The Haunted Generation

Reviews originally published in Issue 96 of Electronic Sound magazine, December 2022:

ANDREW WASYLYK
Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls
(Clay Pipe)

The evolution of Andrew Wasylyk has been quite a journey to behold. As Andrew Mitchell, he formed millennial Scottish indie-poppers The Hazey Janes, progressing from jangly Teenage Fanclub stylings to bold collaborations with poet Liz Lochhead and legendary Dundee folkie Michael Marra. And, since reverting to his original Ukrainian family name, Wasylyk’s jazz-tinged solo explorations have felt like the work of a man unleashed. Exploring the heart-sinking truths of a world that feels – ironically – increasingly retrograde.

It’s Wasylyk’s second album for Clay Pipe, a spiritual successor to 2021’s Balgay Hill: Morning In Magnolia. But while his previous opus was a wistful pandemic ramble around Dundee’s crepuscular parklife, the follow-up requires sturdy walking boots and waterproofs. It’s an expansive voyage to “horizon-less oceans and limitless landscapes”, inspired by the evocative landscapes of US-born photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper. And Wasylyk is barely stopping for sandwiches. Opener ‘Dreamt In The Current Of Leafless Winter’ is a 16 minute trance of mesmeric piano and devotional bells, lent organic colour by the breathy saxophone of Angus Fairbairn. The musicianship throughout is effortlessly breathtaking.

Organic is the watchword here. Clay Pipe has a reputation for gentle electronica, but Wasylyk is more Astral Weeks than Autobahn. The title track boasts sweeping harps and a dark, foreboding sky of a brass section. ‘Years Beneath A Yarrow Moon’ sounds like Michael Nyman eating Kendal Mint Cake on some crumbling, coastal cliff edge. Cooper’s photography is affectingly monochrome, but Wasylyk’s album feels stridently technicolour, with ‘A Confluence’ even succumbing to playful grooves.

Cooper himself lends gravelly narration to ‘The Life Of Time’: “A time of love, a time of anger, a time of fear / Something I know more about day by day than I ever thought possible”. In a lifetime of acclaimed photography, Cooper – based in Glasgow since the 1980s – has travelled the weather-beaten extremities of five continents. Now 75, some of his most striking locations are doomed to be imminently submerged by the rising tides of climate change. Wasylyk’s beautiful, affecting album feels like both a heartfelt homage to these glorious, weather-beaten outposts, and a melancholy lament for their passing.

Album available here:
https://claypipemusic.greedbag.com/buy/the-confluence/
Digital only version:
https://andrewwasylyk.bandcamp.com/album/hearing-the-water-before-seeing-the-falls

MAJA LENA
Pluto
(Chiverin)

During her 13 years working in a natural horsemanship yard, Swedish folkie Marianne Parish found her thoughts drifting to fantastical realms. So her second solo album as Maja Lena combines this love of the pastoral with a new-found passion for Battlestar Galactica. It’s a beguiling amalgamation, apparently set on “an alternate world, close to Pluto”. But it’s an alternate world with decidedly relatable feelings. “Today I have asked far too many questions / When am I going to learn to just say goodnight?” she sings on opener ‘Daylight Comes Revealing’, bringing vulnerability to the otherworldly.

There are obvious Kate Bush comparisons to be made, as Parish’s mellifluous vocals combine with exotic instrumentation and tribal beats. Certainly, the likes of ‘No More Flowers’ could come straight from The Sensual World, and eccentric confidence exudes throughout. ‘I will stand on the boulder, stand on it’s shoulder / No more crouching behind it” she sings on minimalist synthpop single, ‘Clear As The Water’. Stepping out from the shadows, she’s made an album of crystalline beauty.

Album available here:
https://majalena.bandcamp.com/album/pluto

THE BALLOONIST
The Balloonist
(Wayside and Woodland)

“A hazy glide above the British countryside, an arcadia that has only ever existed within the mind”. Ben Holton claims lofty inspiration for this stunning collection, while admitting the initial spark came from an episode of 1970s BBC lunchtime staple, Mr Benn. And the autumnal melancholy of early childhood pervades. ‘First Light’ is the gentlest of lift-offs, with chiming guitars rising through a soft buzz of tape hiss to reach a patchwork horizon of rolling synths. ‘Above It All’ adds school xylophones and the distant hubbub of traffic.

By the time we spot ‘Strangers Waving From Fields’, we’re drifting gently through a golden haze of beguiling, enchanting bleeps. It feels like a leisurely flight from modernity, with the convoluted, bile-fuelled bollocks of 2022 left firmly on the ground. Everyone is nice here. The shuddering guitars and Vangelis sweeps of ‘Tracing Ancient Lines’ add a welcome whiff of mysticism, and as we reach the concluding finger-picks of ‘Landing’ there’s distinct wistfulness at the prospect of touchdown. But it’s been a wonderful journey.

Album available here:
https://digital.waysideandwoodland.com/album/the-balloonist

THE OVERLOAD
The Overload
(Woodford Halse)

It’s JG Ballard fronting Depeche Mode! Standing at the front of the Top Of The Pops stage, looking bemused in a corduroy blazer. Mat ‘Pulselovers’ Handley and Allan ‘Midwich Youth Club’ Murphy combine considerable powers on this 2016 digital-only release, now spruced up for cassette. Opener ‘Gated Community’ sets the tone: a splendidly utilitarian synth workout, with Kraftwerk flicking the Vs through the perimeter fence. And with ‘Concrete Island’ only missing a tortured David Sylvian vocal, it’s an album seamlessly combining kosmische nods with old school pop perfection.

Album available here:
https://woodfordhalse.bandcamp.com/album/wf-16-the-overload

ANTON WITTER
Notes From A Dreamstate
(Bandcamp)

The “romanticism of travel and the mystery of dreams” are the influences York-based Witter claims for this affecting album of somnabulant synth instrumentals. He’s clearly fallen asleep listening to Jean-Michel Jarre on the bus home, because this is a pristine evocation of the days when languid, prog-tinged melodies arrived as frequently as homework. “The things I see around me, are they truly real?” he ponders, in a spoken interlude on the stirring, quasi-orchestral ‘Intermission #1’. Let’s just trust in the veracity of an album that envelops like the finest Egyptian cotton.  

Album available here:
https://antonwitter.bandcamp.com/album/notes-from-a-dreamstate

REPEATED VIEWING
Murdercoaster
(Spun Out Of Control)  

An album that begins with a bloodcurdling scream and boasts tracks entitled ‘Slot Machine Slaughter’ and ‘Love Canal Of Blood’? Those seeking gentle ambience should probably look elsewhere. Alan Sinclair has produced a giddy homage to the lurid video nasties of his youth, filled with bombastic synths spoofing hilariously wonky carnival organs. Yep, we’re at the fairground – and the daffy drumbeats of ‘Dodgems Of Death’ are the highlight of this splendid nod to an era when VHS releases came accompanied by a free tabloid furore. If this was 1983, the Daily Mail would want it banned. 

Album available here:
https://spunoutofcontrol.bandcamp.com/album/murdercoaster

Electronic Sound – “the house magazine for plugged in people everywhere” – is published monthly, and available here:
https://electronicsound.co.uk/

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