Album: Lost Horizons – In Quiet Moments review

by Phil Scarisbrick

Simon Raymonde and Richard Thomas curate a mixtape filled with love, hope and pride

The mixtape was once the ultimate signal to someone that you hold them in the highest regard. A carefully curated selection of songs that would unveil feelings of affection that the English language could only dream of. The modern day equivalent is the playlist, which, while useful, is devoid of the soul or gravitas its predecessor conveyed. While Lost Horizons is made up of duo, Simon Raymonde and Richard Thomas, their new record, In Quiet Moments – its cast list feels like a rag tag set of virtuosos helping the pair create a special sonic love letter.

The love that provided the genesis of the record was not one of romantic intentions though, but rather Raymonde using music as a way to channel – and to some extent exorcise – the grief of losing his mother. The resulting collection is one that feels like a communal outpouring of hope. The opener, Halcyon, featuring Penelope Isles is a sultry, soulful jaunt that sings of ‘broken pieces everywhere’ and being ‘forced between the waves’. The visceral imagery feels like something that has fallen apart but needs rebuilding, complete with riff at its centre that sounds like a restrained imagining of the Manic Street Preachers’ Motorcycle Emptiness.

 Grey Tower is a real highlight, with its lyrics being projected by ex Midlake frontman, Tim Smith. Once again there is an element of nautical imagery, and Smith’s narration powerfully begs for freedom, as he ends the chorus imploring someone to ‘take it all’. The picked, reverb-heavy picked guitar adds real colour as it tussles with loose sounding drums for supremacy in the mix. Cordelia – featuring John Grant – floats on a bed of lush synths and slide guitar, as Grant’s modulated vocals take centre stage. Given what we know about what happened in the lead up to this album, the lyrics ‘She is a memory, fading away,’ seem to point to a meditation on the maternal loss Raymonde had suffered, and are wonderfully poignant.

While this record isn’t a mixtape at all, it feels like it has been pieced together with the same sense of passion and earnest affection that fuelled the very best of them. There must also be a sense of pride in the collection for Raymonde too, as the aforementioned Smith, Grant and Penelope Isles, are joined by fellow Bella Union stablemates, Ren Harvieu, Laura Groves, Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission and Marissa Nadler – which also bring the record a celebratory feel of Raymonde’s ear for a voice. Yet like a mixtape, the array of guest stars may be what we hear most prominently, but it’s the curators, Raymonde and Thomas, whose communication comes through most clearly.

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