Well I’ll be damned if this isn’t the sweetest thing
you’ll hear all year as I can’t think of anything that
barely comes close other than maybe the recent Gravenhurst
release in terms of the Nick Drake reference points, but as they
say more of that later. The debut album by the Relict who
feature former Clientele member Innes Phillips aided Pam Berry
of the Pines and Lupe Nunas of the Pipas.
‘Tomorrow is Again’ features 12 songs of such melodic depth
and texture as to have your head dizzy with delight, collecting
together several new choice cuts that sit neatly aside a few
lost gems from long sold out singles releases including the
captivating debut ‘Southern Way’ which even to this day
still sends shivers down the spine, however they disappointingly
omit the gorgeous ‘Out of Time’ which appeared on the split
release with Below the Sea which was this listeners introduction
to the band all those years ago.
Like the Clientele, the Relict furrow the path of sensitivity,
the sounds invoke vague 60’s memories yet are etched with a
curious contradictory quotient of uplifting melancholia, summery
harmonies and languid autumnal melodies and pierced with such a
faintly fragile nature that you fear that their delicate stature
will crumble at the slightest movement. If your looking for
reference points then familiarising yourself with the likes of
Damon and Naomi with Ghost, latter period Velvet Underground,
Clock Strikes 13, several early releases from the Go Betweens
canon won’t go amiss, oh yeah and a firm appreciation of Nick
Drake should go some way to revealing the kind of exalted
spheres this lot occupy.
For the most part ‘Tomorrow’ is a docile feast of
captivating spectral harmonies playing hide and seek in the
evening shade with love lorn melodies, it’s those memories of
love’s past that evoke a caring fondness, from the
breathlessly breezy lulling of ‘Time spent with you’ that
opens the collection to the closing apologetic softness of
‘Darling I know’, The Relict tenderly caress the senses
holding the emotions prisoner like in their gently teasing grip,
replete with tumbling pastoral chords, the naked arrangements
some how come to joyous life sparkling and exuding their aura of
spellbinding passions, the irresistible incandescent ‘Held in
glass’ featuring the drifting vocals of Abigail Marvell
aligned to some deliciously gentle spun acoustics which hints at
a classic fragile beauty at its core, while the trembling
‘Childlike’ is just oozes with sublime intent. Then
there’s the spine tingling out of time elegance of the ghostly
‘Along the Avenue’ subtly recalls the ghostly tremors of the
Stranglers ‘Feline’.
‘Tomorrow is Again’ is a truly enchanting experience, dare
you miss it? Best listened to wrapped up with a loved one.
"I saw your eyes today/they whisper through my mind"
goes the chorus to a song on the Relict's debut album Tomorrow
Is Again, perfectly capturing the way people can haunt each
other. Here's a secret: most of the best love songs of the last
few years were released on 7" singles and had the name
"The Relict" on them. Essentially ex-Clientele member
Innes Phillips and a cadre of friends (including other Clientele
members and stellar indie-pop vocalists like Pam Berry, Abi
Marvell and Lupe Núñez-Fernández), The Relict has been
quietly making its mark for a few years but is just now
releasing their first proper album. Tomorrow Is Again
takes many of the best songs from the singles and re-records
them in fuller, crisper fashion, and adds a handful of new songs
that are just as good. Phillips' love songs are imbued with
melancholy, from the lyrics to the soft shades cast over them by
his delicate, ghostly guitar playing. "So many words/but I
don't think I spoke them/at least not to you," the first
song ends, taking the glow of love and giving it a reality
check. Love's allure runs through every song here, but so does
the hurt and confusion that always accompanies it. Like their
friends The Clientele, The Relict can express a world of
feelings in one brief series of images or phrases or notes. Both
groups also have an amazing sense for atmosphere; when the
Relict sing a line like "the sun was setting fast along the
avenue," everything about the song makes you feel like
you're there. From the album's start to its end, the songs on Tomorrow
Is Again are tender and exceedingly gorgeous. Really, these
songs are like a painting or sunset that catches you completely
off guard with their beauty, in a way you'll never forget.
Similarly delicious is the Relict album Tomorrow Is Again
(Vegas Morn). Some will know already that the Relict is a loose
collective assembled to colour in the songs of Innes Phillips,
and it’s probably true to say that if you knew that then you
also know that the collective includes members of The Clientele
and Pipas, as well as legendary indie crooner Pam Berry. Knowing
that, it’s not hard to guess at what The Relict sound like:
they sound a lot like The Clientele with the added enchantment
of some divine female voices, and of course that’s a very fine
thing indeed. Especially so on songs like ‘I Saw Your Eyes’
where Pam and Lupe Nunas weave spirals so seductive you want to
pledge undying love for all of time, or on ‘Held In Glass’
where Abigail Marvel duets with Innes in a song that sounds like
the leaves browning on the bracken on Great Haldon. So The
Relict fall sweetly into a pattern with the likes of The
Clientele, July Skies and Gravenhurst, forming ripples on the
canal and throwing ghostly shadows of fumbling lovers on the
newly harvested fields; a surreal sweet suburbia where honesty
and fragility still count for something, where it’s okay to
smile at spiders webs in the misted maroon morning light and
where you don’t get called ‘poof’ for taking photos of
sweet vending machines in the afternoon sun.
First album by The relict, after their amazing series of 7''s!
But this is not a compilation of singles, it's a full album with
new songs and all the songs that were previously available on
7'' were recorded again with new arrangements and singers. Among
those who took part in this remarkable, unique record, we can't
be more than astonished with the participation of Alasdair
Maclean (The Clientele), Pam Berry (The Pines,
Castaway Stones, etc.) and Lupe Nunez-Fernandez (Pipas)
in half of the songs (with Pam and Lupe singing together in a
couple songs)! This is a classic debut record!! Spectacular!!
The Relict is often closely associated with
the Clientele, and for good reason: both bands share a very
similar sound, and all three members of the Clientele have
played with the Relict (on this very album, in fact), not to
mention the fact that chief songwriter, Innes Phillips, was once
a member of the Clientele. So naturally, the songs are in the
same soft, gentle Bacahrach-esque style of pop. In fact, aside
from the vocals (sometimes by Innes, and sometimes by Lupe from
Pipas and Pam Berry - even a few duets!), it's rather hard to
tell the two bands apart - not that I'm complaining. Even with
all the similarities, I wouldn't consider one a copy of the
other; both bands exist together, only one has achieved
popularity, while the other has remained somewhat obscure. As
this is the band's first album, and therefore the first that
many would hear of them, I do hope that no one would accuse them
of being a knock-off... Also, you may have noticed that some of
these songs were previously released on the band's earlier
singles (many of them now sold out), but all of them have been
re-recorded specially for this album.