If 2025 wasn’t quite busy enough for Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey’s Skep Wax label — in widening its scope via a slew of new signings and extra global connections — then 2026 looks set to just keep on building upwards and outwards, with some pretty epic touring schedules and a flux of new releases already in the calendar well into the spring.
Having then already snuck out a new LP from the charmingly esoteric European Sun (on transfer from Where’s It At Is Where You Are) and with a long-awaited album cued-up from the returning American-French duo of Special Friend for March, February packs in a Technicolor triptych of outings from the reshuffled and rebooted veterans on the Skep Wax books.
First up is an eponymous CD round-up of three EPs from the inconspicuously named but intrepidly journeying Railcard. Combining the well-travelled talents of Rachel Love (vocals, guitar, cello, keys and formerly of Dolly Mixture), Peter Momtchiloff (bass and currently of Heavenly and Would-Be-Goods), Ian Button (vocals, drums, guitar and of Papernut Cambridge, The Penrose Web, ad infinitum) and Allison Thomson (trumpet), the ten gathered tracks present a joyous potpourri of retro yet refreshing songcraft.
Also featuring a set of experienced hands, but under a pre-established umbrella, are Would-Be-Goods, who return with Tears Before Bedtime. This first album since 2008’s Eventyr finds vocalist and guitarist Jessica Griffin, guitarist Peter Momtchiloff (as above, as below), drummer Debbie Greensmith (Thee Headcoatees et al), bassist Andy Warren (The Monochrome Set, Adam And The Ants) and sundry guest players, forging a suite of idiosyncratic but compelling explorations.
Revolving around Griffin’s elegantly tremulous tones and lyrically-ornate compositions, the collection doesn’t have an immediately arresting presence. Instead, the assembled pieces burrow into the consciousness from more lateral routes, over successive spins. Given time therefore, sophisticated infectious pleasures become apparent.
This means choice moments of shimmering salutes towards Nico and Vashti Bunyan’s early work under the Svengali wing of Andrew Loog Oldham (“The Gallopers” and “The Rose Tattoo”), spirited ‘60s-meets-‘80s psych-jangle (“Tears For Leda”, “The Back Of Your Bike” and “Don’t Come Crying To Me”), cabaret jazz slinkiness (“Carmilla” and “The Moon Doesn’t Mind”) and flashbacks to Serge Gainsbourg’s curation of Jane Birkin‘s fledgling oeuvre (“Madame X”).
Topping off this Skep Wax triumvirate is Heavenly’s long-hoped-for full studio reunion set — after several years of revelatory reissues and sporadic live reappearances — in the shape of the rambunctious Highway To Heavenly. Bringing fully together the aforementioned Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar), Rob Pursey (bass), Ian Button (drums), Peter Momtchiloff (guitar) with Cathy Rogers (vocals, keyboards), this fifth album revisits the band’s formative ingredients whilst adroitly adding in additional ones.
Hence, the mix of melodic hooks, harmonies, savvy songwriting and the chemistry of internal comradery is all present and correct, but filtered through some slightly rawer garage-pop-adjacent production that gives proceedings a ready-for-the-road punchiness, whilst still delivering some space for greater sonic depth. Moreover, the recordings certainly foreground the kinship between Fletcher and Rogers to a healthily creative degree, with the latter’s interlaced vocals and prominent keys adding crucial textures and persistent propulsion.
Consequently, the soaring Specials-tinged “Scene Stealing” opens with insistent guitar skank and stirring organ stabs that sets the pace of the bulk of this buoyant record. Thereafter, highlights come in the form of the chugging but creamily-topped “Portland Town”, the pulsing motorik-punk of “Press Return”, the call-and-response stomp of “Excuse Me”, the snaking multi-movements through “A Different Beat” and the heavily smudged Madness stylings of “She Is The One”.
-Adrian-
