Not strictly speaking a cohesive album, it’s actually a collection of EPs from 1996-1998 released by Dakota Suite. It works well as an introduction to Chris Hooson and co. On this collection we are treated to the various melancholic styles the band is capable of. Mood Indigo is almost alt-country with a melody that sounds so perfect you’ll swear you heard if before, underpinned by Richard Formby (ex-Spacemen 3) on lap steel and organ.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Episode is a piano instrumental, foretelling the band’s evolution away from singer-songwriter material towards a more classical palette. Colin Dunkley’s piano works beautifully on the gorgeous Autobiography, Chris Hooson’s whispered vocals and acoustic guitar filling out the song nicely along with some violins.
The band do more conventional (for them) electric guitar based songs also, Divided and Just Like Jesus are fine downbeat tracks. Somewhere has a fine clarinet featuring prominently throughout and a gorgeous violin coda. More austere is News From Nowhere, with dark harmonium and organ dominating amidst the ominous ringing of bells.
There are fine instrumentals on this collection, the piano and metronome (?) combination of To Have Wondered also worthy of note, before the sweeter sounding Colder, which echoes Mood Indigo with intricate guitar and some wonderfully dippy “ba ba”s from vocalist Chris Hooson. Although the band is not fully formed on these recordings, there is some really fine music lurking within.
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