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ReleaseProduct
In Quiet Moments
Artist
Display Artist
Lost Horizons, Simon Raymonde
Label
Bella Union
Catalogue Number
BELLA1111DIG
Release Date
26 February 2021
  • Double Black Vinyl + Signed Print:

    $28.99
    • In Quiet Moments Vinyl, 2×LP

    • Lost Horizons Signed Print Print, 12”×12” Signed Print

    • + MP3

    Available: 26 February 2021

  • Vinyl 2×LP

    $28.99
    Read More
    • + MP3

    BELLA1111V

    • 350gsm Wide Spined Sleeve on Uncoated/Reverse Board
    • 2x Inner Sleeves on Matt Machine Varnish
    • Mastered at half speed for enhanced listening.
    • Download Included
    • LP Sticker
  • CD

    $15.99
    Read More
    • + MP3

    BELLA1111CD

    All orders on the store will receive part one of the album digitally on 4th December in your account.

  • Download

    $9.99
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    320 kbps, LAME-encoded

    All orders on the store will receive part one of the album digitally on 4th December in your account.

In Quiet Moments, the title track, intriguingly written long before the pandemic, our protagonist is confined within four walls and as time passes he longs for those simple special moments that existed before this period of isolation, for example recalling the sound of a bell ringing through city streets, or the sight of a tree bending in the wind. As part of the deluxe version, there will be a booklet featuring exclusive photos and words from the lp’s guests. The featured artists will each be sharing an intimate photograph from a place that is unique and memorable to them, and some words on why.

In 2017, Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas had both abstained from making music for 20 years until they united as Lost Horizons and released a stunning debut album, Ojalá - the Spanish word for “hopefully” or “God willing.”

“These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world.” Thomas said at the time. “And this album has given me a lot of hope. To reconnect with music.... And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!”

Thomas’ hopes had a mixed response. On the plus side, the new Lost Horizons album In Quiet Moments is an even stronger successor to Ojalá with another distinguished cast of guest singers and a handful of supporting instrumentalists embellishing the core duo’s gorgeously free-flowing and loose-limbed blueprint that one writer astutely labelled, “melancholy-delia.”

On the minus side, any hope for a better world, as Earth continues to freefall toward political and social meltdown. Then, to make matters worse, as Raymonde and Thomas buckled down to create the improvised bedrock that Lost Horizons is built on, the former’s mother died. At least Raymonde had a way to channel his grief. “The way improvisation works,” he says, “it’s just what’s going on with your body at the time, to let it out.”

Raymonde (bass, guitar, keyboards, production) and Thomas (drums, occasional keys and guitar) forged ahead, creating 16 instrumental tracks to send to prospective guests. When he did, Raymonde suggested a guiding theme for their lyrics: “Death and rebirth. Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn’t far behind. But I also said, ‘The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun.”

And then Covid-19 hit. Half of In Quiet Moments’ lyrics were written after lockdown, but Raymonde saw a silver lining: people were slowing down and taking stock of their lives. Hearing a lyric written by veteran singer Ural Thomas, known as “Portland's Pillar of Soul", who fronts the title track, Raymonde singled out the phrase “in quiet moments” and made it the album title. “It just made sense,” he says. “This moment of contemplation in life is really beautiful. The title also went with the album cover, a photograph by Jacques-Henri Lartigue from the 1940s of a woman and dog on a beach, captured as if in flight.”

Lost Horizons’ melancholy-delia also feels buoyed aloft by airy currents, informed in part by Raymonde and Thomas’ former respective bands: the legendary Cocteau Twins and Dif Juz, arguably the first word in post-rock, 15 years before it became a trend. Their former bands were labelmates on 4AD in the mid-80s, which is how they first met. Fast forward to 2016, when Raymonde felt the urge to make music again after two decades piloting the revered independent label Bella Union. Fortuitously, Thomas was at the same juncture. After Dif Juz, he’d toured with The Jesus And Mary Chain, Moose, Felt and Cocteau Twins before, “the business side of music became too painful. Jamming with Simon, I got really excited, which I hadn’t felt about music in ages.” Ojalá was followed by UK and European dates with a core band featuring three singers, but a one-off special at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in September 2018 had all but one of the album’s 13 singers. Many flew in from the US just for the night (including former Midlake frontman Tim Smith, in his only stage appearance in the last eight years. “That London show was stressful but amazing!” Thomas recalls. “But playing to thousands at The End Of The Road festival or to 50 people in a pub in Birmingham was equally fun. And then Simon and I started the next record.” This time, Raymonde encouraged Thomas to initiate more ideas on his own. “I’m glad he did,” says Thomas. “I feel more confident about what I’m doing, and we have a lovely exchange going on. And it’s always good that each album we make shouldn’t be the same as before.” Says Raymonde, “In Quiet Moments was harder to make than Ojalá, but ultimately more pleasurable. Having Richie more involved makes me the happiest, and some of the music he started is the best on the album.” In Quiet Moments has its pockets of loss but – aligned to the concept of ‘hope’ - the album is more about rebirth than death. “I think it’s more joyous than Ojalá,” says Thomas. “But both albums have a great energy about them.”

Those energy levels undulate across a dazzling array of moods and voices; as broad as the name Lost Horizons sounds. Take the first three tracks: the melting rapture of ‘Halcyon’ featuring Jack Wolter of Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, the simmering urban-soulful ‘I Woke Up With An Open Heart’ featuring Nubiya Brandon of The Hempolics and the quintessentially melancholy-delic ‘Grey Tower’ featuring a returning Tim Smith .

Also returning from Ojalá are Gemma Dunleavy, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Cameron Neal (Horse Thief) and Marissa Nadler. The last three are all Bella Union family members; likewise, John Grant (the lush, choral ‘Cordelia’, etched by David Rothon’s pedal steel and Fiona Brice’s elegant strings) and Ren Harvieu (a sultry ‘Unravelling In Slow Motion’), and new signing Laura Groves (the jazz-tinged ‘Blue Soul’), all making their Lost Horizons debuts.

Dana Margolin of the hugely acclaimed Porridge Radio lends the rampant ‘One For Regret’’ her trademark bristling energy; at the other end of the spectrum, ‘Flutter’ features Rosie Blair (of former Bella Union signing Ballet School) adding exquisite blue notes to a stark palate of Thomas’ piano and Fiona Brice’s strings. Deploying his A&R acumen, Raymonde called on new Swedish discovery Kavi Kwai for the Cocteaus-evoking ‘Every Beat That Passed’ (“You can’t make music for as long as I have and drop all your influences and habits overnight,” says Raymonde). Also present are Lily Wolter (of Penelope Isles) under her solo pseudonym KookieLou, and C Duncan. A richer and more varied cast list would be very hard to find.

“I think In Quiet Moments is more in the direction of where we’re going,” Thomas concludes. “People have retreated into their lives and, in those quiet moments, reflected on the world, how we fit in and who we trust. Maybe the next album will be about rebellion! But the road is long and winding. We just need to express ourselves in how we feel at the time.”

Digital Tracklist

  1. 1 Halcyon 4:36 Buy

    Halcyon

  2. 2 I Woke Up With An Open Heart 5:15 Buy

    I Woke Up With An Open Heart

  3. 3 Grey Tower 3:23 Buy

    Grey Tower

  4. 4 Linger 5:59 Buy

    Linger

  5. 5 One For Regret 2:11 Buy

    One For Regret

  6. 6 Every Beat That Passed 3:45 Buy

    Every Beat That Passed

  7. 7 Nobody Knows My Name 3:59 Buy

    Nobody Knows My Name

  8. 8 Cordelia 7:23 Buy

    Cordelia

  9. 9 In Quiet Moments 5:45 Buy

    In Quiet Moments

  10. 10 Circle 4:58 Buy

    Circle

Show All Tracks 16
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