My Autumn Empire - Visitations
by Dave Goodwin
published: 29 / 5 / 2014
Label:
Wayside and Woodland
Format: CD
intro
Dreamy and downbeat electro folk-pop on addictive third album from My Autumn Empire, the side project of epic45’s Benjamin Thomas Holton
Just in time for the summer we have what has been described as 'Rainy day pop'. Staffordshire-based dreamy folk-pop multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Thomas Holton is the man behind rainy day pop merchants My Autumn Empire and the lynchpin of pastoral experimenalists epic45. My Autumn Empire’s latest release ‘The Visitation’ is a great testament to his willingness to experiment. In some quarters, the critics are saying this is their most conceptual album to date and is a dissection of human relationships and all their complexities. My Autumn Empire's first studio release entitled ‘The Village Compass’ was released in 2010, and it showcased a collection of recordings that centred around the everyday goings on and life in the remote Staffordshire village in which Holton grew up. It was recorded in tandem with epic45’s ‘May Your Heart Be The Map’ (2007). The follow up album ‘li’ from 2012 was a 70’s-tinged dreamscape, replacing the ambient electronica and samples with live drums, synths and acoustic guitar. 'The Visitation' is a mixture of all that came before. If I told you that Benjamin’s influences consist of “the willow trees at the bottom of Oaksmoor Close, being very sad, childhood tapes full of wonky pop music, mum and dad playing their acoustic guitars and taking me to folk clubs/festivals as a kid, an idea of the past that probably never existed and a wistful hope for a future that definitely will not, and The Beatles,” and that the band like “riding bikes and acquiring junk, smoking and dancing, scrumping for cars and shaving cats,” it might give you a slight insight into the artists' world. And it might not. It might also give you an idea of the contents of this album though. Rainy day pop, it is. Upon my first listening ‘The Vistation’ washed over me entirely, but somehow it worked its way into my subconscious and it soon became addictive. Most songs involve dreamy-sounding synths, but there are a few more progressive areas in here and the odd rock/indie moment too. Highlights are the title track itself, recent single ‘Blue Coat’, and also ‘Andrew’ which is arguably the strongest track on here. If it is screaming electro pop you're after then this isn't for you, but if you are into softer, dreamier more ambient sofa-sinking stuff it will be right up your puddle-strewn street. Let’s face it, we all could do with a rainy day once in a while, and this is the perfect soundtrack for it.
Track Listing:-
1 When You Crash Landed2 Blue Coat
3 Where Has Everybody Gone
4 Summer Sound
5 Afternoon Transmission
6 It's Around
7 Andrew
8 The People I Love
9 The Visitation
10 All in My Head
Band Links:-
http://www.myautumnempire.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/MyAutumnEmpire
https://twitter.com/myautumnempire
Label Links:-
https://waysideandwoodlandrecordings.bandcamp.com/http://waysideandwoodland.com/
https://www.facebook.com/waysideandwoodlandrecordings/
https://twitter.com/waysideandwoodl/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/waysideandwoodland
soundcloud
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Anthony Phillips - Interview
Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Rain Parade - Interview
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Autumn 1904 - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
Chris Hludzik - Vinyl Stories
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Banter - Heroes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart