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Overall close to VG+

Overall very close to NM

No Obi, with inserts. Overall close to NM.

Numbered 1973 reissue: A151010. Japanese pressing without OBI. No pin-ups, with folded poster. Vinyl has a bit of foxing on the matrx runout and the cover has yellowing. Overall copy close to VG+.

Cititrax is excited to present the first in a series of 4 song samplers showcasing the talents of some of the most innovative producers of the moment. Cititrax: Tracks Volume One features Amato, an edgy new project brought to you by The Hacker, Tzusing, a young producer from China known for his hard-hitting L.I.E.S. releases, our beloved Berlin based former New Yorker An-i, and Oliver Ho’s stunning Broken English Club. The overall sound can be described as modern, uncompromising and guttural. Each artist reinvents dance music by bringing their own unique vision to the floor. Artwork designed by Veronica Vasicka and sourced from Polaroids shot in NYC clubs in the 1980s.

Limited to 4500 copies.

2021 is the 65th anniversary since The Everly Brothers released their first single in 1956 (“Keep A Lovin’ Me”). This new compilation is curated by Tom Petty’s daughter Adria Petty in conjunction with Don Everly and Phil Everly’s widow, with the objective to remind the world of the greatness of the Everlys, plus introduce the duo to a new, younger, hipster audience. This is not a “Greatest Hits” package. Whilst it does include some hits (eg: “Cathy’s Clown” – their biggest selling single), the objective of this compilation is to highlight many of the lesser-known songs that are equally as good as the well-known hits. This will attract a new assessment of the band by musicians, critics and media, and appeal to a broader audience – selling to many younger fans who may not even have heard of the group. The album will be released on vinyl for RSD with a fresh, contemporary, and hip approach to the cover art. Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. 17 tracks.

Intro is an American R&B group that emerged in the early 1990s. The group consisted of members Jeff Sanders, Clinton "Buddy" Wike, and lead vocalist/songwriter Kenny "G-Love" Greene. They gained popularity during the golden era of R&B and enjoyed success with their soulful harmonies and smooth ballads.
In 1993, INTRO released their self-titled debut album Intro, which featured the hit singles "Come Inside," "Let Me Be The One," and "Love Thang." The album received critical acclaim and showcased their ability to deliver heartfelt ballads and merging R&B tracks over hip hop beats. The smooth harmonies and passionate vocals of Kenny Greene and the group's overall chemistry made their music stand out.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, we are proud to reissue the band's debut album for the first time as an expanded 2LP edition. Intro (Expanded) is available as a 30th anniversary edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange (LP1) and green (LP2) coloured vinyl. Its D-side consists of 3 bonus tracks from their album New Life.

Last chance, last repress.

Cleo Sol - Mother is the second studio album by British singer-songwriter Cleo Sol, released on August 20, 2021. The album is deeply personal, with themes centered around motherhood, family, healing, and self-discovery. As part of the Sault collective, Cleo Sol had already established herself as a key figure in the neo-soul and R&B world, but Mother showcases her vulnerability and emotional depth in a more intimate, reflective setting.

The album blends elements of soul, jazz, R&B, and folk, creating a serene, acoustic soundscape that complements its introspective lyrics. Mother features lush, soulful arrangements, with gentle strings, piano, and acoustic guitar forming the backbone of many tracks. The overall sound is calming and meditative, allowing Sol's vocals to take center stage.

Lyrically, the album reflects on Cleo Sol's experience with motherhood and the emotional changes it brings. She addresses themes of unconditional love, personal growth, and the challenges of raising a child while also navigating her own self-healing. Songs like "Don’t Let It Go to Your Head" and "We Need You" express a sense of nurturing and tenderness, while "Promises" speaks to the weight of responsibility and the desire to protect loved ones.

Key Tracks:
"Don’t Let It Go to Your Head" – A standout track that offers both encouragement and advice, encapsulating the nurturing spirit of the album.
"We Need You" – A deeply emotional song that explores themes of connection, support, and the importance of being present for those you love.
"Build Me Up" – A soulful ballad that speaks to vulnerability and the need for support and growth within a relationship.
Critical Reception: Mother received widespread acclaim for its emotional honesty and soothing production. Critics praised Cleo Sol for her vocal performance and the way she was able to capture the complexity of motherhood and personal transformation. The album’s stripped-down production was also commended for allowing her voice and storytelling to shine.

While Mother is a personal solo project, it is clear that Cleo Sol’s work with Sault influences its sound, especially in terms of the introspective lyricism and the use of minimalist, organic instrumentation. Producer Inflo, who has worked extensively with Sault, was also heavily involved in the production of Mother, contributing to its cohesive and intimate sound.

Overall, Mother is a deeply personal and emotionally rich album that solidifies Cleo Sol's place as a standout voice in contemporary soul and R&B

From the dark psychedelic shadows of Bergen, Himmellegeme return with their second album “Variola Vera”! Himmellegeme's music is influenced by atmospheric prog rock, which together combine to create an otherworldly and timeless sound. With their heavy-hitting riffs, chilling melodies and melancholic lyrics, Himmellegeme creates music that depicts past events in their own lives, as well as in the lives of others. The overall themes of the album are the impact we humans have on planet earth, and the destruction we lay in our wake wherever we go. Not only in regards to the planet itself, but also to the people inhabiting it. It’s not a concept album per se - the lyrics are fictional with roots in reality, but based on newer and older events seen from different viewpoints. Their debut album “Myth of Earth” received rave reviews around the globe, and Prog Magazine said that “Aleksander Vormestrand has a high, clear voice full of unfulfilled yearning, akin to Thom Yorke when Radiohead still cared about melodies, matched by the soaring lead guitar of Hein Alexander Olson.” Variola Vera was recorded at one of Bergen's top studios, Broen Studios, and was produced by Anders Bjelland (Electric Eye / Hypertext) who also worked as a sonic wizard on the album.

Neuromantic is Takahashi’s first solo release for Alfa and his third solo album overall. In addition to Japanese musicians Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Kenji Omura, the album also features Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), and Tony Mansfield whom he recorded with during a long stay in London. This record builds on the techno sound of YMO’s BGM (released the same year), infusing Takahashi’s unique romantic aesthetic and is considered one of his masterpieces. The sixth track, “Drip Dry Eyes' is a self-cover of a song that he wrote for Alfa artist artist Sandii.

Yukihiro Takahashi explains, “The early 80’s was one of the busiest periods of my music life...When I think back now, I think that my recording style and production process that I continue to this day may have been solidified then, during the early 80’s.”

The new reissue of Neuromatic is part of Alfa's ongoing reissue series featuring many of Yukihiro's early 80s solo albums from his first hit record Murdered by Music (1980) to his last record from his Alfa era Poisson D’Avril (1985 soundtrack to the film of the same name).

"Memento Mori" represents Depeche Mode's 15th studio album overall, while Gahan and Gore present the first long player with a two-piece lineup following the tragic death of band co-founder Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher in 2022. Produced by James Ford, with assistance from Marta Salogni, "Memento Mori" matured during the early stages of the worldwide Covid pandemic; a period that also had a thematic influence on the songs. The 12 album tracks bridge a variety of moods and musical textures - starting with the ominous opener and ending with the denouement at the end, the emotional spectrum spans from paranoia and obsession to psychic liberation and joy, as well as countless emotional interjections.

The single "Ghosts Again" precedes the album release of "Memento Mori" with an impressive harbinger. The song already represents nothing less than a flawless Depeche Mode classic: Dave Gahan's imagery-rich lyrics like "wasted feelings, broken meanings... a place to hide the tears we cry" combine over an uplifting, optimistic groove with a hypnotic guitar figure from Martin Gore.

"For me, `Ghosts Again` captures the perfect balance between melancholy and joy," Gahan says. "It`s not too often that we record a song that I can not only listen to over and over again - I`m also super excited to share it with the world," adds Gore.

Nelson’s 1974 classic, celebrating its 50th Anniversary in March, just prior to RSD If Shotgun Willie played a bit like a concept album, Phases and Stages was a full-blown one, tracing the dissolution of a marriage and devoting one side to the wife's perspective, the second to the husband's….Phases and Stages is easily the equal of its remarkable predecessor, a wonderful set of music that resonates deeply, as deeply as the words. Make no mistake -- the deceptively relaxed arrangements, including the occasional strings, not only highlight Nelson's clever eclecticism, but they also heighten the emotional impact of the album. And this is a hell of an emotional record, where even each side's celebratory honky tonk numbers (the medley "Sister's Coming Home/Down at the Corner Beer Joint" and "Pick Up the Tempo," respectively) are muted by sadness. Then, there are the centerpieces: "Walkin'," where the woman decides it's time to move on; "Pretend I Never Happened," perhaps the coldest ending to a relationship ever written; "Bloody Mary Morning," a bleary-eyed morning-after tale that became a standard; "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way," a nearly unbearably melancholy account of a love gone wrong; and "Heaven and Hell," a waltz summary of the relationship. Any two of these would have formed a strong core for an album, but placed together in a narrative context, their impact is even more considerable. As a result, this is not just one of Willie Nelson's best records, but one of the great concept albums overall.

If you want this edition, don't wait, as we will not get many copies.

Waxwork Records is proud to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt! The score is featured in the juggernaut film Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

On composing the score, Ronson says, “Greta’s Barbie overflows with emotion in a way that inspired us to no end, not just with harmony and melody but also textures, sonics and rhythms. Sometimes Greta wanted us to elicit tears, sometimes she wanted it to feel like a disco. Sometimes she loved the warmth of vintage analogue synthesizers, sometimes she wanted the richness of the orchestra. Often, she wanted both.

“The late nights and crazy hours we put into Barbie were all worth it to us, because we were so in love with this film. And we truly hope listening to our score from beginning to end will give others the same emotional, whimsical experience they had watching this magical film.”

The highly anticipated film score vividly brings Gerwig’s vision to life and adds the perfect layer to the film that immerses fans into the Barbie Universe.

Waxwork Records is thrilled to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on several beautiful colored vinyl variants to choose from that all correspond to fun elements in the film, housed in heavyweight LP jackets with overall high gloss coating, with a 12"x12" insert.

Waxwork Records is proud to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt! The score is featured in the juggernaut film Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

On composing the score, Ronson says, “Greta’s Barbie overflows with emotion in a way that inspired us to no end, not just with harmony and melody but also textures, sonics and rhythms. Sometimes Greta wanted us to elicit tears, sometimes she wanted it to feel like a disco. Sometimes she loved the warmth of vintage analogue synthesizers, sometimes she wanted the richness of the orchestra. Often, she wanted both.

“The late nights and crazy hours we put into Barbie were all worth it to us, because we were so in love with this film. And we truly hope listening to our score from beginning to end will give others the same emotional, whimsical experience they had watching this magical film.”

The highly anticipated film score vividly brings Gerwig’s vision to life and adds the perfect layer to the film that immerses fans into the Barbie Universe.

Waxwork Records is thrilled to present Barbie Score From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on several beautiful colored vinyl variants to choose from that all correspond to fun elements in the film, housed in heavyweight LP jackets with overall high gloss coating, with a 12"x12" insert.

One of Magic De Spell's distinctive features as a band, since their 1980's start, was the constant quest for musical transformation. Soon after the release of their second LP "Kiss The Mirror" in 1984, the band turned into a trio (George Scarlatos, Elias Aslanoglou and Theodore Vlachakis). They rejected their unique post-punk/dark/new wave sound for the sake of a more synth-oriented one. In February 1985 they made their first live appearance with this line-up at "Kyttaro" club. Two female vocalists were added in the process (Johnnee and Bessie). They moved on with their new project head on and although that transformation was something very natural from the band's perspective, their friends and fans viewed it with skepticism. They requested from their label to cancel their contract and they signed with "Enigma Records" which released the album "Cpt Blind" in December 1985. Their efforts were focused not only in creating a minimalist electronic sound, but in presenting a range of interesting sound samples and mixes, even with the addition of physical instruments. Many of the final recordings were made with the helping hand of several fellow musicians. Furthermore, the contribution of their new label "Enigma Records" in the overall remarkable production can't be overlooked. With this line up, they presented their new LP in Athens, Thessaloniki and many other cities, mainly in southern Greece. They continued performing live, especially in Athens, while re-interpreting many of their older songs to match with their new musical style. In the late 80's (around 1988-89) all members embarked on individual projects (Alice In A Nightmare - Pedia Tou Iliou e.t.c.). The English speaking/lyrics version of Magic De Spell appeared live for one last time in 1991 during the promotion of the "Best Of" LP entitled "A Story - The Best And The Rest" which included many tracks from the "Cpt Blind" LP and actually marked the end of their New Wave/Post Punk era.

Alone in the world, we find ourselves. Inside ourselves, we find something to share with the world.

The Essential John Moods, a solo album in all senses of the word, is what Jonathan Jarzyna of Fenster found in himself during a summer spent hiking along the Iberian coast, and he now wants to share it with you. A mini-guitar on his back and a copy of GarageBand on his phone allowed Jarzyna to record songs each evening as he arrived in a new town after a long day traveling by foot. (He did, admittedly, add live drum tracks and some additional instrumentation back in Berlin.) The album preserves this peripatetic feeling, each song relating to the next as one city or village relates to its neighbor, its unique situation contrasting with the shared architectural vernacular. Blipping instrumental interludes (“Trainride,” “Pontevedra,” “Coastal Way”) even capture the disordered, delirious feeling of transit hubs and the sleep-bleared mystery of waking on an unfamiliar road.

“I just came alive completely” are the first words Jarzyna murmurs on “New Spring,” invoking the spirit of the album. He speaks not of the liveliness of manic activity, but the heightened, tender sensitivity of presence. It’s a fullness of living captured by the transition from the lush, jangling groove of “The Weight” to the spacious contemplation of “Pawns.” The dreamy echo of the 60s’ and 70s’ soft rock and folk troubadours suffuses the album, and the organ-soaked “Where In The World” even has a psychedelic tinge. But the overall effect is quite contemporary, from the back-of-the-nightbus lounge funk of “Take It Home” (featuring an amazing turn from arch-crooner Sean Nicholas Savage) to the mournful cupboard jazz of “Almost Gone.” “Dark Wall” sounds like a honkytonk ramble alongside a robot tentatively learning to play lap steel. “Leap of Love,” an early album highlight, passes over the listener in shimmering waves, a love song which remains a mystery even to its creator.

In the meditation tape coda “Relax Your Foot,” Jarzyna selects the perfect sample to encapsulate The Essential John Moods’ hopeful receptivity: the late Professor Carl Sagan reminding us that “despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.”

Switching seaside ambience for a sound shaped by inner-city living, Atelier’s second full-length studio album, Lights
Towards The Exit, channels the mood of a sleepless cityscape.
Lights Towards The Exit is Atelier’s second full-length studio album. After the release of Varsam Court at the end of
2019 on Lossless, run by mentors and friends Mathias Schober and Thomas Herb, the duo experimented with different
ideas in the studio, and at the start of 2020 a common thread began to appear between a few of the tracks which laid
the foundation for the sound of their second album.
Both Alexander and Jas moved to Berlin in the period before the release of Varsam Court from their hometown of Cape
Town, South Africa, where their first album was written and recorded. Moving provided some challenges, particularly
with what was the most essential equipment to bring from their previous studio set-up, but those limitations proved to
be useful in incorporating new instruments and techniques to the recording process.
Lights Towards The Exit was written and recorded in different spaces in Berlin – from bedrooms in apartment blocks to
three different studios across the city. The different locations all had a specific ambience – such as 4th- and 5th-floor
bedrooms with busy street views; a studio with no windows in a typical old Berlin backyard complex forever under
threat of being sold and gentrified; and a bigger studio with windows on the opposite side of the corridor overlooking the
backyard of a mechanic workshop. The final details and edits were completed in Atelier’s current studio, in a
contrasting area surrounded by office blocks, plazas, 9-5ers and, most importantly, their friends and colleagues.
Swapping the mountains, sea and seclusion for tall buildings, backyards and a new community, Lights Towards The
Exit channels the sensation of being surrounded by people, but still feeling like you're on your own. The album was
written through three years of cold winters, sweaty summers and a period where the world stood still during the
pandemic. Frustrated with the cease of momentum, but still optimistic, Atelier disappeared from public view,
abandoning social media to focus on recording, songwriting and experimentation.
It was a difficult time: the duo longed to perform and continue producing music, and the imposed limitations sometimes
felt like an impossible obstacle. Ultimately, though, this would provide unexpected inspiration and influence the sound
and direction of the new album.
The sound of Lights Towards The Exit is not a departure from their first album, but a progression: influenced by the new
surroundings in the duo’s adoptive city, Atelier’s second album is an ode to first-time experiences, new languages,
challenges, club culture and the shift from youth to maturity, as well as a balm to those stuck somewhere in between.
The overall sound is a lift not in tempo, but in energy, matching the openness needed to make a new start in a new
place.

All tracks written, produced, arranged and performed by Atelier - Jás Miszewski & Alexander Inggs
Mastered by Mathias Schober, Artwork by David Kochs , Cover Photography by Alexander Inggs
A&R: Mathias Schober & Thomas Herb

Limited to 1000 copies on curacao colored vinyl. Exclusive to HHV customers.

Vacation. Not only in Italy.

A backpack trip through Australia, a campfire in the allotment.

In the car with friends through the Lunenburg Heath or just a short holiday in your head, during the rainy lunch break or with a glass of spritzer on the balcony. And that includes music, music, music! Grooves that roll into the distance like an Intercity, Rhodes chords soft as the sand on the beach and synthesizers that sparkle like the reflections on the ocean. Music as colorful as a Hawaiian shirt and as warming as the morning sun. Welcome to Erobique's second album: "Erobique No.2"

Here, even the song titles are in holiday mood:

"Ahoj!" greets the young "Springinsfeld". The "Mantas" glide elegantly around the "Acquamarina". "Salut les Copines!" we call to the neighboring boat. "Come along to the 'Ravedave!'" it echoes back happily. "Riding Low" is the motto, and the "Arpeggiator" condenses the "Synaesthesia" of the foggy senses in a wonderful way. The "Italotape" in the cassette deck plays the "Hit Song of Both of Us".

That's all so nice "Verkackt", that sounds like "Future Music"!

Carsten Meyer released his debut album "Erosound" in 1998 under the name "Erobique". Exactly 25 years later, the now 50-year-old releases his second Erobique album on his own label A-sexy.

Thirteen varied tracks and songs between holiday disco and rhythm box rave, recorded and produced with many of his friends and companions.

25 years, that's pretty much how long it took disco to go from the legendary loft parties of pioneer David Mancuso to the awe-inspiring mass spectacles of Daft Punk performances.

Or from Meyer's birth to his first long-playing record. So why only now a second album as “Erobique”?

Meyer has been improvising performances in front of a dancing audience for years. Even his hits "Easy Mobeasy" and "Urlaub in Italien" aren't actually pop songs, but rather arose from spontaneous inspiration, in an adrenaline rush, in the middle of the party, right in the moment! Sang along and faded away again. Recorded live and released as is. Just don't repeat! Every Erobique concert is an attempt to turn the unforeseen, the unexpected and accidents into a unique moment of being there. "Mistakes are king" said the witty Knarf Rellöm once - and Carsten Meyer is the king of mistakes!

How are you supposed to conjure up such moments in the studio, without a party, without the energy that spills back onto the stage at a children's birthday party for adults?

Meyer remembered another Erobique hit and changed his title accordingly:

He collaborated with an overdose of joy!

Drummer Lucas Kochbeck (The KBCs, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band) who now also supports Carsten at his live gigs as well as neighbor and buddy Christoph M. Kaiser (former bassist with the Jeremy Days, now film music and pop strategist) layed down the Groove foundation with glowing tiles, like at the Trinity, Hamburg's legendary 80s disco.

Sophia Kennedy came over from the neighboring studio to sing and Lieven Brunckhorst dragged the entire wind section of Jan Delay's big band Disco No1 in front of the microphone.

Meyer recorded harps, xylophones and violins in his music room at the Hamburger Fischmarkt or with Tobias Levin in his Electric Avenue studio with a view of the Fleet.

Carsten went to Berlin where he met his hero Siriusmo to put some ideas through the electronic grinder. Nicola Rost of Laing stopped by and left incredibly dense choirs and wonderful songs.

Finally, all tracks were brought to Swabian Ludwigsburg where the Freundskreis DJ and disco expert Martin Welzer aka DJ Friction screwed the whole madness into an incredibly warm and dancefloor-friendly overall sound.

Back to the drawing board, like all A-sexy releases, the cover art is painted and designed by Meyer himself, after all his original career aspiration was to be a school book illustrator.

In the course of one summer, a musical chocolate box was created that will not only enrich the holiday playlist of his fans and listeners, but also made his archive of ideas and sketches, which is several quantum bytes deep, a little bit thinner. Outside of his disco fairs up and down the country, Meyer has not remained idle in the last quarter of a century:

Between 1998 and 2006 he developed hypermodern electronic soul with DJ Koze and Cosmic DJ as an international pony. Together with Jacques Palminger and Chris Dietermann, he supervised amateur songwriters in the project "Songs for Joy" at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater Berlin when they made pop music, which is how the secret hit "Wann Strahlst Du?" was created in 2007 with the great text by Barbara Stützel. In general, theatre: For the theater director Herbert Fritsch he arranged the hits by Gino Paoli and Hugo Wolff for crazy evenings at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (2016) and at the Residenztheater Munich (2015), for Stefan Pucher he shot the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen through the home organ wolf ( 2010). For the colleagues from Studio Braun, he brought the "Dorfpunks" to life at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus, and immediately afterwards he developed the authentic Neue-Welle sound for their mockumentary "Fraktus", which was released in cinemas in 2012.

So there we are with film and television music. Here, too, Meyer had a lot to do in recent years. The soundtrack for the popular TV series "Der Tatortreinigung" with Bjarne Mädel in the title role was the best. Incidentally, the "jack of all trades" (quote Peter Bursch) also released a few albums on his own label A-sexy: Rumpel-Funk as "Babyman", the finest chanson pop with Palminger and Yvon Janssen for "Yvon im Kreis der Liebe" and warm, modern Hammond jazz with the "Hamburg Spinners".

And now finally his anniversary album, the silver wedding with himself.
25 years Carsten and Erobique, together forever and happier than ever!

To the next… stop no. We don't want to wait that long!

After taking time out from working together to focus on separate musical projects, maverick composer Alan Roberts (Jim Noir) and crowd-rousing vocalist Leonore Wheatley (International Teachers of Pop / The Soundcarriers) have re-joined forces to introduce Co-Pilot. Each the other’s wing person, they’re plotting an escape through Manchester’s claustrophobic grey skies with the pencil case colour of a hand-sewn multi-coloured primary school patchwork quilt. “We are both the creators in charge of navigating Co-Pilot’s overall sound which changes from track to track,” Leonore hints at what to expect. “There are about 6 different genres on one album, it's a pick n mix record!”

Happy in the haze of many boozy hours the album was recorded over just a few months whilst holed up and hanging out in Al’s city centre Dookstereo studio. The former Mill allowed the pair to relax, laugh and create without constraint. Armed with their original demos and vocal recordings from Al’s flat, they’d nip by the offie to pick up some Dutch courage before setting to work: building arrangements from a drum beat and basic chord pattern, the pair were so in tune they rarely spoke, allowing only the music to lead the way. “We’d communicate through nods of agreement or grimaces of dismay,” Leonore recalls. “Using the instruments with Al in production mode, we let the sound dictate the process whilst being drunk enough to follow it.”

The sound of life coming full circle after honing their separate crafts, Leonore had previously played keys and vocals in Jim Noir’s live band before moving on to front International Teachers of Pop for two critically lauded albums of joyous dancefloor filling bangers - their self-titled debut (2019) and Pop Gossip (2020). During that time Al would further expand Jim Noir’s universe with AM Jazz, which was celebrated as the no.1 album in Piccadilly Records’ ‘End of Year Review’ (2020), followed by the Deep View Blue E.P. (2021) cementing his status as one of Manchester’s finest songwriters.

As Leonore added her vocal magic to Al’s early demos of what would eventually become Co-Pilot’s ‘Spring Beach’ and a crooked original version of closing track ‘Corner House’, the vibe was prophetic “like the ending of Grease as Danny and Sandy take flight through the clouds”, letting their imaginations fly. The songs were the catalyst to spark a new phase of the pair working together, picking up where they left off. “From messing about with sounds during rehearsals in the very beginning it was always clear we liked the combination of sounds we made,” Leonore recalls.

Powered by a ‘try anything’ approach, Co-Pilot blends the musical DNA of what you’ve come to expect from each of the pair’s previous flight paths. “Whatever is switched on or nearby gets used. There's no 'correct' for us. If it sounds good, record it,” Al tells. United through typically turbulent wonky pop and lurking samples, whether culled from 70s TV themes or recreations of past and found sounds (see Al’s 60s tropicalia guitar on ‘Brick’, or the innocent ‘Swim to Sweden’ which opens with an ice cream van jingle Al recorded from his bedroom window) their process offers up a bucket load of Easter eggs. The album even features snippets from dearly departed pal Batfinks whilst ‘Motosaka’ is perhaps the most expensive 2-minutes on the album, featuring a Columbia Records Japan-cleared sample of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Thousand Knives’. Its synth squelches and Tom Tom Club funk also received the blessing of Haroumi Hosono, Godfather of Japanese Electronica, who agreed to being sampled in an original version of the song. “We just kept listening back and hitting gold,” Al recalls. “I was thinking ‘yeah, not sure what this is but I like it! We were buzzing with what we had made.”

But the sound wouldn’t come without self-imposed instrumental challenges. Thanks to an old mellotron sample on ‘Move To It,’ the moog riff and nautical accordion breaks on ‘Swim To Sweden’ and the 6/8 and 7/8 jaunt of ‘Brick’, time signatures were lovingly skewed to create Co-Pilot’s unique mood. “It was a bastard getting the drums right,” Leonore reveals, “but I like the wonkiness”. Levelling up through the lyrics, the words of smoky and evocative ‘She Walks In Beauty’ are based on a Lord Byron poem, with the sentiment of remembering Leonore’s late grandparents. “I wanted to see how much I could get away with just singing on one note, and how I could harmonically change everything else around it vocally,” she says. Elsewhere ‘Can You See’ was written from the perspective of a concerned sister to a brother which tells of keeping someone safe. “The lyrics are quite metaphorical about day-to-day happenings, people loved and lost. Others are rhythmic nonsense! It’s up to the listener to figure out what’s true.”

It’s clear from Al’s productive production techniques and Leonore’s knack for vocals and lyricism, Co-Pilot’s course is engineered by two aeronautically adept sonic storytellers. “We share a pretty similar sense of humour,” Al tells, “It is funny listening to this quite serious album but knowing we were giggling as we recorded it all. It’s been great to have another brain to bounce off.” Their destination might be unknown, but the clouds are about to part for a sound that is light years ahead. “You'll like at least one song,” Leonore suggests, “and hopefully them all.”