Long story short - some Bad Things happened to the Spanish Amanda over the summer*. Rough one all round, wasn't it..? Anyhoo... a heap of fairly intense conversations started but were never resolved... and 'Magritte' attempts to scratch a line under (or, sometimes, through) them. Thankfully, the songs didn't emerge as documentary accounts of The Bad Things (see above) - tho' some are still about Bad People. Sing them to the Bad People in your own lives, and who knows - maybe they'll just evaporate in a vanilla-scented cloud of jangle (and please, PLEASE - do let us know if this works...). Worth a try, eh..?
Love to all...
Amanda xxx
PS - Contains a fair bit of effing and jeffing. Probably best not play when the vicar's over for tea.
PPS - Please don't feel any moral pressure to pay anything for this - times is tough, and We're Only In It For The Art.
credits
released November 25, 2022
PPPS - Probably best download the whole album, tho' - while we don't want to sound pretentious (even if we are, a bit), the songs are mixed into one continuous... erm... snake-y... thing.
PPPPS - Or... better still, whizz us an email if you'd like a lovely CD copy (still a few available) - these are at cost (about £6.50 for the US, £5.50 for the EU, and around £3.50 for the UK, all including postage), and make an ideal Christmas present for that 'hard-to-buy-for' maiden aunt...
* - Not within the band, incidentally. Three of us (if you include the cat, which we do) still sleep in the same bed... not necessarily very well, since one of us snores pretty excitingly, and another enjoys a fairly regular 3am 'lick-bath'**.
** - Yes, yes. The cat. Definitely the cat.
Credits - Mostly Ivan and Huw Darling on this one, and Jo Darling mopping up some of the production and artwork duties. Fred Darling would probably like to take some credit, because he's a cat and likes to be at the centre of things, but he didn't really pull his weight here at all (apart from miaowing accusingly at most of the 'cello playing, regarding which he took a very dim view). Paul Darling and Geraldine Darling appear by special permission of... erm... their long-suffering partners..? The Fates..? Who knows. They're jolly amiable and obliging souls, anyway - "More Geraldine and Paul..!!", we say... and we hope you do, too.
And finally... just in case you've noticed the vinyl-y sounds here (and elsewhere...) - the needle-drop and run-out scratches - well, these were lifted, with undying love, from the records which did a fine job of keeping (some of) us sane during July, August and September 2022 - most notably (and however unfashionably... because we really don't care):
Love and Rockets - Earth, Sun, Moon
Love and Rockets - Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
The The - Soul Mining
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Mekons - The Edge Of The World
Belle & Sebastian - Days Of The Bagnold Summer
Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down The Stairs
Microdisney - Crooked Mile
I desperately needed something intoxicating and cathartic and this is just what the doctor ordered. Catchy melodies slathered deep in fuzz. Ralph Gonzalez
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