ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #9 - September 2020


I lost money when Pledgemusic imploded (plenty of links on that, here is one ), not a lot, about 25 quid for a couple of Salad CDs. I hadn't backed many projects before, but I liked the idea until some greedy fuckers ruined it...  The idea in this day and age to 'pre-order' albums to give the artists the money to make the album seemed a good and worthy approach. I'd done a couple of Wedding Present items ('Going Going' album, and the 'Something Left Behind' film, I missed the Valentina one as at that time with two very small kids, I didn't find I could afford the 100 quid 'entry').

So when Such Small Hands (basically the solo venture of the current Wedding Present bassist and Cinerama member, Melanie Howard) announced a crowd-funder at the start of the year, it was a no-brainer to get involved. I liked the approach of this, it was very transparent, it had a modest financial target, a short time-frame, and I liked what I had heard from Such Small Hands so far, which was namely an EP   I had purchased from Bandcamp in Jan , when it was announced that Such Small Hands would be performing at the annual festival in August 2020 in Brighton, ATEOTS ) - I had my ticket and plans to attend once The Primitives had been added to the bill.

The crowdfunder hit its target, and although Covid did result firstly in some small delays, and then secondly in the cancellation and postponement to 2021 of the ATEOTS festival, the album was released on 18th Sept, along with a lovely Twitter listening party. I've yet to see Such Small Hands live (just Melanie playing in Cinerama/Wedding Present) but here's hoping for next August ...

Weirdly, when playing the EP and album, all members of my family (thats wife and kids aged 11 and 9) have all commented on how nice it is ... thats pretty unique ...  as for me, its a nice change of pace and not maybe my typical choice but I really like it (although reading some of the stories/inspirations behind the songs can make it a tougher listen, feels slightly intrusive, like I have stolen her diary and I really should stop reading...). Highlights for me are 'Electric Touch' and the final two 'bonus' songs which are re-recordings from the EP, and are beautifully rendered acoustically.









(a track recently released not on the album entitled 'Legs' is well worth the extra download)


The other contender for Sept was Lily Fenne who released her second album, 'Breach' on the same day. I discovered her music that month when a gig in Milan (which I didn't realize was scheduled) was pushed to 2021. I listened to her, and got the CD from Banquet records since it include a lovely (and very intimate, considering the technology - there were only about 15 of us online) Zoom meeting where she played acoustically and chatted/did a Q&A. 




A worthy runner-up, but Such Small Hands is my Sept winner - here's hoping that a second solo album and the return of the Melanie Eats video series are in planning stage as I write ...


Next : October, and a surprise (for me ...) 








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