -- an OCD meltdown with fierce electro surges -- and "I Prefer Solitude", with its brilliantly insistent chorus. From that point, the record buries deeper into melancholy nostalgia; internalized, dead-of-night fears; stream-of-conscious visions of city life and evocative descriptions of lost and lonely figures who find themselves out of time and out of place. The slower tracks such as "Laundrette", "Trip To The Coast", and "Liverpool Brick" are full of longing, with Arthur writing some of the finest lyrics of his career. "Laundrette" is a particularly British spin on the solitary mood of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. The title track is a flow of scrambled epiphanies and mixed-up thoughts while "Way Out" pitches a detached vocal and sense of distance with waves of aggressive, noisily anthemic synths, but then builds through a beautiful keyboard line that makes misery sound oddly inspiring. "Guilt, Doubt And Fear" is a mangled pop song, the catchy hooks snared into a red-eyed, insomniac's voice -- croaky but rich; half-spoken, a damaged croon. By comparison, "Winter Garden" is almost elegant in its minimalist approach, while "Wonderland" is a human drone on the landscape.
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BLANC 009CD
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First Light is the debut album from Fader -- a new band formed by Neil Arthur (Blancmange, Near Future) and Benge, whose work includes his own solo albums, co-productions with Gazelle Twin, and his work with Wrangler and John Foxx And The Maths. The music was recorded and mixed at Benge's MemeTune Studios while Arthur worked on lyrics and vocals in his home studio. The album is full of powerful electronic pop songs -- up-tempo, dark, with flickers of beauty in the sounds and rhythms. Opening with the psychedelic strangeness of "3D Carpets", the album launches with a salvo of exhilarating electronic rock/pop songs including "Check The Power" -- an OCD meltdown with fierce electro surges -- and "I Prefer Solitude", with its brilliantly insistent chorus. From that point, the record buries deeper into melancholy nostalgia; internalized, dead-of-night fears; stream-of-conscious visions of city life and evocative descriptions of lost and lonely figures who find themselves out of time and out of place. The slower tracks such as "Laundrette", "Trip To The Coast", and "Liverpool Brick" are full of longing, with Arthur writing some of the finest lyrics of his career. "Laundrette" is a particularly British spin on the solitary mood of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. The title track is a flow of scrambled epiphanies and mixed-up thoughts while "Way Out" pitches a detached vocal and sense of distance with waves of aggressive, noisily anthemic synths, but then builds through a beautiful keyboard line that makes misery sound oddly inspiring. "Guilt, Doubt And Fear" is a mangled pop song, the catchy hooks snared into a red-eyed, insomniac's voice -- croaky but rich; half-spoken, a damaged croon. By comparison, "Winter Garden" is almost elegant in its minimalist approach, while "Wonderland" is a human drone on the landscape.
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