This is one of those albums where I went in not knowing a single track from it, and it ended up being one of my favorite albums of the year. I’d read the positive reviews in the British music papers, and had heard this would get a slightly abridged stateside release (a mix of tracks from the UK version plus the handful of popular songs from their previous record Disgraceful from 1995). The week this showed up as a promo at my store, I snagged it and gave it a spin.

You all know that I do love me some music that invokes a sort of autumnal vibe. Songs that make me feel like I’m driving around woodsy New England on a slightly cloudy Sunday afternoon, taking in the reds and oranges of fall foliage before the day is over and I have to head back home and return to work the next day. I know, it’s kind of specific, but you get what I’m trying to say here. A sort of end-of-day melancholy.

And the leadoff single “Stars” did that with its sweeping and sighing synth chords and unobtrusive electronic drums. It’s their signature song (it was originally on Disgraceful), but it’s such a gorgeous and moody song that I stopped in place and had to play it again just to relive that moment. I was already hooked. I also realized they weren’t a band that would get a lot of play on WFNX (they were leaning more towards harder and louder alt-rock at that point), but an AOR station like The River definitely would, and did.

The album isn’t all just moods, however, it also ventures into some really fun territory like the British Northern Soul sound of “Inside” and the bouncy “Cathedral Park”…

…or the Cocteau Twins-y “Just a Girl She Said”, or the Pet Shop Boys-y “The View from Here”. They even do a lovely cover of Billy Bragg’s “St Swithin’s Day”, giving the formerly all-acoustic original a full-band sound. It was kind of hard to pin them down style-wise, but that was part of what drew me to them, because while the styles changed, the mood I’d been drawn to remained. It all felt so autumnal to me, which worked perfectly considering it had been released at the end of September of 1997.

They were in that 1996-98 sweet spot of alternative that was distinctively British with a female lead and a synth-driven atmosphere (see: Hooverphonic, Mono, Sneaker Pimps, Lamb) that might not have been huge in the States but definitely had its own fanbase here.

This album came out while I was already a number of chapters in on writing The Phoenix Effect, and because of its sound and vibe it was a perfect candidate for a writing soundtrack. Over the next several years I’d give it a spin while working in the Belfry, and to this day I’ll still break it out now and again just to enjoy what a wonderful and light album it is.