Hi! I am back.

I am still not in NYC. I started to have symptoms of Covid a day before flying back. That was last week. My parental leave is over now and have started to work. Things are a bit complicated. I am not sure when I’ll be able to fly back. I have the ticket changed to this Friday but I will need a negative result on the Covid test.

So label things are being pushed back. I need to announce a new release. The records are at home in NYC but I haven’t been able to pick them up. I am sending a key to someone in NYC to help me secure them. Don’t want them lying on the lobby of the building.

I mentioned on my previous post that I was going to try to post during my leave. Well it turned out I didn’t have the time. My mind was somewhere else too. So I am very much clueless about the state of indiepop in the last months.

Going forward I will try to make it easier for me. I think I will post on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. If there are interviews, then they will be posted in the latter set of dates.

Maybe I’ll get back to posting 3 times a week at some point. But right now I need to get back into the routine.

Also I am not sure if I’ll be reviewing new releases. I’ll stick to the old bands for now. Again, probably until I get back to the routine and feel comfortable to do so much digging and searching.

Having said that, I will have some great offers on the label as soon as I get back. I need space at home and need to get rid of boxes of records. So expect some cheaper prices soon.

Also those who have ordered records lately, I am very sorry for the delay. I am happy to return the money. The first thing I’ll do upon returning to NYC will be mailing these orders. I can’t say when that will be. But of course no later than the end of February. I think negative results take about 7 to 15 days with omicron.

So yes, that’s the news so far. As soon I know the records are secure I’ll let you know about the next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen release. It is a goodie. A hint? A Swedish band from the 80s!

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So I wrote a few months ago about Mrs Kipling that featured Kirsty McGee on vocals and guitar. I mentioned that she was also in another indiepop band, Slumber, and later on she would become a well known figure in the UK as a folk artist. So big that she even has a Wikipedia page.

I said that I was going to write about Slumber. Why? Because it is a very nice band. And it is also a cool collaboration between her and another well-known indiepop legend, Mark Randall of The Fat Tulips!

And indeed, also a a few days ago I wrote about Sundress, where Mark was collaborating with Sarah Brown. So yeah, it all comes full circle with Slumber.

Mark of course is also well known as a visual artist, being part of the stuckist movement and also for being in other important bands like Confetti (which I should write about), Oscar (another band I need to write about!), The Liquid Fruit Machine (I don’t know this band) and The Pleasure Heads (I wrote about them!).

As Slumber the band only released two records, two EPs. The first one, from 1992, was the “Holly & IV” 7″ released by Sunday Records (SUNDAY 020). This record included just two songs, “I’ll Never Know (Another Christmas Day)” on the A side and “The Thirteenth Day of Christmas” on the B side. Very much a holiday record, right? The songs were recorded in October of 92 at Sideways Sound. The B side “they believe was written by Martyn Bates” but they weren’t sure. They knew it appeared on an El Records compilation LP.

Two people are credited in this record. David on guitar and Amanda on violin and backing vocals. Not sure who Amanda was but David F is actually Mark Randall. So yeah, the Peterborough native was just using a different name.

According to Discogs Slumber hailed from Northampton. And so the Northampton band went to sign first to an American label, Sunday Records, and next to a Japanese one, Vinyl Japan. It is on this label that they released the “Sleep” EP in 1993. This record was released on vinyl (TASK 21) and cd (TASKCD 21).

Four songs were included on both in the same order. “Sleepy Avenue” and “What did You Do” on the A side and “Remember Me” and “Wasteland” on the B side. The songs were recorded at Startracks in Manchester where the producer and engineer was Matthew Robson. Again we see Amanda credited for violin and vocals.

The sleeve has on the front cover a photo of a girl. According to the credits the cover star is called Christine. Was she in any band?

Aside from these releases the band appeared on a few compilations.

On the 1993 “Sunny Sunday Smile” CD comp by Sunday Records (SUNDAY 640) the band had the songs “Night” and “Sunday”. The year after, 1994, on the classic Vinyl Japan compilation “What Do You Want a Japanese To Do Again?” (ASK 36) they had the song “Wasteland”.

In the year 2000 they had “Remember Me” on “Our Floating Images of Youth”, a double CD or triple LP compilation released by Vinyl Japan (ASK100), and also their song “I’ll Never Know Another Christmas Day” would end up on “Rolling Meadows Songs About Our Past Vol. 2” CD comp on Sunday (SUNDAY 850).

Lastly in 2019, with the comeback of Sunday Records, their songs “Sunday” and “Night”, appeared on the double CDR comp “A Sunday Records Compilation” (SUNDAY 1004).

I couldn’t find any other info other than their discography to be honest. Not sure if they recorded anything else or if they ever played gigs. Who would know?

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Listen
Slumber – Remember Me