California

3rd studio album & one of the best records to emerge in 2002! An absolute must for fans of David Sylvian, 70's Bowie etc. Recorded with a live band over a 12 day period last autumn in Belgium & co-produced by Italian composer Marco Sabiu, the album draws comparisons with classic old Motown, using lush strings, brass & choral arrangements. Initial listening may give the impression of a more upbeat sound, but this album works in a very subtle way. Beneath the accomplished & confident surface lies the old cast of characters - the loners, the lost, the defeated lovers, who drift through the songs like actors in old monochrome movies. The 'California' of the title is not so much a place as a mood, or an emotional state, which keeps them going, keeps them dreaming. The songs are all the more affecting because the lyrics & mood often subvert the musical arrangements & production. Naive France. Digipak.