Regular visitors to the Static Sounds Clubhouse will know I have a strong affinity and deep love for the Sonic Cathedral label. There just seems to be a never-ending stream of sky-high quality records being released by this standard bearer for the UK shoegaze scene. Once again, my inbox yelps in delight as another of these releases’ lands ready for my eager lugholes.
Slowdive fans rejoice as we have a new album from Simon Scott under his Three Quarter Skies moniker. He’s already had a cassette only Universal Flames EP out there as well as a track on a Christmas single with label mates deary. Now he returns with his first album proper entitled Fade In.
The joy of receiving this recording is slightly tempered in the knowledge that his creativity came partially from a place of deep sadness. Simon frames this for us.
“My creative well was already beginning to overflow and losing my mum pushed me over the edge, I didn’t want to write pretty tunes, or sentimental and saccharine music about love or pretend how happy and healthy the world is. Three Quarter Skies’ songs are angry, noisy, turbulent, stubborn and petulant. It’s an album of profound despair, anxiety, frustration and loss, it’s been therapeutic to scream into walls of feedback”
The album opens with the understated intro to ‘Slight Betrayal’. A ping pong style rhythm beats out like a signal from a distant star. A voice emerges from the static but is tantalisingly held out of arms reach, close but not close enough. Sweeping atmospherics fill the spaces in between making an ambient quilt to wrap ourselves in. Theres something strangely comforting about this track, something familiar yet elusive.
The song segues neatly into an abridged version of Nick Drakes ‘Horn’. This immediately made my ears prick up as I am a massive Drake fan. As it turns out, so is Scott. “The original idea I had for the band was Suicide playing Nick Drake. I was wrangling feedback out of my acoustic, a Westerly Guild, the same model Nick Drake used for Pink Moon, and I just threw that onto the tape. Feedback was squealing around my studio and I just pulled the volume down on the guitar input and played it.” I love that he kept this homage on the tape and it ended up on the album.
‘Leave a Light On’ follows with the bass overwhelming the cascading guitar. That steady pulse lifting and swathing the track in a fuzzy gossamer veil. Whilst there is a tangible sense of loss in the melody (that brings to mind early Sigur Ros), there’s also hope. An optimism that shines through. Especially in the swell into the chorus lines.
The clacky rhythm of ‘Crows’ brings to mind someone playing the spoons. It’s not long though until the waves of fuzz and reverb swell to a sonic tsunami and we’re off. This track has two really compelling counter melodies. One played on this pillowy, low end heavy guitar and the opposite on a treble heavy, almost crystalline toned guitar. In amongst the feedback, they play off one another creating a space of Scott to fit his vocal line. This is musical sorcery to me.
Next up is Scott’s Christmas single ‘Holy Water. He is joined on vocals by Rachael Swinton from Glasgow band Cloth. Their voices are a perfect blend and I absolutely love how it all comes together. The instrumentation has a restraint to it that allows the vocals to emerge into the light and shine. Having heard this on the limited edition seven-inch single last year as a standalone track I’m so glad that it feels right at home on this record.
‘Superwoman’ blooms on to the speakers straining at the edge of distortion. That sense of being at your limit, at the edge of coping is palpable. Yet at the same time there’s a comfort in this sound, like someone throwing their arms around you. Telling you its going to be ok. That’s the magic of this album, finding the light in the darkest of moments.
‘Pieces Of Roslin’, which was originally released on last year’s introductory EP, Universal Flames is our penultimate stop on this journey. The feedback being manipulated here almost feels like a physical manifestation of Scott’s inner turmoil. There are very few musicians that could claim such control over something so ethereal. How can a track sound so powerful and potent yet so fragile at the same time.
The final destination for this album is ‘In The Night’. A pastoral, almost folk song swathed in the textures of this album established over the previous seven songs. Acoustic guitar rings out between soaring, ever ascending reverb trails and glitchy moments. It’s an ambient adventure that takes your mind on a journey lifting you off your feet and floating off to, well, whatever is next.
Fade In is a truly transportive listening experience. I can only equate it to one of my favourite albums, Soul Kiss (The Glide Divine) by Spectrum. That is another album that envelope’s you in its musical thrall and you go willingly. Scott has a wealth of experience to draw from and on this album, it feels like he has eschewed all that and turned inwards and bared us his soul. This is an intensely moving experience and I’ve found it a real privilege to be allowed in. Anyone who’s ever experienced grief will hear something in here that they’ll recognise. More importantly they’ll hear hope.
Fade In is out on September 6th 2024 via Sonic Cathedral. You can grab a copy on vinyl, digital and on CD which comes with an exclusive bonus track. Head over to the Sonic Cathedral Bandcamp page or your favourite local record shop to grab your copy.
You can follow Three Quarter Skies on social media here….
Photo Credit
Julia Beyer
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