The Gentle Spring are the new band formed by Michael Hiscock, founder member of 1990s indie-pop favourites The Field Mice, possibly the most beloved band on the legendary Sarah Records. His new act are signed to Skep Wax, the indie label co-founded by Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher, who have an impressive four decades in the indie-pop scene.
Based in Paris, France, and joined by new musical partners Emilie Guillaumot (vocals, keyboard) and Jeremie Orsel (guitar), it seems all but inevitable that The Gentle Spring will be taken to the hearts of his previous band. If you love the likes of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura, you should be paying attention.
See, one of the things about indie-pop (often used interchangeably as a term with c86 or tweepop) as opposed to much of the mainstream indie scene, are what might count as ideological values. It’s a world in which sincerity and sensitivity count as strengths not weaknesses, as opposed to boorish masculinity or an over-reliance on irony as a self-defence mechanism. This is a fantastic album that deserves to reach a wide audience. Ten fantastic songs (with no filler whatsoever) that might sound simple and straightforward on first hearing, but on repeated listens reveal themselves to be exquisitely written and performed.
The album opens with ‘Sugartown,’ which was released as a single towards the end of last year and sets the scene for the album. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played this song, but it always feels fresh and comforting. That’s not to say that the next nine songs are carbon copies; they all stand distinctively.
While Michael sings lead on the majority of the tracks, Emilie takes lead vocals on a few, like the reflective ‘Severed Hearts‘ and ‘The Ashes.’ In the case of the latter, the ashes in question refer to the men’s cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. Not a sport that’s often referenced in music, so they definitely get points for this.
The musical arrangements are perfection. Perhaps the strongest example of this is ‘I Can’t Have You As A Friend‘ which evokes the feel of Nick Drake circa Five Leaves Left, but it applies to the whole record.
All in all, a beautiful album that feels like a warm embrace and so very easy to fall in love with. On the title track, Michael sings of being able to look back and being able to say that they took the time to find diamonds and pearls. They’re here aplenty.
