The fifth of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.
This is one for which the thanks have to be given to Swiss Adam, as he was the one who mentioned it over at his place and got me intrigued. It’s an LP that came out on Heavenly Recordings back in May.
Eyes Of Others is the name used by Edinburgh-based musician, John Bryden. It’s to my eternal shame that I haven’t picked up on his work until this year, as he’s been doing his stuff across Scotland since at least 2017 when the Stimulus EP was released. There’s since been a number of other EPs and singles over the years, all leading up to the release of the eponymous debut album.
Adam mentioned it at that point in time, on the back of him seeing a live performance in the confines of the rather wonderful (and small) Castle Hotel, which is in the heart of the Northern Quarter in Manchester. It’s a place myself and Aldo always call into when we are visiting the city for whatever reason, but we’ve yet to go to a gig in the tiny backroom.
Here’s how Adam piqued my interest:-
Eyes Of Others is John Bryden, an Edinburgh musician who makes ‘post club music for people who can’t get into clubs’. Synths and drum machine rhythms, swirly psychedelia with detours into 808 acid house, bits of guitar, handclaps and lyrics that suggest an underlying sense of disquiet and unease, the sense that living through late stage capitalism hasn’t quite lived up to the promise.
The set is lovely, songs played and sung with only a few elements but fully realised and affecting, lots of space, slightly trippy, melodic and affecting. John is a little like a more subdued David Byrne, dancing on the spot and caught up in the act of performing, using different singing voices and catching you unaware at times- there are shades of early Beta Band on show too.
I wasn’t long removed from seeing Steve Mason on stage playing songs mostly from the stunning Brothers and Sisters as featured in volume one of this series, and so I was really intrigued by what Adam was saying.
I headed over to bandcamp, which is where I saw exactly how long Eyes of Others has been on the scene. The opportunity to make a direct purchase from the musician was on offer, with the promise that it would come signed on the cover, which is why my copy came to arrive courtesy of my hard-working postie.
It wasn’t the most appealing of covers, featuring a close-up of a cow against a psychedelic background with the two ear tags saying ‘logging in for your daily meditation’ and ‘have you forgotten your password?’, both of which went right over my head. The back of the sleeve gave the titles of the ten songs/pieces of music. The inner sleeve had little information other than the words and music were written by John Bryden, along with production, mixing and mastering credits. It was all quite minimalist, which meant no distractions while the album was playing….unless, of course, you found yourself hopelessly attracted to the artwork in which case, you could gaze at the poster inside the sleeve which offered it at 48×48 size…..
The music? Well, it proved to be something quite extraordinary, but in ways I wasn’t anticipating. I suppose I was expecting some sort of Beta Band tribute some 25 years after the fact, and while there are nods to what they were doing back then, this particular album goes into many other territories and happenings, most of which were out of my immediate comfort zone. I was never a clubber, and I certainly was never anyone who felt a great need to reach out and find myself some sort of comedown record from overindulging myself the night before….such things didn’t, as far as I was aware, really exist back in the early 80s. I don’t really have anything else in the expansive collection with which to compare it to, but then again, I am a total novice when it comes down to the likes of Adrian Sherwood or Andrew Weatherall, both of whose influences have been cited by a number of folk who have given the record the thumbs-up.
Eyes Of Others sounded immense coming out of the speakers, but where it really hit home was listening to it via the headphones on a slow bus journey up to the football one Saturday late-morning. I’m normally using music on such journeys as a way to pass time, a gentle diversion on the way to the main attraction if you like, but this was proving to be something else. It demanded, and it got, my full attention – no glancing at phones for any incoming messages or updates on what was happening in early kick-offs. I was totally immersed in all that was going on.
Here’s how the album opens up:-
mp3 : Eyes Of Others – Once, Twice, Thrice
I’ll make one prediction…..even if that song didn’t tickle your fancy, I know you’ll be humming that little bit of keyboard music which underpins it for the rest of the day. It’s a real earworm.
This is one of those occasions when I really cannot find the words to do justice to a particular album. I know it’s a long way removed from the sort of things that are normally featured on the blog, and it probably won’t be to everyone’s taste. But head over to this bandcamp page and give things a go. And while the vinyl is now sold out, there will be copies out there in the very best of record shops….but you could always go digital!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 