‘SIR OLLIFE LEIGH & OTHER GHOSTS’ TRACKLISTING :
1. The Dead
2. The Mentmore Waltz
3. Croham Hurst
4. Consider Darkness
5. The Charcoal Burners
6. Millions
7. Ladybird, Ladybird
8. Maryon Park
9. Asphyxiation
10. When We Shut Down
11. The Dead Return
Oliver Cherer steps out from his Dollboy moniker, after 5 albums and numerous singles/eps/split releases (not least the recent re-issue of his evocative isolationist masterpiece, ‘Ghost Stations/Geisterbahnhöfe’ on Second Language), to present a new set of sweet and tender recordings, ‘Sir Ollife Leigh & Other Ghosts.’
Retaining an attractive blend of organic instrumentation, unsettling electronic soundscapes and tender, intimate harmonies that have become his trademark over the years, Cherer has produced an album of beautiful, pastoral reminisces and uneasy nostalgia on the subject of loss.
Recorded in his studio in St Leonards-On-Sea, East Sussex and including contributions from Riz Maslen (Neotropic) on backing vocals, recorders and flute, Jack Hayter (Hefner) on viola and banjo and Alistair Strachan (Crayola Lecturn) supplying horns, ‘…Other Ghosts’ is a wonderful addition to an impressive back catalogue.
Renowned for a certain restrained melancholy in his songwriting, mixing low-key electronics, sublime harmonies and folksy acousticism Cherer creates a feeling of warm, historical placement with each album release. As Cherer explains :
“I used instruments I was less familiar with and tried to use them in unconventional ways. I was after the sound of an English indigenous music. It comes from being slightly obsessed with Russell Hoban’s ‘Riddley Walker’ so it’s meant to sound like a kind of pagan folk music from a modern dark age.”
The results of this active imagination and songwriting excellence has produced consistent, compelling English psych folk of the highest standard that perhaps sits somewhere between Robert Wyatt, North Sea Radio Orchestra and Alexander Tucker.
A companion disc, ‘A Millying & Mor,’ was available free only to Second Language subscribers with this release. Art direction, design and photography by Andersen M Studio.
‘A MILLYING & MOR’ TRACKLISTING :
1. A Millying & Mor
2. A Brightling Pyramid
3. Poor Judy
4. Ezra’s Folly
5. A Voice Like Rotting Silk
6. Dog/Man Watching
7. A Signal From The Royal Sovereign
Buy/download/stream ‘Sir Ollife Leigh & Other Ghosts’/’A Millying & Mor’ from Oliver’s Bandcamp page