Thomas Bush – Preludes

Label: Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox – MMJ006 Format: Vinyl, 12", Album Country: Sweden Released: 1 Jun 2022 Genre: Electronic, Rock, Folk, World, & Country Style: Experimental Now Malmo-based British artist Thomas Bush returns some four years after debut epic ‘Old And Red’ with what I won’t hesitate to call a perfect album in ‘Preludes’ for Gothenburg label Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox. As with the untouchable ‘Old And Red’, it’s equally steeped in that unmistakably high-lonesome British melancholy - Bush feels down but not out across a batch of engrossing, dare-i-say catchy minimalist home-brewed avant-folk songs that flicker occasionally with melody, before doubling DEEP down into a pit of narcotised introspection on ‘Cadance’. Pieces are arranged with the barest of elements, whilst strung-out wandering basslines are left out to pasture - evoking at times CS & Kreme and their most stoned (and best) or the dubbed-to-death demolitions of F ingers. The song-writing feels most accomplished and direct on ‘The Remote’ where spindly guitar riffs tumble between naive keyboard melodies and shackled percussion - but Bush’s aching vocals steal the show before burrowing away again for the homestraight with more inward-gazing semi-instrumentals. It’s an album to grow old with - best of the year so far - no brainer.. (NM) Tracklist A1 Firstly 2:43 A2 Paid To Love 1:54 A3 Cadence 5:08 A4 Jennifer 4:12 A5 Odeep One 4:36 B1 The Remote 6:58 B2 In The Sunken Undergrowth 6:00 B3 Time To Love 4:38