Xmas Advent [December 2nd] :: Simon Bookish

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Simon Bookish recommends… “Blue Imelda” by Final Fantasy

“My friend Owen made an EP called Spectrum 14th Century, which is definitely one of my favourite things from this year. For me, it’s representative of a fantastic new development in pop music, a kind of new ambition. There’s a lot of it about at the moment – musicians with big ideas, resourcefulness, intelligence, some daring. ‘Is anything more beautiful than failure?’, in the words of the first song on the EP. Spectrum is concerned with a fictional mediaeval society and its deity, who is also called Owen, and his ambivalent relationship with his worshippers. ‘Every morning I listen to confessionals; I don’t give a shit about the bulk of it, still, I keep it professional.’ So it has this sci-fi Canterbury Tales lyric and is set to the strangest, lushest music, all soaring strings, acidic woodwind, steel drums and field recordings of birdsong. It’s challenging and funny and beautiful, so I recommend you buy the whole EP.”

Simon Bookish is the stage name of Leo Chadburn, a classically trained composer, vocalist and performer based in London. His album Everything/Everything is out now on Tomlab and has been nominated for TLOBF’s Album of the Year. Click here to vote.

Simon Bookish on MySpace