Ooh, The Durutti Column, what a relaxing treat. The sleeve for Sunlight to Blue.. Blue to Blackness is totally black save for a monochrome photo of half of Vini Reilly's face (a la Young Marble Giant's 'Colossal Youth') yet the music starts out incredibly bright and sunny, making you feel like you're on the beach (a nice beach, not one covered in sandy sick), as it goes on it gets progressively more mournful as the title suggests. The first half of the album is reverb-y solo guitar stuff pretty much all the way as you'd expect, with the usual hints of classical and flamenco styles. The occasional subtle addition of other instruments on a few tracks complement his sound without detracting from the general feel, the track Ananda differs since a piano (played by Poppy Morgan) takes the lead with Reilly playing 'intrusive guitar' as accompaniment but in the context of the album it works. I've not actually heard anything he's done in the past twenty-odd years but this is reassuringly similar to that excellent early stuff, it would've been quite upsetting to find that he'd gone happy hardcore or something. The second half does add beats and lyrics to the mix, but they're soft, gentle and fully in character. Highly recommended.
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What their label says...
Tracklisting:
1. Glimpse 2. Contact 3. Messages 4. Ged 5. Ananda 6. Never Known Version 7. So Many Crumbs And Monkeys! 8. Head Glue 9. Demo For Gathering Dust 10. Cup A Soup Romance 11. Grief
Other items by The Durutti Column
2001-2009 The Durutti Column CD box set, £12.49 Sorry - sold out.
