Tag Archives: Andy Bell

On Record – Ride: Interplay (Wichita / PIAS)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The second coming of Ride is now officially longer than the first. This is a statement that seemed very unlikely when they first split in 1996, but Mark Gardener, Andy Bell, Loz Colbert and Steve Queralt now appear to be together for keeps.

Interplay is the third album of their second incarnation, and the band have been candid about how difficult it was to record – yet such openness now appears to be one of their key strengths.

What’s the music like?

This is a very strong album, and could be the record that see Ride cross over to being a genuine rock band as well as acknowledged shoegaze royalty. Songs like the opening Peace Sign are key to this, being a full-blown anthem with winsome, jangly guitar lines and a great chorus to boot.

Gardener’s voice sounds great, more versatile than before. Monaco finds an edge to the voice reminiscent of The The, while Last Frontier has a softer side that sounds more familiar, tipping towards New Order or Electronic. What fans might not have expected is the barely concealed anger powering the centre of the album. Portland Rocks gives an indication of this, but I Came To See The Wreck goes the whole hog, the standout track of the album. “Rage, body and soul” is the takeaway lyrical couplet of an all-consuming song.

Elsewhere, Midnight Rider is a groovy throwback, while Sunrise Chaser brings brighter colours to the table. The band marry electronics and guitars convincingly, and production is excellent.

Does it all work?

It does. Melodic, meaningful and with songs that stick.

Is it recommended?

It certainly is – with Interplay Ride have made the album of their career so far.

For fans of… Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized

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Published post no.2,141 – Sunday 7 April 2024

On Record – Dot Allison: Consciousology (Sonic Cathedral)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The solo renaissance of Dot Allison continues, the singer – once of the much-loved dance outfit One Dove – releasing her second solo album in two years.

Allison actually began the album back in 2021, as previous opus Heart-Shaped Scars was being released. The song Double Rainbow was the first to be completed, and Consciousology – described by its author as ‘an imagined voice of a conscious universe expressed through music’.

The album has grown to be just that, taking the electrical activity of a plant and translating it into pitch – a ‘botanical session player’, as Allison labels it, to sit alongside the talents of guitarist Andy Bell and the London Contemporary Orchestra, heard in arrangements made by Hannah Peel.

What’s the music like?

Allison’s vocal has a beautiful fragility on the surface, but is supported by an instrument of deceptive strength beneath. Her hushed tones are ideally complemented by string arrangements made once again by Hannah Peel, who shows an instinctive understanding of the balance between the two, so that the words can be clearly heard at all times.

The London Contemporary Orchestra play like a dream, matching Allison’s feathery vocal on the gorgeous Shyness of Crowns, which slides into Unchanged, whose dreamy guitar from Andy Bell gains in strength as it progresses.

Bleached By The Sun features more exquisite word painting, the sighing strings and whispered vocal painting a heat-soaked, drowsy scene, while Moon Flowers is similarly enchanted.

Unchanged has impressive inner strength, while Bleached By The Sun has delicate multitracked vocals, in something of a fever dream, and is complemented by winding string contours. Moon Flowers is an enchanting song, as is Mother Tree – shot through with slightly psychedelic effects on percussion and harp.

Meanwhile inner strength comes to the fore on Double Rainbow, and Weeping Roses forms a pictorial coda in the company of sleepy guitar and piano accompaniment.

Does it all work?

It does, thanks to Allison’s enchanting voice, which harks back to some of the memorable folk-inflected voices of the 1960s and 1970s. The impression remains that she has more power available should she need it, but these songs are beautifully sung as they are.

Is it recommended?

It is. Consciousology will take its listeners to a place far from where they actually are, its dreamy textures and contours providing enchantment and, ultimately, escapism.

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Switched On – Andy Bell: Strange Loops & Outer Psych (Sonic Cathedral)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Described as a ‘technicolour companion piece’ to last year’s Flicker album, his second release, Strange Loops & Outer Psych is a collection drawn from the EPs he has released in the intervening period.

To quote Bell himself, “Influences, stripped down acoustic reworks and remixes by my friends, comrades and heroes all hopefully help the listener see where my head was when I made Flicker, but also it stands up as a decent listen in its own right.

What’s the music like?

Bell is absolutely right – this is a really effective standalone piece in its own right, thanks to some judicious placing of extra tracks and quality remixes.

Maps in particular turn in an excellent contribution to the second category, James Chapman’s take on It Gets Easier presenting a starry-eyed throwback towards Hacienda days that complements the opener, David Holmes‘ dreamy rework of The Sky Without You. Richard Norris, meanwhile, uses a walking-pace beat to bring good vibes to Something Like Love. Claude Cooper adds a winning break beat to Sidewinder, while bdrmm bring sparkling treble and dubby bass to Way Of The World.

Meanwhile the original tracks find Bell in really strong vocal form, too – as good as at any point in his career. Listen, The Snow Is Falling is an evocative piece, while The Way Love Used To Be is unusually tender and affecting in its outlook. Bell’s voice is unforced in a similarly touching acoustic versions of She Calls The Tune, Love Is The Frequency, Lifeline and Something Like Love.

Countering this is the ‘psych’, a pulsing mix of World Of Echo from A Place To Bury Strangers.

Does it all work?

It does. An ideally named and appropriately dreamy collection.

Is it recommended?

It is. Andy Bell is in a particularly creative phase of his career, even for him – and whether it’s his instrumental GLOK project or this hazy, slightly retrospective workout, he is on fine form at every turn. Strange Loops & Outer Psych is a blissful, uplifting listen.

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Switched On – Pye Corner Audio – Let’s Emerge! (Sonic Cathedral)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the first album from Pye Corner Audio – aka Martin Jenkins – for the Sonic Cathedral label. It is a wholly logical move, given the producer’s work with Ride guitarist Andy Bell on Social Dissonance, a live recording he made at a Sonic Cathedral night at The Social back in 2019.

It was the first meeting for the pair, and it ticked a lot of musical boxes which lead to the collaboration on this album, where Bell plays guitar on five of the ten tracks. The impetus for this long player is markedly different from Pye Corner Audio’s last in 2021, which was inspired by the underground fungal pathways where plants communicate. This one reaches for the sun, bathing in the summer heat – which makes its release into the middle of a UK heatwave all the more pertinent.

As a bonus, Let’s Emerge! is fronted by vibrant artwork from Marc Jones, consciously drawing on sleeves from LFO, Spaceman 3 and early Stereolab in his vivid colouring.

What’s the music like?

As warm as the cover suggests it should be. Jenkins’ slight adaptation of his music for Sonic Cathedral does indeed take it closer to ‘shoegaze’ if we are looking for a musical label, but it means the music he produces is full of rich colour and dreamlike possibility.

De-Hibernate acts as an awakening, introducing the big sonic backdrop with which Jenkins operates, but also showing how closer inspection reveals studied details in the work of Andy Bell. Broad brush chords from the keyboards, then, are complemented by more intricate guitar work, a blueprint that works extremely well as the album progresses.

The wash of sound on Lyracal confirms the temperature, bathing in consonant harmonies and shimmering textures, while Does It Go Dark shifts to lower pitched drones, its woozy outlines gradually revealing a chord progression of poise and power.

Haze Loops is a rich tapestry of warm sounds, more of a poolside chillout number, before some slightly smaller tracks link seamlessly together as part of a bigger suite. Let’s Emerge Part One breaks like a wave into the ears, retreating to the deeper colours of Saturation Point. Sun Stroke (so appropriate as I type this on the hottest day in UK history!) is thick with humidity, and then after the brief Let’s Emerge Part Two, Luminescence harnesses more rhythmic drive, synths bubbling just below the surface. Finally Warmth Of The Sun, the musical culmination of the album, brings the guitar to its greatest prominence yet, shimmering on the surface with fuzzy vocals and supportive percussion.

It says much that Andy Bell’s contributions are subtly integrated into the music. Not for him the posturing of a typical ‘featured guitarist’ – he gets the mood of Jenkins’ writing and adds his own subtleties to complement it, rather than going for standout melodies each time. It is to his enormous credit that the two work as equals and achieve something far more meaningful.

Does it all work?

It does. Music evokes time and place better than almost anything, and Let’s Emerge! certainly does that with its hot weather soundscapes.

Is it recommended?

Yes – a rather special addition to Martin Jenkins’ work until now as Pye Corner Audio, taking him in the direction of sunnier climes while reminding us of his capacity to evoke images and moods through his electronic music. Andy Bell’s guitar work is the icing on the cake.

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Switched On – GLOK: Pattern Recognition (Bytes)

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What’s the story?

There is a sense that Andy Bell was pleasantly surprised by the success of Dissident, his first album as GLOK. Until then it seemed he was happy to let the project simmer beneath the surface, but as soon as that first album made its presence felt it gave him the confidence to spread his wings and spend more time in the studio.

Pattern Recognition builds on that success, taking the building blocks of Krautrock-influenced instrumentals and running with them, adding more nuances and possibilities. That means several vocal tracks for the first time.

The Bandcamp guide to the album reveals that it ‘has a loose thread which takes in a week of life, from weekend to weekend, with each of the vinyl’s four sides capturing different mind states across that transition. Each side has a distinct feel that’s different to the last but inherently cohesive – much like the changes an individual goes through over 7 days.’

What’s the music like?

Pattern Recognition has a greater breadth of styles than Dissident did, and now it has the vocalists to add extra depth and variety. The guests are all excellent, especially punk poet Sinead O’Brien on Maintaining the Machine, where her words dovetail beautifully with the GLOK synths and loping beats. Entanglement, featuring Chloé ‘C.A.R.’ Raunet, is cut from similar cloth, with more guitar in the mix and a really full, solid wall of sound to back it up.

Shamon Cassette is a brooding presence on the nocturnal Process, which bubbles atmospherically, while his wife Shiarra’s voice works really well against the pulsing figures and fat bass of That Time Of Night.

If you are already familiar with the music of Dissident you will appreciate the broad scope of the brilliantly named album opener Dirty Hugs. On it Bell gives himself nearly 20 minutes to unpack a throbbing groove in thrall to Krautrock and containing a lot of good things, which unwind at a really satisfying pace. It serves as a form guide for the rest of the album, as Pattern Recognition is a very substantial piece of work.

Closer nods a bit more to the techno of Mr Fingers in its square beat and bass line, but in contrast Memorial Device has an improvised piano line drifting past. Kintsugi is lovely, with its wide open sounds, while the woozy Day Three cuts to Invocation, where Bell’s sonic blender works a treat as part of a monotone and hypnotic groove, spun out again to more than 15 minutes as a track the listener can really immerse themselves in.

Two edits of Dirty Hugs and Closer complete an attractive bonus package.

Does it all work?

Yes, making it two out of two for Bell. Pattern Recognition does everything you would want from a follow-up to Dissident, and even accusations of it being too long would be brought up short. There is ample evidence of just how much Bell is enjoying his electronic incarnation, and the well-chosen vocal guests are the icing on the cake.

Is it recommended?

Heartily – as long as you already have the first installment of Bell’s GLOK incarnation!

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