“Scrivono che il passato sarebbe un paese straniero. Idiozie. Il passato è la mia patria. Il futuro è un paese straniero, pieno di volti estranei, non voglio entrarci“. (G. Gospodinov, Cronorifugio)
Scrivo di Bobby Wratten e dei suoi progetti con un certo imbarazzo. Quel che succede di solito con le sue canzoni è che interpretino e mettano a nudo i miei sentimenti come se fossi io stesso a scriverle (se solo sapessi vagamente scrivere una canzone, interpretare i miei sentimenti e metterli a nudo in maniera sincera e artistica). E, così, a parlare di lui, delle sue canzoni e dei suoi album mi sembra sempre di espormi troppo, di rivelare di me stesso gli aspetti più intimi e segreti, quelli più fragili, i miei punti deboli. Non solo.
Bobby Wratten’s first band were The Field Mice. They released seven singles and four albums on Sarah Records. When The Field Mice split, Bobby’s new project was Northern Picture Library, involving Annemari Davis and Mark Dobson from the latest Field Mice incarnation. They recorded two singles and an album for Vinyl Japan, and then returned to Sarah for their final two 7”s, Paris and Last September’s Farewell Kiss. In 1996 Bobby started Trembling Blue Stars, a solo project. He released three records for Shinkansen and, in 2001, Trembling Blue Stars’ fourth album, Alive To Every Smile, with a new line-up with a lot of ex-Sarah Records folks in the ranks: Keris Howard from Brighter, Beth Arzy from Aberdeen and Harvey Williams of Another Sunny Day, as well as The Field Mice themselves. Three other album were made, before the band disbanded. At the end of 2014 Bobby Wratten was back on the scene with Lightning In A Twilight Hour, this time with the help of Beth Arzy and Michael Hiscock. On November 17th, The Memory Museum was released and the EP Slow Motion arrived in February 2015 and for April of that same year they released their first full-length, Fragments Of A Former Moon. With 2016’s EP And All The Ships At Sea the project became more and more experimental, connecting the old Wratten’s distinctive sound to ambient and electronic music. In 2017 Quiet Actions was a cassette with only two long ambient composition, which confirmed the shift in Bobby Wratten’s music. A couple of months ago, six years after his last release for Elefant Records, Bobby Wratten’s Lightning In A Twilight Hour returned with a new single produced in association with long term collaborator Ian Catt, The Circling Of The Seasons / Neuchâtel trailer (but do not feature on) the forthcoming second album. This stand-alone single set the scene for Overwintering, the new album, which will be out tomorrow, April 1st, on Elefant Records, a collection of eleven songs overseen in collaboration with Ian Catt. Beth Arzy and Anne Mari Davies and Michael Hiscock from The Field Mice are featured throughout the record.
“Nessuno ha ancora inventato una maschera antigas e un rifugio antiaereo contro il tempo.” GAUSTÌN, Cronorifugio, 1939 “L’uomo è l’unica macchina del tempo di cui disponiamo.” GAUSTÌN, Contro le utopie, 2001 (Georgi Gospodinov)
Interrogarsi sul passato è un esercizio che sta diventando sempre più frequente. Sarà perché, grazie alla tecnologia, abbiamo sempre più testimonianze vivide del passato, sarà perché è un periodo in cui interrogarsi sul futuro è diventato troppo difficile, sta di fatto che la riflessione sulla nostalgia e sulla memoria ha ormai assunto un carattere centrale del nostro “filosofeggiare”. Quanto il passato informi il presente, quanto sia sano rifugiarvisi e perché il passato rappresenti per noi un tempo (un luogo?) ideale, sono domande che da sempre si pone anche la musica pop, un “genere” relativamente recentissimo (nella forma in cui lo conosciamo ha poco più di settant’anni) eppure così immerso nella nostalgia del passato, nel ricordo di un’epoca d’oro che, in realtà (come accade sempre anche all’uomo), era solo la sua infanzia e la sua pubertà, da rischiare di sembrare sempre e solo un vecchio che ha bruciato troppi neuroni e che non può che riciclare i ricordi, non avendo più le capacità per evolversi.
Under The Bridge is something more than a “compilation album”. It is more a reunion of fourteen bands who used to be on Sarah Records (The Orchids, The Wake, Even As We Speak, Secret Shine, Boyracer, St. Christopher) or whose memebers where in Sarah Records band (Jetstream Pony and The Luxembourg Signal, The Catenary Wires, Tufthunter, Soundwire, Leaf Mosaic, Sepiasound, Useless Users). Under The Bridge will be released as a CD album, digital download and limited edition vinyl LP. CDs and LPs include a 16-page colour booklet. It will be distributed to stores by Cargo (and in the US, Redeye).
There will be two all-dayer events in 2022, featuring several of the bands on the album, in Bristol (The Thunderbolt) and in London (The Amersham Arms) on 23rd and 24th April respectively.
Bristol’s Sarah Records was a defiantly independent record label. Feted by many – if hated by some – it has been increasingly recognised as a seminal label which, during its short lifetime in the 1990s, created a whole scene around itself. While the label has long since closed its doors, and eschews re-releases, the bands on Sarah – or at least their members – have kept on creating perfect pop music. Under The Bridge is an extraordinary reunion, showcasing new material by fourteen of them. Many are British, but others hail from as far afield as Sydney, Victoria, California and Arizona. There are some names you’ll recognise: The Orchids, The Wake, Even As We Speak, Secret Shine, Boyracer, St. Christopher. In many cases, their line-ups are relatively unchanged. Then, there are newer groups, where different line-ups have evolved: Jetstream Pony and The Luxembourg Signal (both ex-Aberdeen), The Catenary Wires and Tufthunter (both ex-Heavenly), Soundwire (ex-The Sweetest Ache), Leaf Mosaic (ex-Sugargliders), Sepiasound (ex-Blueboy) and Useless Users (ex-Action Painting/Secret Shine).
