released April 6, 2023

& HERE'S a roughly contemporaneous review, originally reviewed by Antonym for Soft Watch magazine :"Firstly I'll mention the packaging. This comes as a 20 page booklet with a full colour cover (a photomontage by JEAN-PIERRE TURMEL in the style of our own BEN ALLEN). Although not all the pages are printed, the 15 which are combine photographs, album covers & graphics with a parallel French/English text, all of which is interesting, tying both MARTYN & the CASHMERE culture together loosely. But its the music most of us will buy the package for, and its here both MARTYN & his musical accomplice PAUL SAMPSON excel previous recordings. Apparently it was picked by PALE SAINTS as their favourite record in the l990 Melody Maker charts (which I guess tells you this isn't fresh off the press) and as you gradually find yourself absorbed into it's multiple layers, you can see why a person would become enamoured by it. The instruments used vary from the usual EIG, electro-acoustic arsenal - such things as flageolets, autoharp, melodica, Jews Harp & assorted percussion, and the vocals remain lost in time, a sound from childhood yet fresh and bright as the dawning day. "3 Weeks And After" strums softly like harps from daydreams before a white slash of guitar cuts away the gossamer drapes, revealing a gentle, medium-slow paced song which builds in intensity, leaping off from BATES' previous Folk-like sound into a wider-appealing, more catchy sound. Again it cycles from gentleness of a desert-warmed zephyr into a strong slow storm of briefly danceable music. "She Waltzes By This Window" opens on sheet blasts of distant guitar, suggesting yet resisting a muscular power, building gently into a complex piece which shown its Hippy Folk roots while creating an intensity of emotion which such fey directionless music never even hinted at. Like early EYELESS it tends to meander, yet now seems to have a strong sense of direction & a hidden strength it lets you glimpse but never touch. "Beaten Gold" bursts out of the speakers, stops to compose itself while MARTYN sings quietly at point blank over the strumming guitar. Again it punctuates the air with a much stronger, more forceful rhythmic piece using the Jew's Harp to surprisingly good effect - giving the whole song a hint of the East while not overstating - a very odd effect derived through a combination of different instruments - altogether a nice song. "Ways Of Going" again starts quietly, building into a massive thing with blasts of sound. It combines small acoustic guitar shapes with larger sheets of distorted electric guitar, building them gradually into a raging bonfire construction, all instruments reaching, albeit for a few long moments, for the dramatic firmament. Yet again it repeats the cycle, drifting from calm childhood fantasy soundtracks through to huge colorful structures - the only people I can think of that make this kind of music are BATES / EIG themselves, and as such they do it so well no others need even enter the field. Here he achieves what he has tried (& often very nearly succeeded) to do for years. Like a cover version sounding better than the original, MARTYN's perfected his singular approach to composition"- Anthony Burham, Soft Watch.

* Martyn Bates would like to extend grateful & gracious thanks to Jean-Pierre Turmel *

WRITE to Jerry at eyeless@eyelessingaza.com to receive infos re CD version of this album .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOzs-GRpZE
* ( BEATEN GOLD ) *