jehu and chinaman ‘for isabelle’ comp

The aforementioned ‘Clementine’ track by Wizards Tell Lies and Joshua Levesque comes prized from a specially commissioned compilation put out by the Jehu and Chinaman imprint. At the request of label head honcho Steve Dewhurst, several artists all part of the extended Jehu and Chinaman family were asked to contribute tracks to mark and celebrate the birth and arrival of his daughter – Isabelle. Hence ’for Isabelle’ a collection of lullabies from the dark side. Derek Rogers heads up the festivities with what first appears the genteel lull of ’twinkle twinkle little little’ – yes the little star motifs as loved by Fisher Price lullaby lightshows here faithfully re-trimmed to the lilt of sustaining bowed xylophones chirps until that is the onset of something altogether eerie and unearthly wherein underneath the cot by night the toy box falls open and to the regale of cosmic overtures a clockwork army assembles to play. Previously unknown to us, the end of the world championship stump up ’bruce lee’ whose dreamily inclining slo mo sirens cut delicately wispy orbital shapes in the cosmic voids. Likewise Komodo Haunts serve up ’blindness in rodents’ which to these ears sounds like a woozy carousel dinked by a choc a bloc toy cupboard of children’s TV motifs – most notably ’magic roundabout’ adrift on Meek’s power failing telstar. Built upon a murmuring music box motif the hushed of Obsidian Pond’s ’yuuyake (for Isabelle)’ is snoozily arrested in a gorgeously graceful cosmic cortege of orbital opines whose hypno-chill serves as a dreamy magical opening to at rest enchantment. Must admit to being more than a little smitten with Daniel Bachman’s ’CSX coal line’ not least because its arrives from out of mountain lake haze seductively trimmed the kind of free spirited old schooling craft of John Fahey. Something else that had cause to endear us is the porcelain ’we share the moon’ by the invisible path which though bathed in mournfully desolate motifs sounds to us like a celestial Catherine wheel emitting tenderly star crushed love notes. Title alone, for one second we were expecting some bubble grooved Ramones styled three chord belch, instead on rejections ’rocket bye baby’ we’re treated to five minutes of controlled lo-fi skree scratched Flying Saucer Attack styled radio pulsars transmitting as were from beyond the great galactic barrier. Just like it says on the tin, Bird People’s ’drone lullaby’ is a serenely tweaked murmuring monolith softly shimmered in silvery reverb orbs and steeled in a stilled regal reverence. Been a while since Roadside Picnic came a calling to worry our hi-fi, so much so that the poor thing was spotted filing a missing persons report, fear not dear turntable for the ominous one approaches with the 23 minute goliath ’three blind mice’, certainly the most disturbing thing here and something which one suspects absolutely ignores the compilations remit unless there was of course a small print exclusion clause reading ’ the scarier the better’ for I do believe that repeat plays of this might well not only give Isabelle nightmares but might lead casual subscribers to go forth seeking counselling for this is one macabre slab of horror chill subsumed in a disquieting white noise haze ruptured by the ghostly apparitions of disembodied voices breaching the dimensions to reach through the ether. In sharp contrast arrives the alluring ’childlike’ by Wizards of all speckled in demurring lights lowered seduction and milky murmurs twinkled in fondness and despatched amid a pirouetting night light show of cooing chimes and chill toned chirps. Rounding the set up Addereall Canyonly dinked the digital grooves with the irresistible ’the sound of your face’ here seemingly hoisted along on seafaring tidal lilts and much like Bachman’s ’CSX coal line’ earlier woozily exploring the navigational pull of the delta blues leylines. http://www.jehuandchinaman.bandcamp.com/album/for-isabelle