Aislers Set - John Peel Session 10.04.01

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 17 / 4 / 2025

Label: Select Label
Format: N/A

intro

US indiepop legends The Aislers Set recorded a session for John Peel back in 2001, and now it’s available on a shiny 10” EP. It takes Tommy Gunnarsson more than 20 years back in time, and he loves every minute of it.

Oh, how I miss The Aislers Set. That’s the first reaction I get when listening to this brilliant little four track 10” vinyl, consisting of the Peel session that the band recorded back in 2001, twenty-four years ago. That’s bizarre. Oh well. Back on track, The Aislers Set were a lovely five-piece from San Francisco that started out as leader (Amy) Linton’s solo project (she recorded most of the debut album all by herself). Over time, they eventually turned into a full band, with guitarist Wyatt Cusack, bassist Alicia Vanden Heuvel (also in Poundsign), drummer Yoshi Nakamoto and organist Jen Cohen (also in The Fairways). Their second album, ‘The Last Match’ (2000), is probably one of the very best one to come out of the US indie scene ever, and this Peel session was recorded between that album and the follow-up, ‘How I Learned to Write Backwards’, which came out in 2003. The songs played for John Peel on this occasion represented the band’s history in a great way, with one song taken from the debut album (‘Long Division’), one from ‘The Last Match’ (‘The Walk’), one newly written for the session (‘Mission Bells’) and a cover version of Joy Division’s early song ‘Walked In Line’. And I’m just going to put it out there – the diamond in this bracelet is ‘Mission Bells’, one of the best things the band recorded, and it would also be re-recorded in the studio for the third album (and released as a 12” single). This is such a marvellous pop gem, with Linton’s trumpet part just being the icing on a cake that’s already very delicious as it is. That being said, the other three tracks present here are all brilliant too, and I really like their take on the Joy Division track too, not going too far from the sound of the original. The Aislers Set has been more or less on hiatus since that third album, which means more than twenty years by now. They have reformed a few times since then, playing at Indietracks in the UK back in 2016, and they released an online Christmas single in 2020, for instance. But things have been awfully quiet in Aislersland, but I do hope they will come back one day. Preferably soon. Thanks.

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