Music that sounds like 'Spirit of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock'

Ok, these two sit pretty much above all else for me. I'm sure I'm not alone. The production, the beautiful sparsity of the songs, the delicate uses of instrumentation, and on and on and on . . .

One of my most favourite musical pursuits is seeking out records that seem either influences, relations in feeling or are directly influenced by later period Talk Talk. So yeah, obviously I'm all over 'Hex' and Bark Pychosis. I'm ga-ga over everything anyone in the band did since from Mark Hollis' solo LP to Heligoland and O'Rang. I hear the genesis of the sound in things like 'Leb Whol' by Neu and Miles Davis' 'In a Silent Way'. As I mentioned in the recent Talk Talk poll, I'll generally seek out anything that gets compared to either of those two final records. I'd be particularly interested to learn where others feel those vibes.

david sylvian - gone to earth & secrets of the beehive

For example. I recently picked up 'A Walk Across the Rooftops' by The Blue Nile purely because it'd come up in some quote somewhere on ILM as a precursor to 'Hex'.

Funnily enough one of the reasons I wanted to start this thread is because 10 minutes ago I was hovering the mouse cursor over the buy button on Amazon for David Sylvian's 'Secrets of the Beehive' having never heard him before (except from the song on the Fennesz 'Venice' LP) but ever so tempted to order just because someone must've mentioned Talk Talk at some point when discussing him.

As far as Sylvian goes, the Rain Tree Crow album is far closer to TT than anything else he has been involved with. Get that first.

Maybe some Jon Hassell in non-dancey mode? I am not a Hassell expert.

That BLue Nile record is one of my top 10 80s albums but I do not hear it in the SoE/LS continuum.

In fact the first time I ever heard LS, specifically 'Taphead', on college radio in Madison Wisconsin 1991, the host intro'd it by drawing comparisons to the Rain Tree Crow.

Great thanks, I was fishing for a Sylvian tip.

Not sure I hear any clear connection with The Blue Nile either, sometimes when the music gently swells it kinda reminds me of 'Spirit of Eden'.

Hood's late 90's output to thread

Shearwater totally WANT to be in this thread so I'll begrudge them one acknowledgment

I still haven't heard that goddamn Hood stuff! The only Hood they have on eMusic is later on.

As far as Sylvian goes, the Rain Tree Crow album is far closer to TT than anything else he has been involved with. Get that first.

lol, no

Also you kind of have to mention the Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man record since it has at least three Talk Talk members in it (I am counting Mark Feltham).

Yeah, I picked up the Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man record but it never really did anything for me. Been meaning to give it a fresh listen for a while now though.

there's some good stuff along these lines in this thread

sounds like late period Roxy Music

solo sylvian to me is like the archetypal new wave dude explores organic instrumentation and experimental song structures, as much as i love the rain tree crow album i'm not sure why you'd recommend rain tree crow first

i like to think that mark hollis was in someway influenced by those first three sylvian albums, has he ever mentioned this in interviews?

What is the most Talk Talk sounding Sylvian album?

S. Reynolds says in Blissed Out that along with Miles' In a Silent Way and Sketches of Spain, other precursors to the late Talk Talk sound are John Martyn's Solid Air and Roy Harper's Stormcock and albums from the jazz label ECM...*

*I have never heard any of the above-mentioned albums ever, not even late period Talk Talk (I know, I know...!)

I picked up 'Solid Air' many years ago. Of course, it's great. Pretty sure I picked it up because of a Talk Talk connection. Think Mark Hollis himself might have mentioned his name as an influence.

Stormcock is a great, great record but I don't hear much late TT in it. It's more like if Zep had a better singer and made an entire record of their best pastoral/arcadian stuff.

I tried Solid Air and kinda couldn't roll with it. The ECM catalog surely contains more apposite examples but I don't know what they are.

I'd definitely second the Hood recommendation. I have them in my mind as closer to Bark Psychosis (and even Disco Inferno) than TT (been years since I've really listened), but you should certainly give them a listen. "Cold House" is a great album.

Autistic Daughters (on Kranky) especially the second album.

SF band Laughingstock.

Also what is the name of that French band, Bed? Bedhed?

yeah, Bed.

Movietone - The Blossom-Filled Streets, this one sounds more like LS though.

Someone mentioned that in a recent Talk Talk thread and right away, even without even hearing it, I was already getting annoyed at how scarce it seems to be.

hahahaha it was me. I can upload it if you like. I'm sure it's readily available for high quality legal download too.

i always imagined that Climate of Hunter by Scott Walker sounded in this vein but I've never actually heard it.

Cheers Davek, as if if I'm not losing enough sleep with all this stuff already!!! =)

Afraid I'm a lossless guy. If I can't buy something I get mighty upset.

Autistic Daughters (on Kranky) especially the second album.

Ditto! I think that me and MaresNest say this every damn time this question comes up. They don't have the same diversity of instrumentation that Talk Talk had -just double bass, drums, guitar and voice really- but as far as honing in on that whole sustained mood, these guys are totally OTM. Guess you'd call them improvised ambient rock. The Dean Roberts solo stuff is great too, particularly the one on Kranky (Be Mine Tonight) and And The Black Moths Play The Grand Cinema which originally came out on Mille Plateaux but got reissued later by Staubgold.

The most recent Zelienople album (Give It Up) is kind of in the same vein too, but a bit more rainswept and autumnal. Actually, they're probably a closer match for Bark Psychosis, in that they're more identifiably indie than Talk Talk ever were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHjkyddpLoY

Thanks for the Autistic Daughters heads up. I'll buy almost anthing on Kranky with confidence so that one's right to the top of the pile.

It's a shame they have such a terrible name really, cos the music is nothing like you might imagine it would be.

Mind you, Talk Talk is a really shitty name too tbh.

Ah, I was looking for a thread like this just the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkU23crm3U

M@tt Climate Of Hunter is kind of like late Roxy Music/Japan but gone quiveringly paranoid and fearful. It's an incredible record and would probably appeal to most late-TT fans though I don't hear much real sonic kinship. There is this multitracked soprano sax break in Climate Of Hunter that is as much of a sonic epiphany as anything on Laughingstock.

I would mention Shearwater from a listener's perspective even if I didn't know they know these albums. Their new one, The Golden Archipelago, is one of my favorites of 2010 so far.

The Blue Nile are the closest thing in my mind to actual Talk Talk peers, even if their balance of elements is different. Thomas Dolby's album The Flat Earth is worth hearing, if you've never heard it, for another interesting example of New Wave synthpop starting to turn into something else.

And the band that actually comes closest to affecting me the way these two albums did is Low, maybe because they're doing something different enough that I don't find myself wanting to listen to Spirit of Eden instead. Haunting minimalism, more intense and less airy, more Winter than Spring.

Oh, and two other wildcards that you're probably 94% likely to find irrelevant but for the other 6%'s sake: Officium, by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble (jazz improv sax over early-music choir, new-age-y but for me it works), and Amazing Things, by the Celtic-rock band Runrig (neither spare nor delicate, but up there with Spirit of Eden in my pantheon of the greatest life-affirming records).

X-Post: Ha yep, A.D. always come up at these times. I never did thank you Nick for the heads up on Dean's solo records, all fantasic! So, thank you.

The Low/Dirty Three 'In the Fishtank' record has a version of Down By The River that substitues the long guitar solos with a front-loaded scratching about section that sounds a lot like Spirit Of Eden.

It doesn't necessarily use the same instruments, but with regards to dynamics and structure, I think Mary Lou Williams' Black Christ of the Andes is a pretty close correlative. The ECM recommendations are also pretty on the nose.

The middle of the album is boilerplate Van bebop sputtering, but the bookend tracks on Van Morrison's Common One sound exactly like Talk Talk and are two of his best tracks ever. Very much in the same tone and spirit as Veedon Fleece but much more expansive and ethereal. I would describe it as In a Silent Way with soft, distant Van singing in the distance.

Oh yeah, 'Haunts of Ancient Peace' OTM!

sometimes LS reminds me of Giant Sand/Calexico/Calla type of desert music

"Spanish Dancer" by Steve Winwood

I intro to this '80s cheese nugget is totally "Colour of Spring" y.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3Sa4n0rS8

As mentioned, similar music to Spirit of Eden is Miles Davis' In A Silent Way and Hex (Bark Psychosis) which is one of my favorite albums and is, for me, perfect late-night listening and the quintessential winter album.

Spirit of Eden is one of my Desert Island albums, alongside
A Storm in Heaven (The Verve)
No Other (Gene Clark)
Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)

Aside from the obvious... Bits of Grizzly Bear's output. Bits of the last Notwist album. Rook by Shearwater. That french band called Bed (but they only sound like the quiet bits). Bits of Hidden by These New Puritans. Bits of early Elbow. Reckoner by Radiohead. That Unkle song that samples laughing Stock and has Thom Yorke on vocals. Bits of Wild Beasts.

I hear you on that Notwist album. Great thing about it is it seem's to draw influence from the more abrasive side of late Talk Talk rather than just the ethereal pretty side which seems to be the norm. See for example the wicked one note noise solo in 'Alphabet'.

No-Man's Together We're Stranger fits the bill.

"Beautiful People" - Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke

Yeah, No-Man is a good recommendation. Their Returning Jesus precedes Together We're Stranger and is quite similar in tone. It was also just reissued in an expanded 2CD version.

Tim Bowness is no Mark Hollis, to put it mildly, but I quite like the songwriting and the instrumental textures on both of those albums (I couldn't get into their first two and have yet to hear Schoolyard Ghosts).

As far as Sylvian goes, the Rain Tree Crow album is far closer to TT than anything else he has been involved with.

i agree with this

what about parts of gone to earth?

for sure but production-wise, RTC is the closest thing i've heard that sounds like late talk talk: avant-pastoral jams with digital clarity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTiiMEnzLXU

i mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEJe6cJ10kw

yeah i wasn't challenging, it just occurred to me at the moment that Gone to Earth has a lot of that stillness and pastoral trumpets and sleekness and stuff

yeah they both rule, i really just wanted to post that RTC song. and actually thinking about it, i believe this thread is actually what led me into the deep sylvian rabbit hole a few years back

The new Gaussian curve

I love Shearwater and will defend them to the hilt against the charge of being Talk Talk copyists. That said, there is enough in their Island Arc trilogy to satisfy any TT fan, although I feel Palo Santo has more similarities than the aforementioned Rook.

Since someone mentioned Autistic Daughters upthread, Dean Roberts's Be Mine Tonight is wonderful as well, though I haven't heard it in years. I wish he hadn't given up on music (assuming that's what happened).

Sigur Ros - ()

"ave yet to hear Schoolyard Ghosts" you need to hear that one, it's a much more tonally compatible album (in that, I feel like much of No-Man is a bit electronica heavy; that album, however, is not).

that barbieri-hogarth album is good too.

hogarth is an unabashed hollis fanboy

I did these two mixes pretty much seeking this feeling--maybe equal parts Talk Talk and Blue Nile as the inspiration:

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/musicophilia_00_various_-_the-dawning_1981-1989_cover.jpg?w=600

Various – ‘The Dawning’
(1981-1989)

Part I

01 [00:00] The Blue Nile – “Over the Hillside” (Hats, 1989)
02 [05:00] Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go” (The Luxury Gap, 1983)
03 [09:16] Hot Gossip – “Morale” (Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, 1981)
04 [12:18] Dif Juz – “The Last Day” (Extractions, 1985)
05 [16:13] Tears for Fears – “Start of the Breakdown” (The Hurting, 1983)
06 [21:03] Mick Karn – “Tribal Dawn” (Titles, 1982)
07 [25:12] Thomas Dolby – “The Flat Earth” (The Flat Earth, 1984)
08 [31:34] Peter Gabriel – “Zaar” (Passions, 1989)
09 [35:56] Nona Hendryx – “Off the Coast of Love” (Skin Diver, 1989)
10 [40:23] Cocteau Twins – “Lazy Calm” (Victorialand, 1986)
11 [44:34] Talk Talk – “I Believe In You” (Spirit of Eden, 1988)

Part II

12 [50:40] Comsat Angels – “After the Rain” (Fiction, 1982)
13 [54:31] King Crimson – “Two Hands” (Beat, 1982)
14 [57:48] Bel Canto – “Without You” (White Out Conditions, 1987)
15 [61:43] Scott Walker – “Dealer” (Climate of Hunter, 1984)
16 [66:33] Scritti Politti – “Absolute” (Cupid & Psyche ’85, 1985)
17 [70:53] Arthur Russell – “This Is How We Walk On the Moon” (Another Thought, 1984)
18 [75:34] David Sylvian – “Orpheus” (Secrets of the Beehive, 1987)
19 [80:20] Durutti Column – “Love No More” (Vini Reilly, 1989)
20 [83:06] Kate Bush – “Never Be Mine” (The Sensual World, 1989)
21 [86:42] David Byrne – “Ghosts” (The Knee Plays, 1985)
22 [89:54] Colin Newman – “I Can Hear You” (Commercial Suicide, 1986)
23 [94:16] This Mortal Coil – “Ivy and Neet” (Filigree & Shadow, 1986)
24 [99:04] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Of All The Things We’ve Made” (Dazzle Ships, 1983)

[Total Time: 1:42:27]

Download or Stream

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/musicophilia_00_various_-_evensong_1985-1995_2017_cover.jpg?w=600

Various – ‘Evensong’
(1985-1995)

Part I

01 [00:00] It’s Immaterial – New Brighton” (Song, 1990)
02 [05:31] Tears for Fears – “The Working Hour” (Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
03 [12:06] Tortoise – “His Second Story Island” (Tortoise, 1994)
04 [14:14] Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten – “Searching” (Sleeps With the Fishes, 1987)
05 [17:07] Shelleyan Orphan – “One Hundred Hands” (Helleborine, 1987)
06 [21:29] Stina Nordenstam – “A Walk In the Park” (Memories of a Color, 1991)
07 [24:54] Sade – “Pearls” (Love Deluxe, 1992)
08 [29:38] Massive Attack – “Protection” (Protection, 1994)
09 [37:26] The Cure – “The Same Deep Water As You” (Disintegration, 1989)
10 [46:19] Depche Mode- “Waiting For the Night” (Violator, 1990)

Part II

11 [52:41] Evelyn Glennie – “Light in Darkness” (Light In Darkness, 1991)
12 [55:59] R.E.M. – “Sweetness Follows” (Automatic For the People, 1992)
13 [60:21] The Innocence Mission – “Medjugorje” (The Innocence Mission, 1989)
14 [61:53] Disco Inferno – “Second Language” (Second Language EP, 1994)
15 [66:52] Slowdive – “Rutti” (Pygmalion, 1995)
16 [76:53] Rain Tree Crow – “Cries and Whispers” (Rain Tree Crow, 1991)
17 [79:26] Bark Psychosis – “Pendulum Man” (Hex, 1994)
18 [82:37] Peter Gabriel – “Mercy Street” (So, 1986)
19 [88:27] Low – “Sunshine” (I Could Live In Hope, 1994)
20 [91:35] Portishead – “Roads” (Dummy, 1994)
21 [96:44] Hector Zazou & Bjork – “Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu” (Songs From the Cold Seas, 1994)

[Total Time: 1:40:43]

Download or Stream

Those look great. (getting a 'permission denied' on the Evensong download btw)

It bothers me that The Colour Of Spring gets overlooked because of these two albums. They're great and everything but COS is up there too (and the songs are catchier)

Very otm

Soundslike - those comps look fantastic

Does Lucio Battisti - 'Abbracciala Abbracciali Abbracciati' go here? I think it does. Maybe a slightly oblique similarity, though the opening bars are strikingly prescient of Talk Talk (maybe some point just before SOE,) or even Bark Psychosis. So good anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROsW8vjXjI

Also Gigi Masin - again maybe slightly obliquely related by mood but a few tracks on Wind conjur a similar thing in an ambient jazz way. 'Swallows Tempest' maybe not the closest example but it's the one I want to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwSEl3pcs_k

uh how have we not mentioned These New Puritans - Field Of Reeds yet? it's easily the closest anyone's gotten IMO

Crosspost--if you get a "permission denied" on Mediafire, it usually works if you close the tab and try again...

06 [21:29] Stina Nordenstam – “A Walk In the Park” (Memories of a Color, 1991)
07 [24:54] Sade – “Pearls” (Love Deluxe, 1992)

This is such a great one-two.

Like a charm, Soundslike, thanks!

soundslike - I listen to the the dawning all the time, brilliant stuff

yeah, I love your mixes. listen to most of the ones i've gathered a lot

That Lucio Battisti track is great but it sounds even closer to the Apartments than Talk Talk

What say you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYQn86CL9I

That Battisti track is fantastic, and so is the Gigi Masin, whether or not they sound like Talk Talk : )

And thanks guys, re: my mixes--those two just seemed relevant to the discussion. (Don't want to derail the thread, but worth taking a look at the site generally--put up 29 new mixes in 2017, plus collections of a lot of previous series, including the 'Sensory Replication Series' ones that I think fans of Talk Talk would probably really like, even if they don't always sound like Talk Talk. This one is probably the best mix I've ever done.)

Listening to Sensory Replication Series now. Very good so far. Thanks for the mixes. I've just followed you on Mixcloud too, so i'm looking forward to catching new mixes soon.

I too have done some mixes, though perhaps not quite as nice as yours, but they do fit with the vibe here. Horizontal Street Fighting is perhaps the closest: https://www.mixcloud.com/biznotic/horizontal-street-fighting/, but Ambient Excursions, Reflections on the Edge of Summer, and Ancient Heavenly Connection also tread this line. They stray into modern classical and the atmospheric side of balaeric, but they include lots of space between the noises and quiet moments.

https://www.mixcloud.com/biznotic/horizontal-street-fighting/
https://www.mixcloud.com/biznotic/ancient-heavenly-connection/

the last track of the new bitchin bajas hits this zone for me

That Khan Jamal is nice, too. It's 'Spirit of Eden' mostly in the same sense that 'In A Silent Way' is clearly an influence, but the dubby quality and occasional bursts of louder sound are definitely in the right zone.

Listening to 'Horizontal Street Fighting' now--can you post a tracklist Brotherlovesdub? Thanks for listening to mine!

1. Interference (excerpt)by Lightning in a Twilight Hour
2. Street Fight by Durutti Column
3 Cala Conta Sunset by Coyote
4 Wireless MK 2 (featuring Roger Eno) by The Orb
5 Scripted Space by Suzanne Kraft
6 Post Tenebras Lux by Bartosz Kruczyński
7 Crazy For You by Slowdive
8 Cristina And Carolina by Jonny Nash
9 Interference (excerpt) by Lighting in a Twilight Hour
10 Please Drive Carefully by Jon Brooks
11 Children On The Hill by Harold Budd
12 Newport Market by The Hardy Tree
13 Song To The Siren by This Mortal Coil

This looks like a reflection of my current listening habits so yeah, I'm on it.

Also, Jon Brooks' work is shamefully underrated.

I agree. I have his albums on Clay Pipe and they are fantastic. I have a couple Ghost Box things too, but I prefer the Clay Pipe albums.

another great mix brotherlovesdub!

Can't believe no one mentioned Cymande's "Dove." Totally reminds me of "New Grass"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcL8SvyKtE4

or really it was the other way around ... new grass reminded me of dove

another one that sounds very Talk Talk esque is that breakthrough Sebastian Tellier record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30O92akDeJg

Totally forgot Mark Hollis co-wrote Chaos on the first UNKLE album. Fits the vibe but it would, wouldn't it? This video uploaded by a mysterious 'Mookie'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avIN3-VY6ws

There's a Trembling Blue Stars song called 'Fragile' that's a pretty obvious homage to Laughing Stock. It's great.

Not 100% sure it'll appeal to folks in this thread like with the 'Evensong' and 'The Dawning' mixes, but partly inspired by the recommendation of Gigi Masin in this thread, thought I'd share another mix that is going for spiritually/emotionally for a Talk Talk-like space.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/nocturnes_v01a.jpg?w=800

Various - 'Nocturnes'
(A Tribute to Serpentwithfeet | 1969-2017)

01 [00:00] Arca - "Piel" (2017)
Neil Young - "Guitar Solo 1" (1996)
Jon Hassell - "Blues Nile" (1977)

02 [03:55] FKA Twigs - "Kicks" (New Energy, 2014)
J.S. Bach - "Cello Suite No. 2, BWV 1008, Sarbande" (1723)
Burning Star Core - "The Universe Is Designed To Break Your Mind" (2007)

03 [09:30] Big Star - "Holocaust (Demo)" (1976)
Peter Gabriel - "At Night" (1986)
Bhutan Tibetan Monks - "Tibetan Shawms" (1971)
Biota - "Astray" (1987)

04 [13:00] Scott Walker - "Rosary" (1995)
Michael Nyman - "1-100" (1975)

05 [15:40] Paul Buchanan - "After Dark" (2012)
The Haxan Cloak - "Mara" (2013)

06 [19:00] Nina Simone - "Dambalaa" (1974)
David Sylvian - "Approaching Silence" (1999)

07 [25:00] Bjork & The Brodsky Quartet - "The Anchor Song" (2000)

08 [28:50] Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir - "Poleganala e Todora" (1975)
Rachel's - "Full On Night" (1995)

09 [32:25] Gigi Masin - "Consequences of Goodbyes" (1986)
Floating Points - "Elaenia" (2015)

10 [36:10] Buffy Sainte-Marie - "Poppies" (1969)
Michael Brook & Brian Eno - "Pond Life" (1985)

11 [38:55] Low - "Lift" (1997)
Jon Hopkins - "Abandon Window" (2013)

12 [44:15] Serpentwithfeet - "Blisters" (2016)
Arvo Part - "Tabula Rasa 1 - Ludus" (1977)

[Total Time: 52:40]

Download or stream here

looks great - thank you!

Listening to Food earlier and thought some of the (mainly) Norwegian stuff clustered around Rune Grammafon fits this remit - particularly Supersilent 6, aforementioned Food (Last Supper, especially), a bunch of Arve Henriksen albums. I want to say both of the Money Will Ruin Everything compilations but I need to listen to them again.

I've never linked Henriksen, nor Rune Grammofon, to Hollis - it feels way to Northern, too isolated to me, for some reason - but don't sleep on 'Strjön' by Arve Henriksen. Vis-a-vis your comment I can see how they relate.

The White Birch's Come Up For Air on Rune Grammofon certainly sounds indebted to Hollis. Or at least Benoit Burello.

I've often wondered if Sibelius was an influence on TT. There's something about the droning birdsong textures (or however you want to describe it) of the 2nd movement of the 5th symphony that brings TT to mind. Also his late tone poem, "Tapiola" specifically sounds a bit like "Taphead", and it may be that the titles alliterating isn't a coincidence.

Record Mirror: 1st February 1986
Talk Talk

‘Bartok’s a great geezer’

Debussy and Sibelius are well good too, according to Talk Talk’s classical connoisseur Mark Hollis. Roger Morton discovers all this, plus how you can take a year to make an album.

Spring has finally arrived for Talk Talk. I know, I’ve heard the first cuckoo.

After years of bravely surviving on the crumbs of their huge success in Europe and America, Britain’s forgotten pop trio are at last thawing out the charts with ‘Life’s What You Make It’.

Up at EMI’s London headquarters, Talk Talk’s lead singer and writer-in-chief Mark Hollis is celebrating with a can of Heineken. While Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes smile down from a giant Duran Duran poster, Mark recounts the tale of their own forthcoming album ‘The Colour of Spring’.

It’s been over three years since you last had a hit in this county with ‘Today’. Why has it taken so long?

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. All we’ve been doing for the last two years is a year touring, and a year making an album.”

Do you think you’ve gone wrong somewhere?

“No, of course we haven’t gone wrong. It’s been really lucky, the way things have worked out. The last album ‘It’s My Life’ did really well abroad, so we were in a position to spend a lot of time making this album. It took a year and two days to make this one.”

Is it a good thing to take so long?

“It’s good in terms of what we wanted to do. We couldn’t have made it the way we wanted in any less time. “You see, when we made ‘It’s My Life’, we had to rely a lot on synthesisers. Now, I do not accept that we are a synthesiser band. Synthesisers mean electronic things to me, and I don’t think we have any sort of relation to that. We used synthesisers on that album because from an economic point of view it was the only way we could do it.”

What replaces the synthesiser on ‘The Colour Of Spring’? Is it more orchestral?

“I wouldn’t call it orchestral, no. But it all depends on what you call orchestral, because I wouldn’t call it orchestral in terms of an orchestra thing, but you could look at that Gil Evans stuff as being orchestral, where you’re talking about a 12-piece orchestra. So it all depends on what you call an orchestra, really.”

Exactly. I’m glad we sorted that out.

Almost all of ‘The Colour Of Spring’ has been written with Talk Talk producer Tim Friese-Greene. How did that come about?

“The only thing I ever knew about him were three records: ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, by Tight Fit; ‘Cry Boy Cry’ by Blue Zoo; and Thomas Dolby’s ‘She Blinded Me With Science’. All those records were really well produced, but they did completely different things. There was no stylisation of sound, and to me, that was the sign of a good producer. So, initially it came from that.”

Why was ‘Life’s What You Make It’ chosen as the single?

‘For me, the only reason that track was chosen, is that apart from a two minute horn quartet, it’s the shortest thing on the album. That’s it, really.”

This is where the going gets tough. Get ready for a cuckoo waltz around the classics.

“In ‘It’s Getting Late In The Evening’ (the atmospheric B-side of the single) there are a lot of references to things that are in the album, from different areas of music. I like the way that there are things in that which are derivative of Ravel, alongside things which are derivative of the Animals.

I do think that there’s an area of classical music which I have an affinity for. The impressionist period, around the turn of the century (You sure about this? - ed.) is something I love very much. I love the textural quality that it has. But equally, there’s a hardness to soul music, and gospel music that I like.”

A lot of people would think it was a bit pretentious to talk about classical composers.

“That’s because they associate with the wrong areas of composers. You see, I don’t believe that the minute you draw on classical composers, what you make has got to be pompous.”

What was the last record you bought?

“It was a Delius thing, with ‘The First Cuckoo of Spring’ on it, and ‘In The Summer Garden’. You see, all I’ve listened to in the last year is that impressionist area of music. The one person I like more than any out of that lot is Bartok. He did six string quartets which are well good.

“The idea of listening to contemporary music seems quite pointless. I get more than my fair share when we’re touring, so I never listen to it when I’m at home.”

Do you have an ambition to be a classical composer?

“Oh no, but I would definitely like to do something in terms of writing film music.”

But for the moment, you’re staying with Talk Talk?

“Yes, but I don’t see one as being far removed from the other. A lot of our backing tracks owe debts to things like Delius. “Bartok’s a great geezer, and then there’s Erik Satie and Debussy, and Sibelius, who I think would fit in there.”

Does that mean that if we go and listen to those people, we’ll come across little bits of Talk Talk ?

“There are definitely a couple of references to things. But I remember this interview where old Stravinsky was being accused of ripping off some other geezer, and he just said that he loved this composer so much, he felt he was allowed to take from it.”

Talk Talk have never been a very fashionable band in this country. Why do you think that is? “I don’t know. It really doesn’t bother me at all. You see, I’m in the best possible position I could be in, which is having nothing happening in England and things going well abroad. Because of that, we get absolute freedom in making a record, and in terms of my private life, I have complete freedom there as well.”

Would you agree that you’re a traditional pop/rock band?

“What a horrible term. I think we’re traditional in terms of a lot of our values. But we don’t restate the past. We are covering new ground. I think it’s quite simple. You just look to as many areas of music as you can, take as little as you can from each area, and then with that, hopefully you have something new.

“How I feel about our music is in a lot of ways the same as I feel about our videos. I see them as a reaction against things. That’s why it’s good working with Tim Pope on videos. With him, it’s never a question of whether it’s good or whether you like the video. It’s whether or not it’s different from other people’s. If people think it looks like it was made for ten quid, then I’m quite happy with that.”

Has your success abroad made you into rich young men?

“Er...potentially I would think I’m well off.”

You sound a bit vague about it.

“Yeah, well. I would think I am...potentially would think I am well off.

“I’ll tell you what I had for breakfast, if you like.”

No, thank you.

Whatever I might think about laying claim to classical influences, using 50 to 60 musicians, and taking a whole year to make an album, the success of ‘Life’s What You Make It’ would seem to suggest that Talk Talk’s highly processed pop is exactly what most people want for breakfast. Now I know why Simon and Nick are smiling.

from http://www.snowinberlin.com/colourofspring.html

so yes i guess?

Never saw that one. I have heard him talk about Gil Evans and, I think Bartok, before but not Sibelius/Debussy/Delius who are all hugely pantheon for me.

That whole (You sure about this? - ed.) seems to have disappeared from contemporary music journalism. What a shame.

Yeah, that brought a flood of nostalgia, that did. (I bet it did. - Ed.)

Thanks for posting that, Nick. I recall reading the piece an age ago but didn't remember the specific reference to Sibelius. The praise for the Bartok quartets also isn't surprising, as the more pastoral passages from those are a proper redolence bomb vis-à-vis Talk Talk, with perhaps specific reference to SQ4 mvmt. 3.

Delius and Sibelius, sure, but I don't hear the Bartók influence at all. Talk Talk's later music has none of the six quartets' rhythmic snappiness, nor their deliberate embrace of worldly immanence. The 'night music' comes closest, perhaps, but even there Bartók's debt to classicism is audible, which is not a lineage I'd associate with Hollis, et al. Maybe the third piano concerto (especially the Adagio religioso or the unfinished one for viola? But that's not what he's talking about in the interview.

Hollis’ biggest link with Sibelius, really, is in his near-unattainable standard for whether he was allowed to make new music. Both were convinced that they had taken their project to the final degree so that only silence could take over. I wonder if there is an abandoned or destroyed Hollis project to correspond with Sibelius’ burnt 8th Symphony. Sibelius’ decades of silence following that had a bit to do with depression and alcoholism; I don’t get the sense that Hollis’ halt comes from as dark a place.

I was actually going to add that the influence of the more rawkus, or rhythmically snappy, as you put it, side of Bartok does not manifest itself in TT. I would still argue that something like the "Myrrhman" outro has a resemblance to some of the slower movements in the BB SQs though.

xpost

Otm – hadn't crossed my mind.

xpost

I was actually going to add that the influence of the more rawkus, or rhythmically snappy, as you put it, side of Bartok

i forget which volume of soundbombing bartok was on

Whoops, raucous. Haha.

Hollis did say, at the time of the release of his solo album, that the delay between Laughing Stock and it was on account of his feeling after the making of the former that it was such a complete expression of what he wanted to achieve at the time, that making something else was unthinkable. I don't know if the same outlook with regards to his body of work as a whole now explains his 20 years of near total silence.

John Storgårds's Sibelius symphony cycle with the BBC Philharmonic includes 'Three Late Fragments' and there is something vaguely Talk Talk-like about them, pointing towards might have been. Maybe.

Here's a live recording with the Helsinki Philharmonic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmIGn97BXs8

Yes? No?

http://blackesteverblack.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-heavy

Vocals kind of remind me of Hollis but the backing is subdued grainy electronic stuff. Really kinda feeling it tonight.

wow, i missed the whole sibelius revive. yeah, i've thought sibelius and hollis were similar myself, was thinking about adding a para about it to my classical list

not feeling this Jabu at all and hope this isn't indicative of where BEB are heading

And I love Hollis, Raime, and, err, Portishead, but no

maybe more colour of spring but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nupLGtgADKw

it's obviously tighter and more groove-based, but i actually thought last year's grizzly bear album hit on a similar jazzy naturalism that Spirit Of Eden (and probably Colour Of Spring more) really pinned down. didn't get a lot of critical attention because of the Great Indie Crit-Flip Of 2017, but imo it's one of the best things they've ever done.

i agree.

"the Great Indie Crit-Flip Of 2017"

Please summarize in your own words below

lol kinda flippant coinage but plenty of white dude bands who had had critics riding for them and arguably creating their commercial viability in the late 2000s/early 2010s released albums in 2017 to noticeably more tepid coverage. thinking dirty projectors, fleet foxes, grizzly bear, real estate, cloud nothings, destroyer, arcade fire, the shins, to some extent fleet foxes. only the national and lcd soundsystem albums seemed like they really poked above the fray across the board.

some of those albums were obviously just bad, but a few at least were bad or "not great" in ways that felt like wouldn't have been pointed out by the same outlets a decade ago—especially the cloud nothings and dirty projectors albums, to my ears. cosmopolitan renderings of interiority don't have the same cachet they used to.

I would say that large sections of the, rather good, new Necks record fit the criteria nicely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE8g2W0mWOY

I know what you mean, there is a resemblance in the sound. But firstly it is quite repetitive like all Necks songs I have ever listened to. And secondly there is no tune in the piece above. As it is common for The Necks but not for Talk Talk. But I agree that track is about the best I have ever heard by The Necks.

That Lo Moon clip upthread though really sounds like a reincarnation of Talk Talk. The singer has got a similar high voice as Mark Hollis, there is a warm & delicate chamber music feel with a strong hook. Yes!

Tamara Lindeman really gave me the shivers today:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/OJ9SYLVaIUI

This little soundtrack snippet came up on my mp3 player and I thought it sounded like it could be something from late Talk Talk or Hollis's solo album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zGJryq4-G4

what is it, pheel? i'm getting an error message.

pleased to see that rain tree crow was mentioned early on. surprised that there's not been mention of sylvian's nine horses project though.

ha I saw this thread bumped and thought "bet it's The Weather Station"

The album entire is gorgeous btw

"Beautiful People" by Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke has a big Mark Hollis vibe.

Wow @ that Weather Station track! Album due Feb, according to Amazon UK.

Alex - the Pheeel link is to #findfrank, a solo piano piece from the Stephen Rennicks 'Frank' (Sidebottom) soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq5X2G5qKQI

https://youtu.be/vIaznyD076c

thanks for the loma track, that's absolutely amazing. 100% late talk talk. a beautiful build-up, even the small noisy bits remind me of them. and her voice is phenomenal. the rest of the album though doesn't click with me at all.

i meant the atonal bits of the woodwind instruments.

That's weird, because the rest of the album is totally of a piece with that track.

really? then i have to give it another go.

This lovely piece from the new Gaze is Ghost record is giving me slight TT notes.

https://gazeisghost.bandcamp.com/track/wild-geese

This is gorgeous, as is the other track - thanks Maresn3st

NP - I'm excited to hear this album when it emerges.

Yeah, I quite liked that.

gaze is ghost v lush

Lilys - Eccsame The Photon Band (1994) often gets miscategorized as "shoegaze" but has this huge Spirit of Eden (esp. the demos of) sound as well as a heaping dose of Japan/Sylvian sprinkled on top.

I feel like the drums on that record might be the controversial element there, though. I could see people feeling like it undermines the quiet moments. Had mixed feelings at one point, but for me they really give the record a unique sound.

think i'm their main cheerleader on ilm, so it would be v remiss of me not to say that zelienople put out yet another great album last year called 'hold you up'. it's all good but this is the closing track off it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JlfYpHgtjo

Zelienople are in some respects my Platonic ideal of a band but I always seem to forget about them. Just listened to Hold You Up and it's predictably gorgeous.

Matt Christensen is sounding weirdly reminiscent of Adam Granduciel on the whole record.

Oh I love this (Zelienople)

that weather station album is finally out and is really good!

Matt Christensen is sounding weirdly reminiscent of Adam Granduciel on the whole record.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, February 9, 2021 4:31 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought "wait, who is that?" then as soon as I hear the first syllable of vocals in the above song, instantly "oh yeah that guy"

surprised that there's not been mention of sylvian's nine horses project though.

Just stumbled on this and thought of this thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hp4nIJd-8

I feel that unearth, one of the great and most consistent users of RYM, has basically his whole taste built around Talk Talk.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/unearth/eternal-recurrence/1/

I only got to 150 but good grief that’s a dull list.

It's auto-generated from 5-star reviews in Mojo.

breathtakingly curious about user unearth's thoughts on women

Careful, there might be a list

So his taste is drastically different than most people who would be reading a message board thread about Talk Talk?

idk let's magnify the boring and poll it

last few comments aren't really in the spirit of this great thread tbh and a bit unnecessary

is the need to feel superior to someone that pressing, really

the internet took "hey we like the same things, let's be friends!" and mutated that into "i only like you if you hate the same things as me."

although, yes: i am automatically suspicious of any rate your music user.

Modern Nature's Annual from last year (or was it the year before?). Their new album Island of Noise is perhaps more like Mark Hollis

So uh, this was just released today:

https://mellotone.net/collections/held-by-trees

It's now on streaming platforms but no non-lossy digital downloads are available yet.

Listening to this now. It's nice - like morning vacation music. Reminds me a bit of All India Radio's vibe.

sounds like an AI was tasked with making something that sounds like a Talk Talk album

Well, "members of Talk Talk, etc" lacking Hollis has a similar weight as "a new movie from one of the Executive Producers of...", so hearing it more in RIYL vein, works for me.

is there an uncanny valley for music?

stereophonics

Is there really anything that sounds like Spirit of Eden?

I'll cross-link this thread about Thirteen Moons to this thread:

Thirteen Moons (RIYL Talk Talk, Tim Buckley, Blue Nile, 4AD, et al)

Who sound like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHlzkIml28E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSsVQ2HqwKQ

Also worthy of mention, a biography of Hollis is coming out in the next couple of months. Somebody Wardle?

Ordered it--hope it's good!

Current issue of mojo apparently has an excerpt

the Held By Trees album is really good (though the last track definitely gets guitar wanky in a more Dire Straits/Floyd way than some might like).

if anyone is looking for music that sounds very like early talk talk, have you heard this one yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WljEUb0815g
Zakochany Człowiek - Better Person

the artist is called better person btw, zakochany człowiek is the name of the song

The new Thousands record is rather good and fulfills this criteria - https://thousands.bandcamp.com/album/no-farther-moon

Lately I have been enjoying Modern Nature's No Fixed Point in Space, which features Julie Tippetts and Chris Abrahams of The Necks, also Maria Elena Silva's "Jasper" (wait for the brushed snare at 3mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLKKvOXuyTQ