The cultured among you will of course already be familiar with Liverpool based alt rockers Anathema, arguably one of if not the greatest atmospheric rock band to emerge out of Britain in the late 90s. They were a sad casualty of the 2020 lockdowns and went on indefinite hiatus as a consequence of their tour being cancelled and the band running out of money. They had material written but couldn't afford to record their next album and I wept.
So I you can imagine my elation when Spotify presented me with Ocean Without a Shore by Weather Systems as a recommendation following a listen to Steven Wilson's frankly sensational LP The Overview (more on that at the bottom).
So, Weather Systems is an offshoot of Anathema (and infact Weather Systems was the title of Anathema's 9th album, which is also excellent btw) led by founding member and vocalist Daniel Cavanaugh and most of the material making up this album is what was originally written for Anathema's unrecorded final album.
It released last year and somehow slipped under my radar (probably because I'm not on social media) so I was squealing like a little girl this morning when this slid into my playlist just as I was peaking on 4 tabs of acid.
Also had a very enjoyable listen to the title track from Steven Wilson's Hand Cannot Erase which is another one of my favourite albums. It's a concept album loosely based on the story of Joyce Carol Vincent (edit added link and corrected typo) but this song is detached from the core concept and stands alone. It's a song about the little lies we tell ourselves when we're in a relationship that we know isn't working but aren't ready to move on from. It's also catchy AF
And finally, I couldn't help myself and picked up The Overview on vinyl which I'm currently listening to on the big speakers. Steven Wilson's production values continue to blow my mind every time everything just sounds so good.
It's been a great day for music. And LSD.
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