I Hear a New World - August, 2008

Thee Moths - Don't Let the Crows Take Your Eyes

"It's time to end. Thee Moths has been around in many forms for almost 8 years. Over 55 releases and hundreds of songs I've said all I can say with the project." So sayeth Alex Botten, the man behind Thee Moths and countless other underground indie bands over the last 20 years, as detailed in his tragi-comic self-published book Hanging Around, available from Lulu.com (well worth a read for insights into the Dundee and Birmingham music scenes, and the strange workings of Botten's own mind). From the recent avian-obsessed download-only EP, Sparrows and more Sparrows, this is an unsettling, sad track, and suitably so, given that it's quite possibly inspired by one of the more brutal deaths in Omen II and has a feeling of prescience, perhaps foreshadowing the end that was to come. But not to worry, because Botten is continuing along the feathered friends theme with new project Wings And Claws.

Eagleowl - Blanket

This song title sums up why Eagleowl are so damn perfect - it couldn't be more suitable for their music and the way it envelops you in warm fuzziness, and allows you to drift off into a melancholy, untroubled state of consciousness. And with its mournful violins, warmly comforting double bass, delicately played guitars and gorgeous understated harmonies, Blanket is one dream you won't want to wake up from. The track is from their new EP For the Thoughts You Never Had which they are launching this month as part of Retreat! (see Live Music Previews this issue).

Sans Trauma - The Day I Woke Up

Sans Trauma are a sleeping giant of the Scottish music scene whose time must surely be about to come. And like a giant that's woken up on the wrong side of the bed, realising he's wasted too much time, this epic masterpiece wades ferociously through the listener's psyche, leaving huge footprints. Live, the band layer shoegaze guitars with krautrock rhythms and post-rock violence, building whispers of lyrics and modulating, fuzzed up guitar into monolithic soundscapes, that judder off instinctively into different directions at the most unexpected moments

I Hear a New World Podcast - (August 2008)