Really nice to hear the welcome return of Patrick Fitzgerald from the hugely underrated 90's 3 piece Kitchens of Distinction, personal faves of mine all those years ago. He now produces - under the name of Stephenhero - this highly charged, atmospheric baroque pop with a deep neo-classical & ethereal coating that reeks of class & beauty. His voice is even more distinctive & impassioned than ever as he sings soaringly over piano-led torch songs that will surely appeal to fans of Marc Almond & Stephen Merritt as well as contemporary enigmas such as Sand Snowman. You'll hear on the sound clips just what a quality work this is, all gorgeously layered, the songs each strike out individually as powerful, resonant pieces and there's constant reminders of his "shoegaze" past in some of the beautiful texturing & effects he employs to embellish these grand designs with. Really actually quite stunning!! Digipak CD only.....
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Sound clips for Apparition In the Woods by Stephenhero: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Ragoora, RAG005 , £11.09.
stephenhero is Patrick Fitzgerald of 1990’s UK sonic-cathedral and shoegaze heroes Kitchens of Distinction fame. Apparition in the Woods is Patrick’s fifth record under the stephenhero name and provides us with another slab of his literary-inspired musical genius…Apparition in the Woods demonstrates first and foremost Patrick’s love of a good story. Taking biographical leads from a cast ranging from the great gay poets and prose writers of the 19th and 20th centuries to the British song-writing tradition of Benjamin Britten (who himself took a lead from the stories of poet Thomas Crabbe), from albums of family photographs to the diaries left by those who endured some of the most horrific scenes of WWII, he has adopted a lyrical verité approach to retelling these tales of the ‘ghosts of recent past’. Using haunting piano, distorted guitar, chilling electrified cello from Semay Wu and equally chilling background vocals from his long-time friend David McAlmont (who also contributes lyrical verité words to one song) Patrick weaves the web for these narratives on what he calls his ‘most homosexual’ recording to date. What the critics said of the last stephenhero release:"this subtle and spacious record is one of the year's finest"”
