Before Koresh by Ashley Reaks

7th album from genre-hopping London, UK-based musician and collage artist Ashley Reaks, featuring the improvised Eastern-tinged vocalizations of Norway's Maria Jardardottir, as well as collaborations with Hull wordsmith Joe Hakim, Huddersfield postman Kevin Boniface and lead singer from LA punk veterans The Dickies, Mr Leonard Graves Phillips.

REVIEWS

THIS IS NOT A SCENE

Occasionally one hears an album and is immediately struck by the dexterity of the songwriting, music with a message, delivered, like a Trojan horse, amongst exquisitely constructed tunes. “Before Koresh”, the seventh album from UK-based collage artist and musician Ashley Reaks, is one such album. There is a sense from the opening bars of the title track that the listener is about to embark upon an education, and will in all probability enjoy every moment of it.

WHISPERIN' AND HOLLERIN'

A cross-cultural sonic collage of sounds and soundbites, samples and strangeness, ‘Before Koresh’ presents a portrait of a postmodern dystopia... or, moreover, the world in which we live, as Reaks trawls through the detritus like an inverse magpie.

Tracklist

1.	Before Koresh	3:32

2.	The Dustman	3:02

3.	Wearside Jack	4:34

4.	Gleaming Cinders	3:02

5.	Crystal (feat Joe Hakim)	4:30

6.	Hyper-Diseasy	6:52

7.	Mr Barton And The Squirrels (feat Kevin Boniface)	1:08

8.	Inch Perfect	2:29

9.	I Want to Get A Celebrity Pregnant (feat Joe Hakim)	4:19

10.	Hell And Back Again	4:24

Credits

released February 25, 2015

Ashley Reaks - Vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards
Maria Jardardottir - Vocals and vocalizations
Dave Kemp - Saxes, Voodoo guitar, Bass recorder, Accordion
Nick Dunne - Guitar solos on 'Before Koresh' and 'Hell And Back Again'
Joe Hakim - Vocals on 'Crystal' and 'I Want To Get A Celebrity Pregnant'
Leonard Phillips - Vocals on 'The Dustman'
Kevin Boniface - Vocals on 'Mr Barton and The Squirrels'

Recorded and mixed by Dan Mizen at Active Audio Studios, Harrogate in 2014/15

All songs by Ashley Reaks except
'Crystal' and 'I Want To Get A Celebrity Pregnant' by Ashley Reaks/Joe Hakim
'Mr Barton And The Squirrels' by Ashley Reaks/Kevin Boniface

Lyrics for ‘The Dustman’ adapted from an anonymous children’s poem of the same name.

Artwork by Ashley Reaks

www.ashleyreaks.com

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