Alex Dingley - Beat The Babble - VINYL LP

Alex Lahey - B-Grade University [VINYL LP] date 06/16/2017

This is a journey inward. It's about closing the eyes to the world and taking the deep plunge into the great subconscious by the means of rock n´roll. When reality fades a certain darkness sets in. As the eyes adjust the light slowly comes creeping in through the cracks. The mind is a theatre, the brain a silver screen. Shielded from the pollution outside the self becomes operatic. It examines itself in the mirror before it prepares for the stage... for the whispering skull, the kingdom, the horse and the dagger in the heart. A roaring crowd appears. It's the InchmeInch in all it's shapes and sizes. The whole lot. This is the egos own domain crowded by the debris of the world outside. This is the place where the InchIInch go to shield itself from the cold outside; away from categories, from the middle ground, from the void of usefulness and towards the purity of the soul.

Singing drummers may now be in vogue, but very few combine the masterful musicianship, vivid lyrics and expressive vocals one experiences with Alex Rex. In fact, few musicians have a CV as impressive as band leader Alex Neilson. He's drummed with some of the most eclectic musicians of the international underground; from Bonnie InchPrinceInch Billy to Shirley Collins, Jandek and Current 93. All on top of a 10-year stint with his own critically acclaimed psych-folk outfit, Trembling Bells. Paradise is his fourth album as Alex Rex. Whilst the first three were shrouded in loss and loathing, Paradise is a different beast. In many ways Paradise marks a fresh start for the Glasgow-based polymath. Reunited with ex-Trembling Bells vocalist Lavinia Blackwall for the first time since the band's demise - Marco Rea (Euros Childs) and regular collaborator Rory Haye make up the rest of the Paradise party, with guest vocalist Kacy Lee Anderson (Kacy & Clayton) blowing a seductive smoke-ring through one track. Paradise introduces us to a new and uncharacteristically playful side of Alex Rex. Many of the songs on Paradise were written in early lockdown with no opportunity to rehearse, which also happens to be Neilson's preferred method. The Celtic rock guitar stylings of 'Scandalise The Birds' could have roused a Glasgow Barrowlands full of lumberjack-shirted true believers back in the Big Music days of Stuart Adamson or Mike Scott; 'What's Shouted In The Dark (The Dark Shouts Back)' echoes both Nick Cave and Nick Lowe in an ouroboros of punk rock preacher gospel blues; 'Ida' threatens to loosen it's loons and fly into a glitterball glam rock stomp at any moment; and 'Every Wall Is A Wailing Wall' sends us home with a comforting community chorale. Standout duet 'Black Peonies' is bubble-gum country in the tradition of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Grateful Dead. It contains one o