Lovecraft: Out Of Ether (Self Released)
Left field Merseyside alt. pop ensemble return with impressive new set
Released Nov 6th, 2020 / By Richard Lewis

Piloted by Lovecraft leader Craig Sinclair's Jarvis-esque vocals, the xylophone music box melody of opening cut Ticking Over Nicely supplies an earworm chorus hook, "You were nearly giving me a heart attack / What am I to make of that?", the reference to Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly maintaining the band's longstanding interest in cult cinema.
On the subject of which the classic, off-beat study directed by Rolling Stones collaborators the Maysles Brothers of two down on their luck Jackie O related aristos in their dilapidated New York mansion provides the title of Grey Gardens, next. Anchored by a dub bassline, distant shore vocals and abstract brass interjections, the track shares some of the dark ambiance of Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad and The Queen side-project.
Constructed around a repeating acoustic arpeggio beautifully arranged downbeat cut The Exorcist appears to be the resigned tale of a resident ghost that has vacated the property "A house without a ghost / Is no kind of home". Elsewhere the mantra-like Back of My Mind consisting of a single line of lyrics "I push it out / To the back of my mind" evokes The Flaming Lips by candlelight during a power cut.
A pleasant surprise considering the group seemed to have drawn a line under proceedings a while back, this an unexpected delight. 4/5
Available from Bandcamp here
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