Filled with beautiful stillness and vivid, intricate images, gentle wit, lilting profundity and contemplative moments, this gorgeously illuminating third experimental LP of folktronica and beyond by the trio of UK poet laureate Simon Armitage and musicians Richard Walters and Patrick J Pearson begins on the constellatory contradiction that the furthest points of light in our skies can only be seen in the dark. That titular term on the opening track is an environmentalist term in the context of light pollution as well as other associations and meanings, and there are also references throughout the album to disturbed weather patterns under climate change. Yet this release is also a clever work of wonder and escapism, elliptical observation, seeing things in relief, dreaming, refuge, and gently humorous absurdism and articulate awe at the universe, including those dark-sky light patterns that have entranced humans for thousands of years.
The highly affecting creative triangulation of LYR is the wry, witty detail of Armitage’s spoken poems, often dovetailing with Walters’ often wistful, ethereal falsetto vocals, and both combined with Pearson’s mesmeric, subtle compositions. As well as the title track, there are many outstanding moments, particularly coloured by Armitage’s talent for picking out oddball, ironic, connected examples and images, including bafflingly stilly pointless headline-style scenarios and stories on Blah! Blah! Blah! as examples of the bewildering white noise and of a constantly distracted online society, or the alienating, absurd experience of commercialised gift shop art souvenirs on Guernica Jigsaw (“who will buy my … oven glove Khalo, showercap Rothco …”) which includes subtle, amusing echoes of the musical Oliver! as well as a lauded Half Man Half Biscuit number. French Cursive has an extreme weather forecast over a gentle bed of music, echoing the reference to snow, rain, sleet and hail on the quiet electronica of A Walled Garden, while on the restless itchy beat of Eclipse, a range of astronomical terms are cleverly twinned with earthier more mundane, earthly objects, with an umbrella reference on how many across our planet have no proper roof above their heads. On the star-watching Sirius Alpha, Sirius Beta there’s doubled-edged reference to “the good in people … finding strength by holding each other at arms’ length”. Closer Collared Dove soars gently and defiantly with said bird trying to escape from cliche and name (“please don’t make me rhyme me with love”). There’s much more to enjoy and overall this is a a beautiful, rich, subtle, release, renewing every listen with sublimely illuminating, understated detail. There’s light on the horizon. Out on Real World Records.
LYR’s Simon Armitage, Richard Walters and Patrick J Pearson
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