{"id":89,"date":"2024-01-10T20:47:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T20:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/?p=89"},"modified":"2024-08-13T10:16:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T10:16:22","slug":"sl012-pete-astor-songbox-sl012x-pete-astor-songbox-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/2024\/01\/10\/sl012-pete-astor-songbox-sl012x-pete-astor-songbox-covers\/","title":{"rendered":"SL012\u00a0&#8211; Pete Astor\u00a0&#8211; Songbox\/SL012x\u00a0&#8211; Pete Astor\u00a0&#8211; Songbox covers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;SONGBOX&#8217; TRACKLISTING : <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.&nbsp;Dead Trumpets<br>2.&nbsp;Tiny Town<br>3.&nbsp;The Ride<br>4.&nbsp;Four Letter Word<br>5.&nbsp;Slip Away<br>6.&nbsp;The Perfect Crime<br>7.&nbsp;Sleepers<br>8.&nbsp;Look Away<br>9.&nbsp;Dunce<br>10.&nbsp;Tree of Birds<br>11.&nbsp;Mistress of Song<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Songbox<\/em>, Pete Astor\u2019s sixth solo album and his first record outing for four years, marks a welcome return for a significant, if under-heralded,&nbsp;British underground musician finally getting his due partly thanks to a prominent role in the acclaimed Creation Records documentary Upside Down. His return is accompanied by a new album, which surely ranks among Astor\u2019s finest recorded work since those heady \u201980s heydays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new album marks a change in&nbsp;direction from&nbsp;Astor\u2019s more&nbsp;experimental, post-Creation&nbsp;work in groups such as Ellis Island Sound and the Wisdom of Harry. Backed by the woodwinds of Keiron Phelan (State River Widening,&nbsp;Phelan-Sheppard) and Jenny Brand (Kluster Ensemble), together with layers of guitars, drums and keyboards from David Sheppard (State River Widening, Ellis Island Sound) and supported by the harmony vocals of&nbsp;Ang\u00e8le David-Guillou (Piano Magic, Klima),&nbsp;the eleven essays on Songbox&nbsp;offer an abundance of lushly arranged, timeless chamber-rock, brimming with wry lyrical insight and haunting melodic hooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A potent synthesis of very British songwriting, Europhile sensibilities and a stateless cosmopolitanism,&nbsp;<em>Songbox<\/em>&nbsp;serpentines between the diseased Jacques Brel-meets-Alex Harvey monlogue of&nbsp;<em>\u2018Dead Trumpets\u2019,<\/em>&nbsp;to the baroque, Bill Fay-like murder mystery of<em>&nbsp;\u2018The Perfect Crime\u2019<\/em>, via chiming, nostalgia-soaked folk-pop nuggets like<em>&nbsp;\u2018The Ride\u2019<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>\u2018Tiny Town\u2019<\/em>, and is concluded with the heart-wrenching, Leonard Cohen-like artistic hymna<em>l \u2018Mistress Of Song\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"pete astor dead trumpets\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gyh-uvlUtgY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Presented, in the Second Language label\u2019s customary bespoke style, in a limited edition box package, the aptly titled&nbsp;<em>Songbox<\/em>&nbsp;is accompanied by an additional album of cover versions of the album songs by an eclectic lineup of illustrious fellow artists including Let\u2019s Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, Dollboy and Pastourelle, alongside 12 exquisite, especially commissioned fine-art postcards which illustrate the songs\u2019 lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An \u201980s indie chart-topper with his band The Loft (and later The Weather Prophets), Astor brought considered, literate songwriting craft to Creation, a label more characteristically in thrall to less cerebral \u201960s pop thrills; none of which prevented him gracing the cover of the NME, the main stage at Glastonbury and the BBC\u2019s legendary music TV showcase, Whistle Test. Astor went on to release a series of critically-lauded solo albums, touring extensively in France and across Europe, receiving<em>&nbsp;Les Inrockuptibles\u2019<\/em>&nbsp;\u2018Album of the Year\u2019 accolade in 1992 for the album Paradise before a fin-de-si\u00e8cle \u2018second coming\u2019 with Matador recording artists The Wisdom Of Harry (who recorded three albums for the label) and instrumental duo Ellis Island Sound. A solo folk covers album Hal\u2019s Eggs (Static Caravan, 2004) and EIS\u2019s The Good Seed (Peacefrog, 2007) were his most recent releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days, Astor divides his time between songwriting and a career as an academic at the University of Westminster and London\u2019s Goldsmith\u2019s College, lecturing on and researching popular music cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Songbox<\/em>&nbsp;comes in a bespoke cardboard box with 12 individual artist postcards (artwork by Neil Brown, Kerry Stewart, Darren Hayman, Eve Gonzalez, Louise Clarke, Tony Veritas, Shaun Belcher, Merida Richards, Wes Gonzalez, Mathew Sawyer, Adam Sutherland).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first 300 copies of &#8216;Songbox&#8217; came with a bonus CDR album of alternative versions of the album tracks by Dollboy, Let&#8217;s Wrestle, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, Pete Greenwood, The Raincoats, Patrick Fitzgerald, The Proper Ornaments, Pastourelle, Mathew Sawyer and Piano Magic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;SONGBOX COVERS&#8217; TRACKLISTING : <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dollboy \u2013 Dead Trumpets<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s Wrestle \u2013 Tiny Town&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Darren Hayman \u2013 The Ride<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comet Gain \u2013 Four Letter Word&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pete Greenwood \u2013 Slip Away&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Raincoats \u2013 The Perfect Crime&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patrick Fitzgerald \u2013 Sleepers&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Proper Ornaments \u2013 Look Away<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pastourelle \u2013 Dunce<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mathew Sawyer \u2013 Tree Of Birds <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piano Magic \u2013 Mistress Of Song<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SOLD OUT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"531\" height=\"355\" src=\"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pete-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-92\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pete-1-1.jpg 531w, https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pete-1-1-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lushly arranged, timeless chamber-rock, brimming with wry lyrical insight and haunting melodic hooks from prolific\u00a0Creation Records icon.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secondlanguagemusic.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}