Three Quarter Skies – Fade In

Sonic Cathedral

Currently conducting year-long commemorations to recognise two full decades of its stoic existence, the indomitable Sonic Cathedral label is keeping us well-stocked with new releases from both returning shoegaze pioneers in new guises and their younger disciples. Enter then, the debut full-length from Simon Scott’s side-project, Three Quarter Skies, to represent the former contingent.

Fade In finds the Slowdive drummer – who has also been a prolific but low-key solo artist before now — deep in the darkest and most dissonant waters of the wider musical lineage associated with his day-job band. Mixed, tellingly, by David Pearce of Flying Saucer Attack, with a fleeting guest vocal spot from Rachael Swinton of Cloth, this is an album that takes its creator and the listener into a wraparound immersion experience.

Combining somewhat inscrutable layers of electronics, percussion, guitars and semi-inaudible vocals, Fade In is an unrepentantly introspective affair, infused with reflections upon the recent passing of Scott’s mother, that doesn’t offer up easily accessible inroads. Consequently, it requires a certain amount of patience and a particular frame of mind, which won’t be available to all who encounter it. Yet, for those who can attune themselves to its sensibilities, there are rewards to be revealed over repeat airings.

Hence, highlights come with the opening “Slight Betrayal” determinedly setting the scene with commanding waves of drones and distortion; the yearning “Crows” imagining a Darklands-era Jesus and Mary Chain outtake produced by Robin Guthrie; and the Swinton-bolstered “Holy Water” blending the auditory idioms of early-Spiritualized and Bowery Electric. Arguably though, the best moment is saved until last – only on the CD version that is — in the form of the seven-and-half-minute “On Fire”, that embeds a thick motorik pulse into a multi-tiered wall of sound, to envisage Michael Rother mind-melding with Martin Rev and Pete ‘Sonic Boom’ Kember.

Whilst resolutely not for everyone, Fade In is still a compelling collection for those most able to connect with its emotive sonic edge-pushing.

-Adrian-