Heligoland "Pitcher, Flask & Foxy Moxie" (2005)

Pitcher, Flask & Foxy Moxie

release date: Jan. 1, 2006

format: digital (9 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]

producer: Tim Friese-Greene

label: self-released (bandcamp) - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Wedding Feast" - 3. "Black Girl" - 5. "The War, Stupid" (4 / 5) - 7. "Down to Zero" - 8. "3 Stills"

2nd full-length album by project-band Heligoland (aka Tim Friese-Greene) following Heligoland (Jan. 2000). Friese-Greene was co-composer of most of the music in Talk Talk where he and Mark Hollis were the musical wizards behind a great portion of what later became labelled post rock. With Friese-Greene's heavy legacy in mind, it's actually not difficult to hear similar soundscape in his music by Heligoland, and with this he delivers another criminally overlooked collection of fine alternative music.

Heligoland "Heligoland" (2000)

Heligoland [debut]

release date: Jan. 1, 2000

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: Tim Friese-Greene

label: Calcium Chloride - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Lost and Lethal" - 2."Shrug" - 3. "Bluebird" - 5. "Shock Treatment" - 6. "Isn't It Sad" (4 / 5) - 7. "Loaded Gun" - 9. "The Kiss-Off" (contains a cover of Hendrix' "Purple Haze" after 2 mins. pause)

Full-length album debut by Heligoland - not to be confused with the Australian band led by Karen Vogt and Steve Wheeler, nor the album release by Massive Attack. This is instead the one-man project by Tim Friese-Greene after releasing the four-track ep Creosote & Tar (1997) on his own label Calcium Chloride via his bandcamp profile.

This is a like finding a hidden gem everyone should know of but only few have come across, which is really sad. Everyone knows what a fundamental part Friese-Greene played in co-creating the music in one of Britain's most influential bands of the late 80s and early 90s: Talk Talk and his and Mark Hollis' experimental musical approach, which led to albums like Spirit of Eden (Sep. 1988) and Laughing Stock (Nov. 1991), but he was also behind the music by the band as early as It's My Life (Feb. 1984)

It's not that hard to hear the weight of the legacy in these nine compositions. There's a strong experimental and wildness jumping out of the music, and there's a strong and natural denial of making mainstream pop-tunes on the basis of known formulas. Instead, energy and playfulness makes evreything come to life.

Recommended.