Beguiled by Thought Bubble

An appraisal of 'Beguiled' by Ian Fraser of the Terrascope blogzine:

"Veterans of the Spacerock festival circuit, Chris Cordwell and Nick Raybould, late of Glowpeople (whom we’ve been known to give some oxygen to here) hail from not much further than a stone’s throw on a following wind from where I currently sit and speculate. The self-description of their sound as ‘alt-electronica’ is a broad one and possibly doesn’t do justice in describing the varied moods and textures herein. There again, when you are as desperate to find a pigeonhole to fill as we ‘hacks’ so often are, then any old port(al) in a storm will do.

Motorik repetition has by now all-too often become a substitute for imagination and creativity. Not so, ‘Eclipse of Reason’, a Beak-like opener and which makes good use of what elsewhere has largely become a tired and overworked medium. The sprightly ‘Layer Cake’ with its sparklingly melodic guitar lines (supplied by Shaun Bailey from Monkey Trial, with whom Raybould has also played) and equally restorative ‘Re-entry’ supplemented by guitar guest Joseph Cave lift pace and mood. Despite this deftness and agility, you may be forgiven for thinking that this is shaping up more like Shropshire’s Mild Bunch than Bristol’s Wild Bunch. Well, not quite, as ‘Take One Soul’ proves to be something of a more feral ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, with vocals packing attitude a plenty, courtesy of no-doubt aptly monikered Pure Mischief (probably not what her mum calls her, but when did that ever matter). ‘Outside’ drifts beautifully, channelling those ambient lounge vibes while up-tempo ‘Sea Flower’ has Raybould’s stamp all over it not only because of the busy percussion but via his spoken word contribution. For yours truly, though, the best is kept back until the very last. ‘Forge’ is a mini masterpiece of spaced tranquillity, wherein synthesized string arrangements and sympathetic percussion makes for blissful, repeated listening. The lightly symphonic feel and gently lobbed space drips and washes have the floaty feel of a lost, gentle Hawkwind jam from circa Warrior/Astounding Sounds, one with Simon House’s dextrous dabs all over it.

Relaxing and redolent of sunny days and heady ways, Beguiled, means just that, raising a smile from your curmudgeonly old reviewer (it could be wind, I grant you). At the risk of damning with faint praise, this would make a thoroughly decent gateway drug to the kind groovy atmospheric ambient swathes often used to soundtrack and indeed enhance the more tasteful televisual programmes on nature or the arts. At times it puts one in mind, of a punchier, more cosmic yet stripped down Zero 7 or Leftfield, and is most gratifying in the same way as you might enjoy listening to Davis or Brubeck as an antidote to something more acerbic of that genre. Ironically given credentials the sound is often more hipster than hippy, so pass me the mocha and a craft beer and chalk me up a slate. But seriously folks, this is a very accomplished and rather lovely bit of kit, indeed. File under ‘job’s a good ‘un’."

"The new album 'Beguiled' invites you to partake in stimulating, multilayered "alt-electronica" that trips and flits across palpable moods and dispositions..."
IB, Electronic Sound magazine

Electronica, analogue percussion and a voice.

No set style or genre. The music comes out in whatever form it wants.

Sometimes we invite friends to add elements.

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A couple of us were also in Glowpeople, once upon a time.

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