Still with very little time in my hands to write full-fledged posts, but I’m sure at some point soon I’ll be able to do so. In the meantime have a good weekend listening to:

Chorusgirl: one of my favourite London bands is this one. I’ve seen them only once, at New York Popfest, and they were brilliant. I wish I had put something out by them. Maybe it is not too late? Definitely they are busy these days with their new album “Shimmer and Spin” that will be out on November 2018 on the Reckless Yes label. To give us a taster of what to expect on their second album they have shared on SoundCloud the song “No Goodbye”, which is not “No Moon”, but it is still pretty good!

Toy Tambourine: a new song alert by this great Bandung band that often surprises us with some superb tracks on their Bandcamp. This new song is called “Sparks” and it seems to be a demo. Will it be properly recorded in the near future? Maybe for an album? I guess we just need to keep an eye and see what happens!

The Sweetest Touch: another Indonesian band, but this time one that has got a release out. And actually in a different country than their own. Their 5 song EP “Crystal Shades” is out now on Mellotron Recordings from Greece. The limited edition CD is already sold out, but the regular version is available to pre-order. The release is slated for October 1st. If you like Sarah-influenced popsongs, if you are into Field Mice and Brighter, this might be something for you. Very nice indeed!

Vamping: earlier in March I was recommending this band on the blog. Now comes October and the band will be releasing also on October 1st and again on Mellotron Recordings from Greece a new CD EP. In the same fashion as Sweetest Touch, there’s a regular CD and a limited special version which has sold out to. The EP is titled “Caves and Voodoos” and the one song available to stream, “Divination”, sounds lovely.

Plant Cell: and to finish this roundup I found this shoegazy band from Japan that was formed in 2015 by Eriko, Masaki, Nao and Sino. They have uploaded a bunch of digital singles to their Bandcamp but I’m mostly listening to what looks like an album called “Flowergaze? (Rebuild)” which sounds excellent. It dates from 2017, but for me this is brand new, so it counts! Did you know them already?

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Solace: comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

Been a while since I had a French band on the blog. I do have mixed feelings with them. I have got in touch with many, sent them questions for an interview, and never heard back. It is not the best. I wish they told me they are not into it, or lazy, or something. Maybe that it is hard to answer in English. I can understand that. Of course, this happens too with UK bands, and bands from all over. I write questions, and then I never hear back. But with the French it happens more often. Why?!

I hope if I ever get in touch with Solace and they are keen to answer my questions, I hope to get them. I would really love to hear their story. And share it with everyone. That’s the whole point of the blog. Finding out about all of these bands whose story is not on the web. Whose story matters to the big story of indiepop. Now that some books are being written about indiepop, it matters, as most bands on these books are the bigger names. But indiepop was also about the small names. It is important to acknowledge that.

Solace was a small band. A small band that eventually their two members went to be in a bigger band. A more renown band. I believe the story goes like this: A brother/duo from Rennes wanted to write a perfect love song. One that was touching and funny. About a perfect boy. Who could be that perfect boy? No other than Bobby Gillespie. The brother and sister wrote “My Brightest Star”, they produced it too. And from what I’ve read on the web it was kind of a small underground hit in France. Is that true?

This song was to be published on a label called Glam Records in 1991. It had the catalog (GLAM 001). It was released on a flexidisc. No other song on it. Just this one. Glam Records was to release a few more flexis afterwards by Smiley Post or Des Garçons Ordinaires. But this was the first one by them. The label was also based in Rennes. Who run this label?

The simple artwork for the single, printed in blue, black and pink stars, doesn’t give us any other information about the band. We do know though that the brother and sister duo were Chafik and Yasmine Mohammedi that would later form the band Lighthouse who were to release albums in labels like Rosebud and Tricatel, as well as on Glam Records (I suspect the siblings might be involved in this label in some way?). Yasmine had also been part of the band Novela and had helped a band called Octet.

Of course there is nothing else about the band on the web. You can find quite a good amount of information about Lighthouse. But I’m more interested now in the humble beginning. In their indiepop influences. In them singing about Bobby Gillespie. That period. If they had more recordings then. Why they didn’t release any other records. When did they stopped Solace and started Lighthouse. How was that evolution. I want to know that part of the story. It does seem Rennes had a great pop scene in the early 90s from what I’ve been finding out through the blog. Were they part of that scene? Did they play many gigs or they were more of a bedroom project? So many questions, and only the one song.

Who remembers them?

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Listen
Solace – My Brightest Star