A charming, wistful, beautifully serene, gentle, poignant and possibly farewell album by the cult lo-fi cult London-based vintage-style pop-art band fronted by singer-songwriter Stephen Coates in a release themed around late night and early morning, hope, regret, memory and longing. It’s a reworked and expanded re-release of Part Four of the Swan Songs series of albums of 2022, including a remake of Lost Endeavour, guest singer Erin Moran (A Girl Called Eddy), inspired by the style of the great Jimmy Webb. Other guests include Josie Lloyd-Wilson (Sephine Llo) especially on Here’s Hoping and Oriana Curls on two tracks, including the gorgeous When You Showed Up. The album’ other recurring theme is celebrating and cherishing the simple things in life, such as on vivid, delightful, delicate Blackbird Day, but the arguably the two highlights are the bookends, with the lead gently sung by Coates, the opener Don’t Go Back (“Summer comes / Another year has gone … I found a diamond / In the dirt that I'd become”), and the final track Hold On To Love: “I’ll say I'm happy to be here a little / You'll say when you're not alone/ And the bar by the harbour/ We'll drink till sundown / Sing till it's time to go home … When most of our days are behind us / And those we cared for are gone / Whatever we've done when our time has come / Let's hold onto love…”). If this is a farewell, then a perfect one it is. Out on Antique Beat.
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