Lojinx - British Independent Record Label

effective, affectionate and beautifully craftedMojo

epic pop… string-led symphonic melodies and multi-tracked harmonies of ELOUncut

Imagine Jeff Lynne with his ELO and Tom Petty hats on and you’ll get the gistDaily Express

Proof that a good melody never goes out of styleClassic Pop Magazine

Taken from Phil Thornalley’s glorious new solo album “Now That I Have Your Attention” is the new video for “Solid Gold Sunshine”. The raucous 70s glam stomp is brought to summer-soaked visual life by Neil MacKenzie Matthews’ (Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys) bonkers playschool-on-acid video.

“Solid Gold Sunshine” is out now and includes non-album b-side exclusive track “America”. The acclaimed Phil Thornalley solo album “Now That I Have Your Attention” is also out now.

Apple | Spotify | Deezer

Join Phil on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/philthornalley/
https://www.facebook.com/PhilThornalleyMusic/

A quick scan of the many records Phil Thornalley has worked on, and you’ll quickly spot some of the biggest names in popular music, including Bryan Adams, Thompson Twins, The Cure, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Duran Duran, and even Paul McCartney. Phil co-wrote and produced Natalie Imbruglia’s 1997 worldwide smash “Torn,” and has written hits with Pixie Lott (“Mama Do”) and BBMak (“Back Here”). A kind of rock’n’roll Zelig, his name is probably on countless records in your collection, although you probably didn’t even know it was him. That bass line on The Cure’s “Love Cats”? That’s Phil. The haunting and ethereal production on Prefab Sprout’s “When Love Breaks Down”? That’s Phil too.

Now, on his latest offering, Now That I Have Your Attention, Phil Thornalley steps out of The Swamp (his North London studio) to unveil 11 catchy and brand-new original songs (plus three bonus tracks on the CD!) that find him exploring the production stylings pioneered by the Electric Light Orchestra’s Brummie boffin, Jeff Lynne.

Thornalley celebrates the fine musicality and pure joy of Lynne’s widescreen symphonic string sections, the bare-faced brutality of his straight-ahead rhythm bed tracks, and plenty of multi-tracked and stacked harmony vocals. On tracks like “Stand By Love,” and “High On Your Supply,” Thornalley makes more than a passing nod towards Lynne’s carefully layered sonic tableau, from the multiple acoustic guitars to the highly specific electric guitar lines.

Clearly, it’s a sound that Thornalley can’t get out of his head.

“Maybe we should have called it the Traveling Phil-burys,” Thornalley jokes, “but I enjoyed the earlier ELO records, and the way they married a crummy beat combo with the grandeur of a full orchestra – it was over-the-top but infectiously musical, creating a foundation of the oxymoronic ‘controlled’ rock and roll drums and a super simple bass guitar.”

Why, you may well ask, would a lauded and Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer (and the focus of a recent in-depth career retrospective story in the American trade magazine, Tape Op) decide to record an album with both feet planted haphazardly in the squelch of the seventies sounds of ELO and glam rock?

Because it’s fun.

“When I listen to pop radio these days,” says Phil Thornalley, “no one seems to be having any fun. In my teenage years, every other record you heard was ridiculous. I think that sense of fun is missing from today’s often turgid, doleful would-be soul singers moaning about their millionaire ennui.”

It’s worth noting that this is a true solo album, and while Thornalley had some vital assistance from Jimmy Hogarth (on “Hell Bent On Compromise” and “High On Your Supply”), the string arrangements of Sally Herbert, Thornalley was solely responsible for the lion’s share of what he calls the “strumming, banging, plucking, crashing, bashing, and warbling,” on the record, writing all the songs, producing, and engineering the whole thing.

“I’ve been gifted a certain talent for rudimentary playing of the pop instruments such as bass, drums, guitar and piano. I understand musical arrangements from making records for other people through the decades, so I can hear what I want and gravitate towards achieving it. I’ve even tried some cello and some Dylan-like harmonica on ‘High On Your Supply.’” And while I like to think I have an ear for scoring an approximate string arrangement, I gladly handed over my ideas to Sally who plays viola and violin, and Ian Burdge who plays cello. Sal finesses the score, adds slurs and unexpected effects, and then they track that up at their home studio.”

Thornalley played a bar room “tack” piano over a doubled string quartet, arranged by Herbert, and little else to achieve a McCartney-esque melancholy on what is arguably the album’s most poignant song, “Bluer Than A Bluebird” over which a simple lyric wallows in the sadness of a misguided, one-sided love affair. “The strings,” laughs Thornalley, “especially the cellos, really pile on the agony.”

The more delicate flowers amongst you might be taken aback by the overt drug-analogies in songs like “Heaven In A Hash Pipe,” and “High On Your Supply,” but again, Thornalley says it’s all in good, tongue-in-cheek fun.

“The actual message of ‘Heaven…’ is that I don’t think you’ll find true happiness in losing your mind,” says Thornalley, “while ‘High On Your Supply’ is about dealing in love addiction.”

Thornalley considers the glam rock shuffle of “Solid Gold Sunshine,” with its unsubtle blend of a seventies groove and teenage feel-good melody, to be something of an outlier on the album.

“I tried to marry some elements from my old record collection,” says Thornalley. “The big bludgeon-like Moog synthesizer of ‘Jet’ by Wings, or the fuzzbox slide guitar frenzy of Joe Walsh. There’s a certain type of guitar riff that was ubiquitous in ‘70s pop but is now relatively unheard, yet it somehow fits on my album. While the galloping rock of “One Night In America” evokes thoughts of Neil Diamond singing ‘Xanadu.’”

As a gifted and chart proven producer in his own right, Thornalley calls upon decades of experience in the pop trenches, daubing sonic textures like paint on an aural canvas.

“I particularly enjoy finding different rooms in my house to record in,” says Thornalley. “I rarely use reverb, but I do like to place a microphone at the far end of a corridor to find the right tonal perspective for the drums or particularly the background vocals. I like the natural feel of call and response on a chorus and the natural colours available in my studio – just by pointing the mic at the ceiling not at the singer – can create pockets of unique, blended tone. I was trained in the studio by the man with the golden ears, Mickie Most, an uber-pop producer with a telepathic sense of what the record buying public wanted, and always with an ear for the melodic, funky or just plain catchy.”

Phil Thornalley deserves your attention.

Lead single ‘Fast Car’ is out now (Apple | Spotify | Deezer). Pre-order the album direct HERE or request it at your local record store.

“New Days” is the new single from The Lickerish Quartet‘s forthcoming “Threesome Vol.3” EP. Sung by Roger, it’s a tale of remembering the past with the longing psychedelic hope of the future. Eric’s lyric touches pastoral images of optimistic youth and shaping moments with the desire to keep moving forward, onward, and probably westward. Lush reverberant guitars, grooving bass and drums, with evolving vocal harmonies celebrate the hope we all share for new beginnings.

Apple | Spotify | Deezer

The Lickerish Quartet is former Jellyfish members Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Beck, Air, Cheap Trick, Imperial Drag), Tim Smith (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Finn rothers, Sheryl Crow, Umajets) and Eric Dover (Imperial Drag, Slash’s Snakepit, Alice Cooper, Sextus). Threesome Vol.3 completes the trilogy started with the release of Threesome Vol.1 in 2020, which was called a “masterpiece” by many critics and fans alike. Threesome Vol.2 was released in early 2021, and its first single, “Snollygoster Goon”, showed another side of the band and its versatility as writers, singers and musicians.

Vinyl | CD | Digital

Threesome Vol.3 is available for pre-order on CD, vinyl and high resolution digital download now. “Fortunately” and “New Days” are streaming now and available for instant grat download with pre-orders.

Find The Lickerish Quartet online:

facebook.com/thelickerishquartet
instagram.com/thelickerishquartet
thelickerishquartet.com

Former Jellyfish members Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Beck, Air, Cheap Trick, Imperial Drag), Tim Smith (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Finn Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Umajets) and Eric Dover (Imperial Drag, Slash’s Snakepit, Alice Cooper, Sextus)  – aka The Lickerish Quartet  – are proud to announce the release of their third child, Threesome Vol.3.

Vinyl | CD | Digital

Set for release on the 20th May 2022 on Lojinx in Europe, Threesome Vol.3 makes its way into the world via remote writing, recording, and mixing. The challenges we’ve all faced these last years forced Roger, Eric and Tim to finalise this EP through a series of emails, and phone calls. Home recording studios were redesigned and outfitted to complete the final four songs that were originally written together in 2017.

Apple | Spotify | Deezer

“Fortunately”, the EP’s first single, streaming now, is a bouncy tune sung by Tim Smith that drips with the signature harmonies and melodic structures The Lickerish Quartet have been known for, alongside a deeper, darker lyric that speaks to the universal ideas of heaven, hell, dogma and belief. As a co-write with their executive producer, Adam W. James, Eric’s slide guitar soloing, Roger’s keyboards and string arrangement, and Tim’s melodic bass lines combine for the listener to perhaps harken back to early FM radio hits of the ‘70s.

“New Days” will be released as the second single on 22nd April. Sung by Roger, it’s a tale of remembering the past with the longing psychedelic hope of the future. Eric’s lyric touches pastoral images of optimistic youth and shaping moments with the desire to keep moving forward, onward, and probably westward. Lush reverberant guitars, grooving bass and drums, with evolving vocal harmonies celebrate the hope we all share for new beginnings.

“You All Alone” starts with a jarring string ensemble as Eric’s lead vocal then weaves a story of obsession and pursuit. Jagged drums and bass, razor wire guitars and another excellent string arrangement by Roger leads our hero towards satisfaction, but at what cost? Who is the hunter, and who is the hunted?

“In The Meantime” rounds out the EP. Sung by Tim, the song ponders where do YOU go when you are feeling the crush of a world you no longer recognise? Topical, but also timeless, “In The Meantime” proffers to float rather than sink or swim. The theme of burying down deep is married to a pulsing, shouting wall of guitar sound and fury, but with a non-violent narrative. Those most precious things that bring us happiness – to love someone, do something, or have something to hope for – are sung about with fearlessness.

Threesome Vol.3 completes the trilogy started with the release of Threesome Vol.1 in 2020, which was called a “masterpiece” by many critics and fans alike. Threesome Vol.2 was released in early 2021, and its first single, “Snollygoster Goon”, showed another side of the band and its versatility as writers, singers and musicians.

Threesome Vol.3 is available for pre-order on CD, vinyl and high resolution digital download now. Lead track “Fortunately” is streaming now and available for instant grat download with pre-orders.

Find The Lickerish Quartet online:

facebook.com/thelickerishquartet
instagram.com/thelickerishquartet
thelickerishquartet.com

The soulful space-rock Astral Drive song machine returns hot-on-the heels of 2021’s self-titled “orange” album with a new melody-infused dream pop EP.

Apple | Spotify | Tidal | Deezer
 

‘I Can Dream’ kicks off the three song collection at rocket-fueled tempo with a familiar Astral meter-bending level of free spirited playing. Packed with soulful, sunshine powered harmony vocals, uplifting lyrical themes prevail:

“I may never fly to the stars,
or dance like Fred Astaire,
but as long as I have high hopes,
I can be just who I am.
And i can dream”

‘I Can Dream’ is accompanied by a unique video promo starring the coolest fridge ever seen in a rock star kitchen. If you look close enough you’ll see a few nods to the musical influences of the Astral Drive sound.

Track two is a breathless cover of Todd Rundgren’s ‘Something To Fall Back On’. Re-arranged from Rundgren’s pioneering 80s digital ‘a cappella’ treatment into an Astral melange of plaintive string quartet, Weezer style party-rock and a healthy disrespect for the original.

Last up is ‘Amnesia’, an out take from the ‘orange’ album sessions. Crashing drums, trademark harmony vocals and throbbing synths accompany lyrical contemplations:

“Could you be a whole new human?
Or suffer the same delusions?
If you hit erase,
On the life you can’t face,
Would the future you taste,
Be sweet and new?”

The track was co-written with Canadian musician and journalist Paul Myers.

Bathe in the sonic sunshine of Astral Drive and who knows where your dreams could take you?

Astral Drive’s ‘I Can Dream’ EP is out now on British indie label Lojinx.