Arriving a bit late to the catalogue of an under the radar and prolific operation, well-pitched to ensnare completionist collectors, can be a simultaneously intimidating and wallet-emptying experience.
Pity, for example, those belatedly converted to the canons of Bardo Pond, Polypores and Six Organs Of Admittance, trying to play catch-up through the Discogs trenches right now. This is something that San Franciscan Glenn Donaldson can almost certainly empathise with as the sole mainstay of The Reds, Pinks And Purples (a revolving door enterprise that has dispensed an immense body of work across Tough Love, Slumberland and Bandcamp since 2019) and as a physical media connoisseur himself (who lives enviably within walking distance from a branch of California’s Amoeba Records record store chain, according to a recent podcast interview).
Such complicated feelings certainly surface when lifting the lid on The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed, the first release for Fire Records from Donaldson’s addiction-primed enterprise, which rounds-up a choice compendium of previously digital-only non-album cuts, inside signature ‘same-but-different’ packaging. What also becomes apparent on becoming tardily acquainted here is that Donaldson is to self-deprecating DIY dream-pop what former Fire alumnus James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand, James And The Giants, et al) is to wily amorphous Americana, with both being occasional music writers on the side to boot. The comparison even extends to the wonderfully wry opener “The World Doesn’t Need Another Band”, which shares a lyrical kinship with Toth’s droll “Too Many Bands”.Such digressions and light-bulb connections aside though, it is abundantly evident from this public service-minded selection that The Reds, Pinks And Purples vision has its own distinctive characteristics, which are worth enduring the first world problems of late discovery. Finding sweet spots between biting and comforting wordplay, as well as between gorgeous electro-acoustic jangles and home-layered production, these fourteen gathered pieces are entirely consistent with — and essential additions to — the regular long-player catalogue.
Consequently, on top of the aforementioned introductory track’s majesty, we’re warmly spun through utterly soaring misanthropy (“I Only Ever Wanted To See You Fail”); dour Smiths-tinged harmonica-flecked balm (“Slow Torture Of An Hourly Wage”); Real Estate-alike aching (“Trouble Won’t Last”); shoegaze-fuzzed salutes to latter-day Lou Barlow (“You’re Never Safe From Yourself” and “My Toxic Friend”); wistfully wrought nods to Sarah Records-era Blueboy (“No One Absolves Us In The End”); and paired-back lo-fi rumination (“There Must Be A Pill For This”).Generously geared towards rewarding extant devotees and neophytes alike, The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed is a sublime snapshot from the esoteric self-built world of The Reds, Pinks And Purples.
-Adrian-
