I feel like I’ve been having an affair with The Real Tuesday Weld from the day Isobel first introduced me to their quirky beats and tape loops. This was when 2002’s I, Lucifer was released, its blood-red curtains that adorned the album’s cover, welcoming me into their boudoir. As these were pulled back, the ringmaster Stephen Coates introduced me to a world of Antique Beat and all was laid bare. At this point I, Lucifer was his fourth album, although Coates had been working on his Antique Beat – a style of 30s-styled jazz and electronica since the late 90s. Over the time that has passed since his first, 2001’s At The House of the Clerkenwell Kid, Coates has evolved his sound. From the monochrome jazz/electronica that I first heard, to one that on this album bleeds with a full spectrum of sound.
An album described as “…the second of the final trilogy of albums…from last year’s acclaimed noir-themed Blood…” it begins with ‘The Young Ones’ a number with a gorgeous palette that simply bursts from the outset. With little sung, other than “…when we were young…”, this resolves with a simple chord and embarks on the following number ‘Kinky Love’. Like a smooth cup of your favourite drink, vocals are offered by A Girl Called Eddy, guest vocalists Stephanie Llo and Orlana Curls. These artists sing like Corinne Drewery during a Swing Out Sister residence at The Jazz Café. A jazz tempo is its framework, with just a touch of Motown at the outset. This number holds the audience in its gaze as a lover might their partner, the bassline tracing the curve of her back, as a touch of the vocal “…kinky love…” and flute causes it to arch with pleasure. At almost 7 minutes, this seems early in the proceedings to have climaxed, but as the album continues ‘Bone Dreams Blood’ does so with a nod and a wink to those who think it might have done. It hasn’t. This time it’s Stephen’s vocal that takes centre stage and as a harp draws back the mystical curtain, he sings “You dress like it’s the nineteen seventies, reading R. D. Laing in Brompton Cemetery…”, his warm vocal running like a spoonful of honey over your favourite smoothie. A beautiful telling of someone’s life and passing in a number which shines like a star in another’s heaven. From the musical textures to the storytelling of this sublime tale, the chorus begins, “…bone dreams blood…”, its own texture allowing the listener to become part of this tale, or rather sing along to the infectious beat.
The press release suggests how “the album is sequenced in an approximation of life, from youth to age” and while the characters may grow older during the 43 minutes offered, the compositions are just as fresh throughout. I heard Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon coming through from some of Coates’s vocal phrasing, especially on the number ‘Ever After’. This is a gorgeous tune where the presentation proceeds into what suggests a 60s sci-fi telling. The sound of ticker tape, morse code and a bass loop creates the backdrop. This is on a track that over the following 3 and a half minutes plays out to this beautiful pattern. An Acid Jazz infused number can be heard on ‘Lost Endeavour’ which with a vocal offered once again by A Girl Called Eddy, provides a perfect counterpoint to Stephen’s nicotine and caffeine-infused crooning. The album is summed-up in words, even if these words are in French, as ‘Comme Dans Un Rêve’ (or like in a dream) produces a Sunkist vista, with TRTW’s familiar patter beneath the vocal.
Where this album’s composition can in places be as smooth as the shave Gillette promises their customers, it also provides a craggy Lo-Fi element that is the signature of the band. Be this the miking of vocals to suggest a bygone era, the patter-patter – or boom of the drum, to the synthesisers used, Coates’s exploration of early recording techniques, through which he learnt his art, to traditional forms of instrumentation is inspired. Here in the 2020s, I’m hearing music influenced in places by those of the 1930s. They have brought these into the present during a performance that did indeed suggest the passage of time and this beyond the 43 minutes I had spent in its company. Here, I’m hearing an album that is right up to date and not just an inspired collection of tunes. I think Stephen Coates has recorded his perfect album, but having followed this journey, I’ve no doubt that next time he will again search for his next idea of perfection.
