Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - Gin (2014)

Stanley Brinks is joined by The Wave Pictures for their third album together; their first since 2010's Another One Just Like That . Recorded entirely live in the studio, without headphones or overdubs, and with a good deal of improvisation, Gin is a modern-sounding, in a way avant-garde, old school recording of text-driven songs. The Wave Pictures didn't get a chance to learn the songs before the session, Stan having forgotten to put a stamp on the demo tape he'd sent them from Berlin. To anyone familiar with Stanley Brinks' huge discography - more than 100 albums - Gin might sound considerably more raw and less sophisticated than some of his previous recordings. However this body of work remains rich in jazzy sounds and original structures, the songs looser and full of playfulness, the lyrics encapsulating their essence. And it goes without saying that Gin - the drink - was the inspiration for the album; while writing, and while recording. Gin was recorded at Soup Studio, London, by Simon Trought and Giles Barrett, one sunny day in May 2013. A few months before, when Stan was at the studio playing guitar and sax on The Wave Pictures' City Forgiveness , they recorded one of his songs - Maybe I Will See You Again , now the B-side of the Orange Juice 45 - just for fun. Giles Barrett, who was engineering, suggested a whole album, and he made it happen. Stanley Brinks began performing officially as André Herman Düne in 1999, sharing lead vocals, guitar playing and songwriting with his brother David in the band Herman Düne for a number of years. They released several albums and toured extensively in UK, gaining and owing a lot to great support from John Peel. He has used many monikers for various side-projects, but since leaving Herman Düne in 2006, he has been known solely as Stanley Brinks. Born in Paris, Stan has been living between New York, San Francisco, Malta and Berlin for about a decade, always on the move. He has recorded more than 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on several occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures. The Wave Pictures are David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny Huddersfield Helm. Formed in 1998 when Franic and David lived in a village called Wymeswold, the band played with several drummers until Jonny became a permanent member in 2003 replacing Hugh J Noble. In the beginning the band learned to play together by covering Jonathan Richman songs but soon David was writing lots of original material. They have since released 5 studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. The interest generated by these recordings has enabled The Wave Pictures to play shows all over the world with artists including Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Stanley Brinks, Freschard and Herman Dune. From the dusky romantic feel of opener One Minute Of Darkness to the love song, encompassing nautical metaphors, which is the last track Not To Kiss You , the album takes in the night, love & passion, Krishna, the modern way of life, exploration and moving on; all echoed brilliantly in the rich and varied musical interweave - by turns a jam, a calypso, some indie rock, a groovy mantra, a little voodoo rhythm and some good old regular country. All topped off with the Stanley Brinks endearing signature command of naïvely rhymed, overenunciated English. He touches the language in a way which really, no native speaker could get away with. Gin is quite simply a beautiful, though-provoking, uncomplicated album.