Various Artists – Under The Bridge 2 [2LP]

Skep Wax Records

£28.78

Format: 2 x LP
Catalogue No.: SKEPWAX020LP
Barcode: 5055869550048
Release Date: 05 Apr 2024
Genre: Psych/Garage Rock

A second compilation of new music by ex-Sarah Records bands – double LP and single CD.

Under The Bridge 2 is the sequel to the celebrated 2022 compilation album that reunited groups and songwriters who had once recorded for cult label Sarah Records. The new album showcases the continuing creativity of a special group of musicians who have never rested on their laurels. Bigger and more expansive than the first album, Under the Bridge 2 is a double LP, containing twenty brand new tracks. There is a huge range of material here, from intense, dark chamber pop to dense shoegaze to out-and-out indie pop. Exciting new groups are unveiled: The Gentle Spring (a new project by Michael Hiscock of The Field Mice); Vetchinsky Settings (a collaboration between Mark Tranmer and James Hackett of The Orchids); and Mystic Village (which features new songs by Robert Cooksey of The Sea Urchins). You will also see familiar starry names like Even As We Speak, The Orchids and Secret Shine - bands whose line-ups have remained mostly unchanged since the 1990s. And there are established bands who didn’t appear on the first album but are now represented – bands like Action Painting! and The Hit Parade. Most of the tracks are exclusive and unreleased: there’s the first new song from The Catenary Wires since 2021, a brand new fizzbomb from Jetstream Pony, a haunting instrumental from GNAC. The emphasis of Under The Bridge is on the new. The bands’ shared history means they have a shared aesthetic, even a shared ethos – they all believe that the future is more important than the past. They are as independent and as uncompromising as ever, but they are still uncynical - and still excited about what Pop Music can be. Under The Bridge 2 is available as vinyl double LP, CD and digital download. It will not be on streaming sites. CDs and LPs include a 24-page illustrated colour booklet.

Tracklisting: 1 The Gentle Spring - Dodge The Rain (Previously in The Field Mice) 2 Action Painting! - Just Who Are The Cockleshell Heroes? 3 The Catenary Wires - Alone Tonight (Previously in Heavenly) 4 The Hit Parade - Apple Tree 5 Jetstream Pony - Look Alive! (Previously in Aberdeen) 6 Soundwire - Everything Is Real (Previously in The Sweetest Ache) 7 Leaf Mosaic - The Branch Line (Previously in The Springfields) 8 Secret Shine - Captivate This Broken Love 9 Even As We Speak - Beauty, You Will Break Us All 10 GNAC – Double Ninth (Previously in St Christopher) 11 Tufthunter – Chemistry (Previously in Heavenly) 12 Useless Users - In This, The House Of The Solitary Bees (Previously in Action Painting! & Secret Shine) 13 The Orchids - A Final Love Song 14 Wandering Summer - Wake The Silver Dancing Waves (Previously in Boyracer) 15 Mystic Village - Open Your Eyes (Previously in The Sea Urchins) 16 Boyracer - Unknown Frequencies 17 Robert Sekula – Pamela (Previously in Fourteen Iced Bears) 18 Vetchinsky Settings - Laugh While You Can (Previously in The Orchids & St Christopher) 19 St Christopher - Burnout ’23 20 Sepiasound - June In Her Eyes (Previously in Blueboy)