Tuesday, February 07, 2012

-valis Pick of the Week


Hail Voyagers! Back with yet another Pick of the Week after a week's hiatus to give the Brain Buzzin' Best Of 2011 a chance to shine its light. From the Southwest of England: Icarus Peel!

His latest release, The Sunflower Army, is crammed to the brim with great pop-psych & psych-folk nuggets of a high quality. (I can't help but be reminded of Reefus Moons as well as Anton Barbeau when I listen to his music, at least on this album.)



Playing all of the instruments himself and aided only by a backing vocalist, Icarus manages to hold attention throughout the 14 tracks on this his second outing. He also shows a keen sense of when to use the tools in his arsenal to dress up a song without doing it because he's got the tools at hand. That takes a deft hand, and a fantastic ear. He's got both.

Head on over to his website and give a listen to tracks like "Moon Madness" and "A Quarter Of A MIllion Miles Away." Recommended. Strongly. There's also an interview here from It's Psychedelic Baby blog for further investigation.

You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

1 comment:

Mordecai Smyth said...

Justifiably so! The Amazing Mr Peel's album is a beauty - I should know, I was listening to it this afternoon!
I think he has a bit of the old "Canterbury Scene" going in places (Caravan, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen) which is lovely to hear :0) and will be a joy (of a toy!) to any listeners who enjoy those artists. Also check out his other title, "Tea At My Gaffe" if you haven't already.
Love and therapy,

Mordecai Smyth