The Magic Hour: 10” Yellow Vinyl

The EP features two brand new tracks alongside two remixes of songs from last year’s acclaimed album Red Sunset Dreams. The Dot Allison-featuring ‘Sundowning’ gets an almost Balearic makeover by Richard Norris which flows perfectly from ‘Silver River’, featuring B.J. Cole, which has been turned into awe-inspiring ambient Americana by the Indianapolis collective Dawn Chorus And The Infallible Sea. “Their album Liberamente on Azure Vista was one of my favourite records of 2020,” says Mark. “It has some of the best ambient guitar recording I’ve heard for a long time. I love how they’ve re-contextualised B.J.’s pedal steel with a different kind of melancholic backdrop – it’s much more reflective and dreamlike than the original.” The two new tracks, despite sharing a common theme with the album in terms of their sunset-themed titles, signal a change in musical mood. Both are much more propulsive and driving, inspired by Mark’s recent live shows which he has played as a trio with bassist Dean Roby and drummer Chris Smith. In fact, adding the title track to his live set finally brought it to life after 20 long years. “I wrote the demo for ‘Magic Hour’ while living in a flat in the centre of Manchester in the early 2000s on a Soundcraft desk loaned to me by Simon Tong,” says Mark of the title track’s origins. “It was called ‘Alesis’ for years because I recorded the initial guitar through an Alesis Quadraverb that belonged to The Verve’s Nick McCabe, but it’s now grown into something more groove-based, like an electronica-influenced take on what I was doing on Innerland.” ‘Alpenglow’ came about more recently after Mark bought a Boss RC-300 Loop Station. “My initial intention was to attempt the unspeakable by recording a psychedelic Joy Division-style track,” explains Mark. It does indeed have a dark, post-punk feel, like a souped-up ‘Shadowplay’, but as it cranks into krautrock gear it could almost be Neu! with the late, great Tom Verlaine replacing Michael Rother on guitar.

“Banjo and lap steel enhance shoegazey landscapes reminiscent of erstwhile collaborator Ulrich Schnauss or ambient US pioneers like SUSS”
– Uncut 8/10

“Rather than lead us through the landscape it elevates us to soar high above. Red Sunset Dreams projects these panoramas with a scale and romance that’s more American West than English North”
– Electronic Sound

“One of the musical highlights of 2022. A musical journey that will stay with you long after the final note has gently faded away. This is an absolute gem of an album”
– Prog

“An impressionistic take on the American myth… A dreampop-slanted counterpoint to Aaron Copland’s ‘Appalachian Spring’”
– MOJO