Gloria, Jane Weaver and Loner Deluxe kit out fresh goods in a variety of colourful and charismatic art-pop threads

Having fleetingly cleared the review pile of prolific electronic sound makers, below are three releases which submerge more linear songcraft into still largely non-conformist musical settings.

Following on from 2016’s exceptional Gloria in Excelsis Stereo debut LP, two interim 2018 EPs (Oîdophon Echorama and Hey Gyp) and work on extra-curricular projects, Lyon-based sextet Gloria finally deliver a second full album in the shape of Sabbat Matters (Outré / Howlin’ Banana).

Whilst there’s been a line-up change, with Béatrice Morel-Journel leaving to focus more on work within Grand Veymont and Epépé, most of the core components remain in place. Which means the all-female frontline of Wendy Martinez, Amy Winterbotham and the newly-joined Marie-Louise Bourgeois sharing vocals, keyboard and percussion duties, framed by the all-male backroom trio of drummer Josselin Varengo, bassist Thomas Cortay and six-string slinger Kid Victrola, continuing to galvanise around kaleidoscopic retro psych-pop shapes.

Certainly though, the occultism-orientated Sabbat Matters is a rawer and more rocking beast than what has come before, ripe for eventual returning live shows where – as once experienced by this writer first-hand – Gloria’s groovesome gang magnetism is even more pronounced. This does however mean that some of the warmer layered intricacies of previous recordings are partially sidelined in the process.

Thus, fusions of fuzztone guitars, subterranean basslines, stomping Spector-ish drums and swooping interlaced tri-part vocals emphatically power things along for the most part, with notably impressive results on the titular track, the flute-topped “You Had It All”, the Piper at the Gates of Dawn-drenched “Holy Water” and the percussively-fortified “Miss Tambourine”. In some other places, there are welcome detours into more subtle directions, like those pursued on the squelchy soul-inflected “Skeleton”, the doo-wop-meets-country-funk-rock of “Back in Town” and – despite its title – the soothingly airy “Dance with Death”. A few cuts – such as “Space Rocket” and “Global Warning” – do though get a little lost in between, with the group’s trademark lustrous vocals becoming too muddied by somewhat squally noodling around them.

The high bar set by the more soaring Gloria in Exclesis Stereo and the radiant Oîdophon Echorama, means that Sabbat Matters ultimately doesn’t quite reach up to the impeccable standards established by the band previously. This is, nevertheless, a solid Gloria long player on its own terms, that patient and hungry fans will be happily sated by.

Having made a few sideways moves since 2017’s Modern Kosmology – notably with the self-reworking Loops in the Secret Society and the eponymous outing of instrumental soundtrack side-project Fenella – Jane Weaver returns with a more direct sequel, Flock (Fire Records). Unabashedly her most melodically-minded collection to date, the ten gathered tracks marshal many of Weaver’s most 6 Music-friendly lines of attack into an eclectic showcase, whilst still adding a few fresh twists and turns.

Hence, the chiming motorik glide of “Heartlow”, the space age disco of “The Revolution of Super Visions”, the Saint Etienne shimmying of “Solarised” and the soul inflections of “Sunset Dreams” all feel like sleeker extensions of Modern Kosmology and 2014’s The Silver Globe, which should reassuringly stir the faithful. Elsewhere, there are some breaks from the primary mould; in the form of the Black Cherry-era Goldfrapp glam-stomping of “Stages of Phases”, the ambient interlude bathing of “Lux”, the streamlined Emperor Tomato Ketchup-isms of “Modern Reputation” and the shapeshifting globalised-funk of “Pyramid Schemes”.

Whilst there is a slight concern that Jane Weaver can only polish her sound so much further without losing some of its most inventive edges, the luminous lustre of Flock is a testament to steely self-revision.

Taking a far less refined route to recording fidelity but packing in an arguably more diverse distribution of ideas, is Loner Deluxe’s Field Recordings on Rusted Rail. This sequel to 2017’s Songs I Taped Off the Radio album, finds Galway-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist ringleader Keith Wallace joined closely by singer/guitarist/banjo-player Cecilia Danell (A Lilac Decline) and guitarist Brian Kelly (So Cow), to spread out an absolute smorgasbord of satisfyingly moreish lo-fi-to-mid-fi flavours. At times feeling like a mixtape compiled from the shelves of a discerning connoisseur of early-1990s-to-mid-2000s Matador, Merge, 4AD and the like, Field Recordings should appeal to those who really found their ears and record buying addictions in such a period.

Hence, through a hearty spooling of voice-led pieces and instrumentals, we’re spun through murmurous Folk Implosion chugging and buzzing (“Track 1 Side 1” and “Cancel the Fear”); dreamy blends of Madder Rose’s embryonic singles and Tanya Donelly’s unvarnished Sliding and Diving EP (“Tin Foil Hat” and “Space Junk”); wobbly warm nods to The Breeders’ Title TK (“Meet on the Wedge” and “Ex Directory”); the twangy experimentalist corners within Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (“Mist Call” and “Radiation Record”); imagined lost Grandaddy-meets-Sparklehorse b-side hook-ups (“Comet Light”); and Slowdive-soaked shoegaze deconstructed with banjo and balmy co-ed tones (“Viral Hit”).

Also adding in more modern day lyrical narratives about surveillance states, technophobia, conspiracy theories and our recent socially distanced living – that are subtly squeezed into the sonic magpie foraging – means there’s a lot of richly detailed pickings to be harvested from Field Recordings. Dig in and don’t be disappointed.

Adrian
Latest posts by Adrian (see all)