Epiphany

Happened to notice on Thursday night that Friday the 6th was the feast of the Epiphany, & joshingly wondered if one such would occur on the day, feeling in need of such, some sign to suggest that it might be worth going on. Amazingly, wonderfully, it did happen, in the form of the revelation of the music of Sol Seppy. A new phenomenon to yours truly, I’d spotted a mention of ‘their’ existence in last Sunday’s Times, being intrigued in that the band was essentially Sophie Michalitsianos, a name lately associated with Sparklehorse & a contributor to the many-splendoured and much-loved albums ‘Good Morning Spider’ & ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Yesterday, I finally remembered to get around to having a quick surf in search of some more info to flesh out this tantalising titbit and, so doing, discovered the existence of the official Sol Seppy website, to which I naturally made suitable haste, & there finding a selection of listenable tunes. All have their own individual charming delights, which I would recommend unreservedly that you should sample your good self, dear reader, but, in particular, ‘Move’ & the appropriately-titled ‘Slo Fuzz’ were true epiphanies, an aural experience I was quite unprepared for the wonders of: the former exploding, swarming around inside the head like My Bloody Valentine reincarnate (& I remain more fond of 'Loveless' than most music heard before or since), before changing down into a trippy & acoustic gear, echoes of Garbage dynamically, perhaps, but mercifully less metallic overall & with lots of additional lovely Sparklehorsey-type textures such as cellos & wheezing harmoniums, an incredible noise; & the latter, heavenly, floating along over a deep drone, also recalling pleasant reminders of MBV, again texturally rich, gorgeously glittering & sparkly. Most enamoured of Sophie’s voice too, whose accent seems somewhat to recall that of The Sunday’s Harriet but has a seductive personality all its own. All in all, a wondrous, revelatory sonic experience – a true epiphany indeed - & one I’m most keen to sample much more of very soon. The album, 'The Bells of 1 2', is apparently due in Feb: I can’t wait, but, for the time being, at least there’s those 4 tunes to illuminate the gloom of the dark January days & inspire hope.