Electronic beatsmith Lomond Campbell, however, has seen the potential to make this album “deeper, darker and dancier”, departing from the pastoral outdoors to take the music underground to a club. The pair were introduced by Hannah Peel, after which Campbell remixed Ghost Orchid, from her previous album Heart-Shaped Scars. So impressed was Allison that she asked him to remix the whole of Consciousology.
What’s the music like?
Campbell is notable for his consistently inventive approach to beat making and colour shading, and that is certainly the case here.
He has a refreshing originality that complements Allison’s thoughts and lyrics, too. Double Rainbow shifts restlessly, with added colour from arpeggiated synths. Allison’s haunting voice suits Campbell’s inventive beatmaking on Bleached By The Sun, which harks memories of Kavinsky’s Night Call – in a good way. Meanwhile Mother Tree breaks out into a psychedelic, dubby groove Andrew Weatherall would be proud of.
Weeping Roses is the real eyeopener, as it unexpectedly opens up into a big room floor filler, with what Allison notes is the “light and dark clash of worlds and sounds that Lomond has created from the roots and stems of the original.”
Comparisons are inevitably drawn with Allison’s work as part of One Dove, and in a good way – for electronic music feels not only like Dot Allison’s home turf, but an essential part of her musical make-up that drives a great deal of creativity.
Does it all work?
Yes – and it there is something refreshingly rugged about the end result, putting Dot Allison’s voice through a very different emotional wringer.
Is it recommended?
It is – but should be heard right next to the original, to appreciate Lomond Campbell’s creativity and Dot Allison’s emotional connections. Both forces are extremely well matched here.
Listen / Buy
Published post no.2,639 – Wednesday 26 August 2025
This is the first solo album from Ride bassist Steve Queralt, the result of fitful opportunities to record between the ‘day job’.
Yet the fact that Swallow has taken shape over five years is an illustration that it means a lot to him, as he joins his band mate Andy Bell with a solo record on the Sonic Cathedral label.
Queralt is joined by singers Emma Anderson (ex-Lush) and Electrelane’s Verity Susman, who guest on three of the album’s nine tracks.
What’s the music like?
Beguiling. Queralt writes in the shoegaze tradition, like his band, but there is some wonderfully dreamy music here that puts you under its spell with repeated success.
After an atmospheric introduction, Lonely Town – headed by Anderson – is an early highlight, a dream pop moment of excellence that reaches the heady heights. Anderson appears again on the moody Swiss Air, with exhilarating widescreen production, while Verity Susman’s contribution is also a thing of wonder, a bold vocal backed with big guitars and spacious production.
Elsewhere Queralt complements the vocal numbers from the heart with some impressive instrumentals. 1988 holds itself with poise, a slower number that Queralt paces to perfection until it breaks out into a massive, drum-fuelled epic. A Porsche Shaped Hole has the sort of grandeur you would associate with M83, reaching for the stars and then floating seamlessly.
Does it all work?
It does. Queralt gets just the right balance of soft and loud, vocal and instrumental, slow and fast – the result being that the nine-tracks fairly fly by.
Is it recommended?
This is an auspicious debut from Steve Queralt, a starry-eyed gem that frequently reaches the celestial bodies for which it aims. It is a shame he has started late on the solo trail, but hopefully this will encourage him to take the plunge again without delay. Highly recommended.
For fans of… Ride, M83, Trentemøller, Maps, Beach House
Dot Allison releases a new album, Subconsciousology, via Sonic Cathedral on 25 July. It’s a full reworking of 2023’s Consciousology, by electronic producer and machine-maker Lomond Campbell, who, as the title suggests, has made it deeper, darker and dancier.
The first single,Weeping Roses, has been twisted from its original incarnation as a Tim Hardin-style folk lament into the most unlikely acid house banger.
“It began on a guitar with the two verse chords and grew from there,” says Dot of the song’s germination. “I wanted it to have a deep heartbreak and rawness, and now I love the surreal and beautiful, light and dark clash of worlds and sounds that Lomond has created from the roots and stems of the original.”
“It was the last one I remixed, possibly because it was the only track I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with,” explains Lomond. “At the risk of sounding obvious, I decided the best thing was to work on it somewhat subconsciously. I like that some of the bonny twists and turns of the original song haven’t been entirely corroded away by acid.”
Watch the stunning visualiser by Studio Sparks – using the artwork of Maria Mochnacz and Marc Jones – below:
While the original Consciousology was all ornate avant-garde folk and psychedelic explorations, this new take is as hard-hitting as it is heavenly, as beat-driven as it is beautiful.
Crucially, it finds Dot re-embracing the electronic music with which she first made her name in One Dove.
“I think electronic music will always be a key part of my music-making DNA,” she explains. “I see all instruments as possibilities with which to voice ideas, so I’d never want to cloister myself in a genre or feel I couldn’t return to any genre. Whether the sound source is from vibrations or a voltage, I don’t really see any limitations or rules.”
It was this open-minded approach that led to Dot and Lomond working together in the first place. After being introduced to his music by Hannah Peel, Dot asked him to remix Ghost Orchid, a track from her previous album, Heart-Shaped Scars. In the meantime, he’d already been listening to the album and had noticed the similarities between it and some of his own music.
There was an element of synchronicity, which extended to them both having mutual friends where they hang out in the Highlands and islands in the west of Scotland. The remix was also so good that it inspired Dot to ask Lomond to rework a whole album.
“I knew Dot would be encouraging of experimentation as I strayed pretty far off the mark with the remix of Ghost Orchid and she loved it, so I felt I could be playful,” explains Lomond. “However, I’ve never remixed an entire album before and was keen to make it work as a standalone piece with a vibe of its own. Dot’s vocals are so impressive that I felt anything could work around them, even atomising the recordings into abstract micro samples. It also amazes me how much grime, distortion and dense sound you can throw at Dot’s voice, yet it remains so bright and salient. I loved all of Hannah Peel’s string arrangements, too, so I made heavy use of them.”
“I love that he has brought a rich musicality and has created wild universes around the elements he has chosen to retain in the various songs,” adds Dot. “It reminds me of working with Andrew Weatherall in a way, where the mixes were bold and reinventive departures.
“I wanted an album through the looking glass, in a way. In my mind, it was going to be a mirror version of Consciousology. The whole concept of the original record is about interconnectivity and the electromagnetic aspects to consciousness, so the remixed version should be like a diffracted version of the original, like a rainbow diffracted from a beam of light!”
The end result is the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow – everything sounds and feels at once familiar but different – from the chugging electro of Unchanged and Bleached By The Sun, to the almost absurd, Aphex Twin-like shock of 220Hz.
“It’s landed exactly where I hoped it would,” says Lomond. “I like that each track has its own identity yet there’s a clear thread running through it all. Dot has a real knack for creating striking melodies that hit quickly and stay with you. I tried to build different chord structures around these vocal lines, re-harmonising to take it to darker places.”
The good news is that they are planning on working together again in the future, and have already collaborated on Lomond’s new album.
“I think it would be remiss of us not to build on everything that we’ve done so far,” concludes Lomond. “Stay tuned!”
Andy Bell is on a creative roll these days. While it’s not clear if the Ride guitarist will become part of the Oasis live tour later in the year, he is pressing ahead as he hits a rich vein of form in his solo career. Whether under his own name or the GLOK alias, where he operates more electronically, Bell has maintained a satisfying blend of recent past and future, bringing together song-based material with experimentation and the joy of repetitive beats.
pinball wanderer looks set to further his enjoyment in these areas, with a busy year ahead!
What’s the music like?
Bell achieves a really satisfying blend of electronic and acoustic here, bringing in some elements of the GLOK alias – especially an enjoyment of Krautrock – to rub shoulders with influences from early 1990s Manchester and, further back, a healthy dash of Byrds.
The result is music that is never short of a hookline, but adds some really interesting and rewarding quirks when the mood takes it. A great example is the groovy Apple Green UFO, a track aware of the groovier side of Stone Roses’ repertoire, but striking out through dropping a beat in the bar, giving it a subtle edge the likes of A Certain Ratio would enjoy.
Panic Attack is equal parts Krautrock and Manchester, promising warmer climes, while a well judged cover of The Passions‘ I’m In Love With A German Film Star features ideal guest turns from Dot Allison and Michael Rother. The title track is a brightly coloured groove, while the dreamy Space Station Mantra allows the mind to wander at the cosmic close.
Does it all work?
It does – and with repeated listens, Bell’s music grows in stature and impact. Be warned, there are many earworms in this album!
Is it recommended?
It is. Andy Bell is clearly relishing his music making at the moment, and this meeting of his different musical minds is thoroughly enjoyable, laden with grooves, riffs and good times.
For fans of… A Certain Ratio, Neu!, Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream
Sonic Cathedral – the label that celebrates itself – marks two decades in existence with this handsomely packaged box set of classics and rarities. It’s no exaggeration to say that Nathaniel Cramp’s lovingly directed label has played a big part in the continued regeneration of shoegaze, a form of music whose versatility and staying power has continued to confound anyone miserly enough to criticise it.
By drawing on the best shoegaze from the late 1980s – and utilising some of the pioneers – Sonic Cathedral has looked for new talent and become a forward looking enterprise. Certain qualities have been retained and built upon, such as a penchant for winning remixes – marked in a disc entitled ‘Recalibrate Yourself’ – and a generous number of Yuletide covers and originals, marked in the brilliant ‘Celebrate Your Elf’. The label’s original best-ofs are found on the very fine ‘Celebrate Yourself’, while Reverberate Yourself! A Congregation Of Sonic Cathedral Live Recordings is a collection of exclusives from right down the front of the gig.
What’s the music like?
This is a brilliant collection, capturing each aspect of the Sonic Cathedral label and what has made it special. Celebrate Yourself is the true ‘best of’, rounding up 20 of the best tracks since the label began as a club night. These include the shimmering, hazy beauty of Pye Corner Audio, whose Warmth Of The Sun features Andy Bell, and the warm-hearted Early Years beauty Fluxus. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, one of the label’s best aditions, shine on Balance, while there is a dreamy Dot Allison contribution in the shape of Unchanged. The easy tread of Neil Halstead’s Spin The Bottle is appealing. Mildred Maude bring their distinctive guitar sound to CPA II, while a new addition from Emma Anderson, Queen Moth, is beguiling. It’s great to see the label’s newer names on such good form.
If you want an extra groove laden underneath, the Recalibrate Yourself collection delivers in spades. Perhaps inevitably Andrew Weatherall takes the limelight with the laconic beat applied to Early Years’ Hall Of Mirrors, but there is plenty else to enjoy. James Holden gives a dazzling remix of XAM Duo’s Cold Stones, a flurry of exhilarating synths, while Maps’ take on Not Me But Us’ When We See is suitably epic. Meanwhile the Pye Corner Audio remake of Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’s Unificado is a wall of noise, a real thrill.
Complementing the studio recordings, Reverberate Yourself is a brilliant live collection, right from the label’s roots. It is led off by a powerhouse performance from Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, whose account of What’s Holding You? is a thrilling tour de force. ‘Epic’ is definitely the word here, applicable to The Early Years and their account of The Simple Solution, Slowdive’s Golden Hair from Los Angeles, and bdrmm’s Mono from Leeds, but there are more intimate moments too, such as Mark Peters at The Band Room in Yorkshire and Dean Wareham’s When Will You Come Home.
The icing on the cake is Celebrate Your Elf, led off by a wonderfully starry The Box Of Delights from Mark Peters, who also delivers a winsome Silent Night. Fairewell makes two excellent contributions in Christmas Eve and In The Bleak Midwinter, while A Place To Bury Strangers enjoy a bruising encounter with Kool & The Gang’s Celebration. Wrapping things up is Maps – a technicolour remix of The Box Of Delights and a stellar cover of East 17’s Stay Another Day.
Does it all work?
Emphatically. It’s easy to imagine that Sonic Cathedral could have doubled the choices on this compilation and still not lost the quality. There are winning musical moments at every turn.
Is it recommended?
Heartily. This is a lovingly compiled anniversary treat, capturing every aspect of a record label whose status has only grown over that time. We’re lucky to have them!
Arcana.fm 