Album Review: Brix Smith & Marty Willson-Piper - "Lost Angeles"
The prospect of a team-up between Brix Smith (formerly of the Fall and Brix & The Extricated) and former Church and All About Eve man Marty Willson-Piper was an intriguing one for sure. It's safe to say that both of them have an output that's been pretty varied over the last 30-40 years so there was a feeling that this really could go pretty much anywhere. Opening track Backwards actually sounds like Blondie in one of their moodier moments with Brix's gentle vocals and Piper's weaving guitar (including a cracker of a solo) blending together well to get Lost Angeles off to a strong start. The gentle guitars and background distortion of On Top Of You meanwhile remind me of Split era Lush which is no bad thing before the drums kick in to take the song somewhere a bit more sinister. Lost Angeles is a bit more of a gentle album than I was expecting but that's no bad thing - the languid Sorry is six minutes long but crucially doesn't feel like it...