Day of Release

Witness the birth of The Arc Lamps! Released today is their first record - the Wave of Sound ep. The Arc Lamps is actually Joe Brooker from The Pines, The Foxgloves, and recently The First Division (whose first single came out just a couple of weeks ago). You can get it from Cloudberry Records now! In my eyes this is a big step forward for Roque's label, and the biggest exclamation mark in the catalogue since the Shining Hour ep from last year. The Pines and The Foxgloves are of course among my favourite bands ever, and I had been looking forward to a new Foxgloves record for a while. Instead we get the first project that puts Joe in the foreground! All his other releases have been as a duo (be it with Pam Berry, Stephen Troussé or Tim Hopkins) and although he has been writing and singing bits for all of them, the new moniker suggests new horizons. It's no longer possible to overlook his songwriting talents and his POP! star qualities, in many ways reminiscent of those of Stephen Merrit. The songs on the ep are about rural England - brooding but with sparkles of hope and love, accompanied by electric guitars (even bass on the last one) and programmed drums. And if you've got something to say, that is all you need.

CLOUD 33 The Arc Lamps - Good Friday