New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Lost Horizons - the project of Cocteau Twins'
Simon Raymonde & Richie
Thomas of Dif Juz - released part one of its new album In Quiet Moments at the end of 2020 and is set to release part two, as well as the physical of the double album, on February 26th via Bella Union. Today, the duo shares one more track before the double-album is out next week. Featuring Penelope Isles' Lily Wolter, a.k.a. KookieLou, "Heart of a Hummingbird" is the final look at the incredible forthcoming record.
Of the track Lost Horizons say: "In 2018 we toured the UK with Penelope Isles opening up for us every night, and it was one of the most brilliant times I've had on tour. It reminded me of the Cocteau
Twins / Dif Juz tour of 1984. The friendships spawned and the love and respect that our bands showed to each other throughout was really special. There were 7 of us in the Lost Horizons live band and every one of us watched Penelope Isles each night, usually in awe. They did the same with us (probably without the in awe part) and to have such a brilliant support pushes you each night, in the best possible way. I knew from watching Jack (who sings on the first track on the lp 'Halcyon') and Lily so closely for so long, that I couldn't think of two better people to be on this Lost Horizons lp. They were the first people I asked. Lily is a brilliant songwriter and I knew she would be a perfect collaborator for us! She seemed to have her ideas done so quickly after I sent her the music, and Jack recorded her soon after in our studio in Brighton, and I clearly remember opening the email when they sent the track to me, I literally blasted it in my studio so loud about 25 times and was in tears hearing what she'd done. I am very excited by what I am hearing of her KookieLou solo project. After I had written and recorded the basic tune with all the keys, basses and Richie had added the live drums, Paul Gregory (Lanterns On The Lake) added the glorious spacey guitars that take the track to its crescendo."
KookieLou adds: It was a real honour to be asked to collaborate with these two legends. I have a lot of love for both
Simon and Richie. I wrote these words in a pretty testing time. Loving someone is a real trip isn't it? The meanings of the lyrics twist and turn between uncertainty and really just not wanting to let go of someone. When those beautiful new chords come in just after halfway through the song, I felt a release. I think that's where the words travel from a place of confusion and heartache, to a place of pure honesty, acceptance and love. I want to thank
Simon and Richie for making that happen at that point, encouraging me to see the glass half full at a time where it felt pretty empty." KookieLou (aka Lily Wolter).
In 2017,
Simon Raymonde and Richie
Thomas had both abstained from making music for 20 years until they united as Lost Horizons and released a stunning debut album, Ojalá - the Spanish word for "hopefully" or "God willing."
"These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world."
Thomas said at the time. "And this album has given me a lot of hope. To reconnect with music.... And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!"
Thomas' hopes had a mixed response. On the plus side, the new Lost Horizons album In Quiet Moments is an even stronger successor to Ojalá with another distinguished cast of guest singers and a handful of supporting instrumentalists embellishing the core duo's gorgeously free-flowing and loose-limbed blueprint that one writer astutely labelled, "melancholy-delia."
On the minus side, any hope for a better world, as Earth continues to freefall toward political and social meltdown. Then, to make matters worse, as Raymonde and
Thomas buckled down to create the improvised bedrock that Lost Horizons is built on, the former's mother died. At least Raymonde had a way to channel his grief. "The way improvisation works," he says, "it's just what's going on with your body at the time, to let it out."
Raymonde (bass, guitar, keyboards, production) and
Thomas (drums, occasional keys and guitar) forged ahead, creating 16 instrumental tracks to send to prospective guests. When he did, Raymonde suggested a guiding theme for their lyrics: "Death and rebirth. Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn't far behind. But I also said, 'The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun."
And then Covid-19 hit. Half of In Quiet Moments' lyrics were written after lockdown, but Raymonde saw a silver lining: people were slowing down and taking stock of their lives. Hearing a lyric written by veteran singer Ural Thomas, known as "Portland's Pillar of Soul", who fronts the title track, Raymonde singled out the phrase "in quiet moments" and made it the album title. "It just made sense," he says. "This moment of contemplation in life is really beautiful. The title also went with the album cover, a photograph by Jacques-Henri Lartigue from the 1940s of a woman and dog on a beach, captured as if in flight."
Lost Horizons' melancholy-delia also feels buoyed aloft by airy currents, informed in part by Raymonde and Thomas' former respective bands: the legendary Cocteau
Twins and Dif Juz. Their former bands were labelmates on 4AD in the mid-80s, which is how they first met.
In Quiet Moments has its pockets of loss but - aligned to the concept of 'hope' - the album is more about rebirth than death. "I think it's more joyous than Ojalá," says Thomas. "But both albums have a great energy about them."
Those energy levels undulate across a dazzling array of moods and voices; as broad as the name Lost Horizons sounds. Take the first three tracks: the melting rapture of "
Halcyon" featuring Jack Wolter of Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, the simmering urban-soulful "I Woke Up With An Open Heart" featuring Nubiya
Brandon of The Hempolics and the quintessentially melancholy-delic "Grey Tower" featuring a returning Tim Smith.
Also returning from Ojalá are Gemma Dunleavy,
Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Cameron Neal (Horse Thief) and Marissa Nadler. The last three are all Bella Union family members; likewise, John Grant (the lush, choral "
Cordelia", etched by
David Rothon's pedal steel and Fiona Brice's elegant strings) and Ren Harvieu (a sultry "Unravelling In Slow Motion"), and new signing
Laura Groves (the jazz-tinged "Blue Soul"), all making their Lost Horizons debuts.
Dana Margolin of the hugely acclaimed Porridge
Radio lends the rampant "One For Regret'' her trademark bristling energy; at the other end of the spectrum, 'Flutter' features Rosie Blair (of former Bella Union signing Ballet School) adding exquisite blue notes to a stark palate of Thomas' piano and Fiona Brice's strings. Deploying his A&R acumen, Raymonde called on new Swedish discovery Kavi Kwai for the Cocteaus-evoking "Every Beat That Passed" ("You can't make music for as long as I have and drop all your influences and habits overnight," says Raymonde). Also present are Lily Wolter (of Penelope Isles) under her solo pseudonym KookieLou, and C Duncan. A richer and more varied cast list would be very hard to find.
"I think In Quiet Moments is more in the direction of where we're going,"
Thomas concludes. "People have retreated into their lives and, in those quiet moments, reflected on the world, how we fit in and who we trust. Maybe the next album will be about rebellion! But the road is long and winding. We just need to express ourselves in how we feel at the time."
