Misha Chylkova – Dancing The Same Dance / Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs – The Whole Band Just Turned Mellow

Gare Du Nord

Such is the sheer abundance of output from the music world in recent times — which feels particularly acute this year — it can be quite hard not to miss key things, even from reliable sources. Yet, thankfully, two distinctly dissimilar albums from the trusty homestead of Gard Du Nord Records have been extracted from the review pile just in time for Freq coverage in 2024. Both remind us that the label’s quietly radical diversity remains a compelling force running in the background of the record-releasing business.

First up then, is Dancing The Same Dance, the debut full-length from Czech-born Londoner and current Milan-resident Misha Chylkova. Why this smoulderingly stunning affair isn’t being talked about more widely can perhaps partly be attributed to difficulties in finding it an easy pigeon-hole. Nevertheless, its darkly alluring radiance demands some proper examination.

Featuring the multi-instrumentalist Chylkova joined by guest accomplices — including Ian Button (Papernut Cambridge, Swansea Sound et al), Darren Hayman (Hefner) and producer Jonathan Clayton — this deeply romantic ten-track suite is both widescreen and intimate. Featuring her sumptuous and yearning tones front and centre, these are torch songs layered with lushness and gravitas.

Hence, we’re sonically swept through blends of This Mortal Coil and Vangelis (“Love. Or.”); envisaged shades of Spooky-era Lush as remixed by Goldfrapp (“The Loop”); soaring combinations of The Cure and Marianne Faithfull (“Doing It All Wrong” and the utterly sublime “Sparrows”); an imagined time-travel-enabled Joy Division and Cocteau Twins collaboration (“Dead Plants”); and The Durutti Column-meets-Tindersticks hybridising (“I Will”). While these cross-references do indeed go some way into unpicking the encryptions of Dancing The Same Dance, there is still an inscrutable overarching cinematic grandeur that gives it such a distinctive heart.

Undoubtedly, one of this year’s most undervalued jewels, this is a majestic must-buy, from an artist deserving of much broader attention.

In complete contrast is The Whole Band Just Turned Mellow from Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs. As the fourth long-player under the leadership of the erstwhile State River Widening and Phelan Sheppard experimentalist-turned-chameleonic-pop-craftsman, this is a more upbeat shift on from 2022’s more melancholic ballad-led Bubblegum Boogie, making it a most welcome arrival in the murk of winter.

Defiantly eclectic and adroitly arranged, this is a true ensemble partnership endeavour with the members of the Peace Signs — namely Jenny Brand, Jack Hayter, Giles Barrett, Ian Button and David Hackbridge Johnson — that really swings in more ways than one around Phelan’s charmingly earwormy, playful, witty, clever and compassionate core songwriting.

Consequently, from the well-laden effervescent side of the ledger, Phelan and his nimble accomplices take us through the languid squelchy lounge-reggae of “Filing System”; the flute and harmonies-led delights of “The Dubarry Perfumery” and “Part Of The Family”; the cocktail jazz-meets-cosmopolitan country of the title track; the Promenade-epoch Divine Comedy chamber-pop pleasures of “Imaginary Friend”; and the swooning Belle & Sebastian-meets-The Colourfield luxuriance of “How Many Mornings?”.

On the more wistful side, space is given over to the twinkling pretty ruminations of “Suck My Thumb”; the nostalgic pedal steel-smeared “I Once Gave David Essex Kisses”; a sweet bossa nova homage to the late leader of The Sound, Adrian Borland, that is “Adrian, Come Back”; and a sauntering nod to T. Rex’s less amplified avenues through the closing “Soft Rock”.

Those already accustomed to Keiron Phelan’s latter-day Renaissance man activities will be more than satisfied here. For newcomers, this should also act as a satisfyingly strong delayed introduction.

-Adrian-