If the phrase English Zen Rock conjures up enticing thoughts of majestic, chilled, meditative and pastoral music to calm and soothe the mind and spirit during these dark and troubled times, then you want to make a pilgrimage to the temple of the ARMCHAIR GODS.
Brummies born and bred with a friendship stretching back over many year, Paul Kearns and Steve Peckover have a collective musical career of playing in numerous bands based in and around the Midlands, among them Hela, touted as ones to watch back at the end of the 90s. Steve was a regular at the Ronnie Scott’s Singer Songwriters festivals while, studying music at the Musicians Institute in London, Paul was a finalist in the UK Guitarist Magazine of the year competition.
Today, however, they are Armchair Gods, a progressive rock instrumental duo with a full pantheon of sound drawing on such diverse influences as Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Heather Nova, Jonatha Brooke, IQ, Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, PFM and, perhaps, most notably, The Enid. Not to mention a touch of Mozart, Rodrigo and John Barry.
Their mission is to create extended, nuanced and multi-faceted musical compositions that will engage and immerse listeners in its sonic tapestry, the first fruits of which are the debut album Vanaprastha, titled from a Sanskrit term derived from vana, meaning "forest" and prastha, meaning "going to", translated as “retiring to the forest”, one of the most important concepts in the Hindu religion, representing the third of the four ashramas, or stages of human life.
Recorded using a repaired Dell Inspiron N5050 laptop, it’s loosely based on a symphonic arrangement with an exposition section of contrasting themes (Hero I and Riverman I) with a transition (The Waltz) a developmental section (The Hunt), a recapitulation section (Hero II, Riverman II) and a coda (The Gate) all flowing together as a seamless whole.
Each of the themes conveys different life experience/stages. Emerging from the early morning mist to embrace classical acoustic guitars amid the hypnotic swirl and disembodied voices, Hero I represents finding the courage to step into the unknown for the very first time, an experience that can bring joy, but also a realisation of grief.
Announced with a fanfare flourish and floating on pastoral strings with a hint of Leonard Cohen to the guitar lines, Riverman I marks a return to the familiar, finding comfort in going with the flow while The Waltz is a pulsing, woodwind flavoured piece representing being locked in step with toil but with the knowledge and hope that things will get better.
With its steady drum beat, nervy strings, keyboard trills and echoing distant electric guitar howls The Hunt, the first single, captures the sensation of fear and how to confront it, appropriately visited by a thunderstorm and the evocation choral voices mid-way, unfolding into the aftermath calm of Hero II and an exultant Riverman II before closing with The Gate, its David Gilmour tinted guitar wizardry and a state of acceptance, ready to move on to whatever the next state of the journey may be. (Available to download from armchairgods.bandcamp.com)
THE PINES are a three piece (Callum, Conor, Cartney) indie outfit with Oasis and Arctic Monkeys colours, the new single Standard Model being about not working so hard to never have a life (“To get this far, work this hard/And you'll have a life of happiness my friends/But on the flip side you might miss out/On all the pretty memories instead”.
GLASS CEILINGS are another “light-hearted indie sweetness” crew, this time a four piece, with new single When In Rome the sort of catchy summery funky pop designed for lazing in the grass.
A noisier proposition, HEADSHRINKERS line up as Garran, James, Xavier and Scarlett, a post-punk cocktail of guitar riffs, thunderous bass-lines and pummelling drums headed up by frontman Garran Hickman.
Their debut EP, Doorway Conversations, pulls together five propulsive numbers, kicking off with a New Orderish Interrobang and keeping the energy exploding through the title track and the bass-heavy Monocle while showing their slower side on the delightfully named and very Joy Division influenced march beat drums and keyboard swirls of Haggard Mullins and the more acoustic, spoken poetic lyrics of The Sea Has No Friends, gradually swelling to huge climax. Named Brum Radio’s Band of the Year in 2020, they’re now ready to conquer far wider territories.
An early taster of his forthcoming The Glass Age album, an online collaboration with producer Gustaf Ljunggren and born from the Rising Sun Stream Series he ran from Japan during lockdown, DAN WHITEHOUSE releases ‘Campfire’, a beguiling minimalist folktronica single using a single synthesizer, that likens the glowing sunrises over Tokyo Bay to the campfires burning back in the UK. Speaking of how we are unified by the warmth of the sun and fire and the transformative power of perception, he sings “When you change the way you look at things; Watch the things you look at start to change”.
ALBUMS
JOHNNY HUNTER – Want (Cooking Vinyl Australia)
The debut album by the Sydney four piece comes steeped in a high energy, driving mix of New Wave and gothic post-punk. It’s 70s punk that launches proceedings with the title track, summoning thoughts of iconic Australian new wave legends The Saints with its driving riffs and declamatory vocals, though you might also hear traces of The Skids and Cactus World News. That feel is carried over into Endless Days with its assault battery of hooks, but then The Floor introduces a new, and more pervasive, influence with its heady evocation of Joy Division (and, naturally, New Order) while Life and Dreams bring both The Cure and The Smiths to the party.
Although the album is predominantly a ball of power and energy, as with the ringing guitars of Cry Like A Man, they do slip in some slower moments with Nick Hutt’s Ian Curtis-styled vocals of Fracture where they find beauty in sadness and big building soaring and positive album closer Clover. A hugely impressive debut, that should certainly see them building an enthusiastic following well beyond their antipodean shores.
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