Robin Guthrie - Angel Falls EP

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 25 Jun, 2009.

Old Robin "Woody" Guthrie from little known Scots warblers Cockateel Twins unleashes a new CD EP on Rocket Girl named 'Angel Farm'. Phil cracks me right, up with the comment that it sounds like a Readers Digest listening compendium, sugary arpeggios over a twinkly swaying backdrop, a slow bassline bobs up and down, the elementary drum machine pulses away softly whilst his signature chiming guitar style attempts to dissolve all the stress you've ever suffered in your life. These familiar & comforting swathes of blissed-out dreamscapery are like cotton wool and couldn't actually offend if they started wearing Nazi regalia and getting their privates out in public. The musical equivalent of a chocolate box full of new born kittens covered in honey & delicate aromatic flowers, this is the reason Ulrich Schnauss exists & I believe old Yellow 6 would sound considerably different without this mighty Peer. Possibly the most influential guitarist to come out of Bonnie Scotland, lovely gear!

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Robin Guthrie releases a new four track EP Angel Falls at the end of June, followed by Carousel, an album of filmic, intricate instrumental music via Rocket Girl on September 1. We have a few words to describe these releases – uplifting, summery, opulent, dreamlike, exquisite, moving – with Guthrie quietly coaxing beauty out of layers of echoes and always inventive soundscaping.

Given the quality of Angel Falls and Carousel , it's not suprising that as a guitarist and producer, Guthrie has been a massive influence on everyone from My Bloody Valentine through to Antony and the Johnsons, new 4 A.D. Act The Big Pink and M83. In recent years he's worked with School Of Seven Bells, John Foxx (on this year's Mirrorball album, described by Q Magazine as 'full of myriad charms . . . encompassing the best of both artists'), Ulrich Schnauss, Harold Budd (with whom he made two albums in 2007, Before The Day Breaks and After The Night Falls) and shared a stage with Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). Most people know about his work in the Cocteau Twins, but he's also produced Ian McCulloch, Edwyn Collins and Felt, as well as defining the now vogue-ishly fashionable early '90s shoegazing scene with his productions for the likes of Lush and Chapterhouse. Guthrie is also developing an impressive reputation as a composer of film soundtracks and in the visual arts. He's scored two movies – Greg Araki's Mysterious Skin and the Dany Saadia-directed 3:19 - and performed extensively with Lumière, and the recently premiered follow up Galerie, both films he's created as backdrops for his atmospheric, hypnotic guitar-based instrumentals.

Tracklisting: 1/camera lucida 2/love never dies a natural death 3/red moon rising4/delicate

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