Simon Scott - Depart, Repeat

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Ant on Fri 18 Feb, 2011.

Regular readers of these pages will no doubt be aware of our affection for both Simon Scott's music and the output of the Sonic Pieces label, so the prospect of Simon releasing on the imprint is most appealing. This 7" is the first in what is destined be be a highly desirable series of singles in gorgeous, elegant packaging complete with download code. This really took me by surprise as I was expecting more of Simon's recent highly immersive style of absorbing sonic landscapes. However, here the man is in an entirely different mode. Stripping things right back to basics with his guitar and voice with some evocative ambient backing. 'Never Alone' is an extremely personal and quite profound piece of music, beginning gently and then kicking in with some intense acoustic guitar strumming and vocal harmonies. What begins as melancholy transforms into a sort of blissed euphoria. A rare treat to get so close to the musicians intimate thoughts and a real window into his soul. A welcome curve-ball indeed. 'Left Behind The World' on the B-side has some really sweet and gentle xylophone and has an enticing loner feel created through the playing and lyrical content, which speaks of departing and leaving the world behind. This piece is particularly poignant. Lovely stuff indeed.

After several health scares that provided the wake up call that occurs when you face the
possibility of serious illness, Simon Scott wrote two songs that dealth with the issues off loss
and hope. Thankfully the scares were false alarms but inspired Simon to visit Nils Frahm in
Berlin at Durton Studio and record "Never Alone" on 6th September and the second "Left
Behind The World" on 5th December 2009.

Simon plays acoustic guitar, xylophone, sings and added some electronic treatments back in
Cambridge at studio o3o3o. Nils Frahm engineered, played piano and synthesizer, added his
watch alarm, glockenspiel and made a damn fine cup of coffee.

Simon Scott is the ex Slowdive drummer ("Just for a day" lp, "Souvlaki" lp and the "5ep":
Creation Records) who released his debut album "Navigare" on the Norwegian label Miasmah
run by Deaf Center's Erik K Skodvin in October 2009 to widespread critical acclaim. Simon runs
his KESH recording label from Cambridge, is a sound designer for film, advertising, music
production and sonic installations.

Seven Pieces is a new 7inch series by Sonic Pieces, consisting of exactly seven records, which
will be released during the next few years, limited to 300 handmade copies each.