Whilst the arrestingly cheesy-peculiar front cover of Impostor Syndrome is rather offputtingly redolent of something you might easily flick past in a car boot sale crate of decades-old novelty records, inside the sleeve resides an assemblage of absolutely charming warmth and ingenuity.
Opening with the rhythmically rumbling title track that pushes Ian Dury And The Blockheads into a bubbling vat of kosmische noises, the duo direct a collection — with a few guest players joining in places – that is conspicuously retro yet refreshingly rendered.
Thereafter then we’re treated to a swathe of cuts that deliciously envisage extracts from a long-lost secret recording session convened between Syd Barrett, Richard Wright and Kevin Ayres (“Revolutions”, “Crossing The Line”, “Night Blues” and “Midnight Moment”); imaginings of Donovan swinging with an interwar jazz band (“Trouble In Store”); and sublimely smeared echoes of Pink Floyd’s “Fat Old Sun” (“The Empire’s Eye”). Elsewhere, there are nods to Robert Wyatt’s dreamiest solo material (“Distance” and “Briefest Encounters”); flashbacks to storytelling Dave Swarbick-led-era Fairport Convention (“Mutineers”); and lush flute-flourishing pastoral salutes to The Incredible String Band circa Wee Tam And The Big Huge (“The Next Step”).Meticulously multi-layered in terms of its historical references, agile arrangements and deceptively intricate songcraft, Impostor Syndrome is arguably one of 2025’s best late-arriving aural pleasures. Don’t let it go unnoticed amidst mid-winter merriment and hibernation.
-Adrian-
