Welcome to Sea Salt

Antenna, the diverse fourth album from The Gift signals a significant change in direction for this London based band, driven by a fresh and accessible impetus. The new album sees The Gift consciously moving away from the longer symphonic pieces that characterised their previous albums. Vocalist Mike Morton describes the album as "…rockier, more contemporary sounding - we wanted to do something more direct and punchy. Whilst there’s no concept, a lot of Antenna is about how difficult it is to communicate, how we’re sending out messages and they don’t hit the target".

Here is a stunning debut CD by the UK band The Gift, what an incredible level for a new band! The album Awake & Dreaming has a running time of 70 minutes and contains two epic compositions, separated into 19 songs in total. Despite the long running time and many songs, the music doesn't fail to generate excitement for one single second. In contrary, it is loaded with strongly build-up songs featuring lots of spectacular breaks (especially the second part of this CD) with sensational keyboardwork and excellent, often powerful guitarplay.

For a band that started life in 2003, The Gift are notably thrifty when it comes to releasing new music - Land Of Shadows is only their second album. The music is firmly rooted in classic British prog, most evidently 70s Pink Floyd, with strong melodies bolstered by flashes of virtuosity. The catchy choruses of Too Many Hands show off their pop sensibility, while You Are The Song is an unabashed ballad. Yet there is plenty for prog purists to embrace here too, particularly in the 20 minutes of The Comforting Cold, which weaves between strings, wide-open soundscapes and heavier rock instrumental sections to great effect…

Vast, expansive and introspective works utilising place-specific found sound on this second Cremation Lily LP for Alter. Contemplating mortality, illness and the perennial bleakness of British winter in a seaside town we find Zen Zsigo experimenting with piano, violin, synthesiser and walkman tape players. Layering field recordings of the Hastings shoreline atop druggy, stretched out 303 basslines and snippets of spoken word there seems to be an overarching thematic of memory and reflection at play. From vignettes of crumbling glass and bittersweet drones through to sprawling, semi-rhythmical pieces ('As a sea creature…') it seems as if Zsigo is trawling the coast for fragments of its former glory…

With her new programme "L'amour, la mort, la mer" Patricia Petibon flies freely from one register to another, from one language to another, and from one style to its exact opposite. However, she does base her repertoire around her own personal journey. This is what grants her seemingly eclectic style the consistency of an unparalleled performance. It is less a recital than a story that unfolds from one composer to the next—a secret story of grief, travel, and solitude. In this way, she echoes the idea underpinning Saint- John Perse’s poem, Amers: “The tragedians came down from the quarries.

The Difference Machine is their 5th album. For those unfamiliar with the band, they hail from southwest England and began their career in the late 80's with a decidedly late 60's King Crimson sound (think In The Wake Of Poseidon). The Difference Machine hails back to that early Crimson sound, especially in the stop/start of the arrangements, the bass and drum production, and the usage of wind instruments such as alto and tenor saxophone, viola and predominant use of the mellotron. The classic prog arrangements are spiced up with some modern technology, including digital loops and industrial sounding distorted vocals…