There are some bands ho can leave tears in my eyes no matter what my mood. Low, for example; hopelessly tragic, too beautiful, yet ultimately glorious. The sorts of bands who you feel privileged to listen too, unworthy of, yet blushingly special to have been introduced too.
Errol’s Compilation may not have a name as such; it’s giving nothing away, until that first playing wherein eight of those aforementioned bands unleash a wealth of secrets (including Errol’s impeccable taste).
Simply put this compilation has the beautifully hopeful (Hollowphonic, Grover, Giardini di Miro, The Bogart Surprise, Lemko Hall, Cerberus Shoal), the beautifully tragic (Diefenbach), and the downright mental (Giardini di Miro, Hollowphonic, disoma, Cerberus Shoal).
Canada’s Hollowphonic are the first band up, treating us to two tracks, opening with the epic ‘Anthem’. Building slowly from a single piano, quietly telling its tale, until a humongous soundscape chases away the demons before everything fades to nothingness. Their second offering, ‘Prelude’, is a considerably shorted less ethereal affair. Imagine Mogwai doing Money Mark covers and you’re part way there.
Denmark’s Diefenbach with ‘Underboys’ change the mood yet again. Strings, harmonics, swells and climaxes, the peaceful and the aggressive, all ending in a simple sound bite, ‘the dream is peaceful, reality is the nightmare’.
Grover, musically, could be Arab Strap minus Moffat’s mumbling confessions. ‘A simple misunderstanding’ is just that, simple, initially sounding like a scale progression before getting louder, more frantic and more urgent despite the resounding lyric, ‘so far so good’.
The Bogart Surprise leave less of an impact with the hymn like mantra of ‘Northern Hills and Summer Skies’, until out of nowhere comes the track’s full impact – thrashing guitars, lasers and gunshots, before, CRASH, BANG, WALLOP!#! It’s over.
The second vinyl is equally as magnificent with the grand, slow, brooding orchestration of Giardini di Miro, the complete aural attack of the shouty joy, disoma and Sweden’s Lemko Hall. All finished by Cerberus Shoal’s simple chord progression. This sounds almost like an African tribal song – the chorus of vocal, beats and bird like sounds. And with the line ‘Sweetie I’m coming home’, tears are halted and this compilation is established as one of the most explorative releases of the year and subsequently makes Errol records perhaps one of the most important record labels the UK has to offer for sharing such gifts.
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10Sara E's Score