Ivan The Tolerable - Morning Tea Migraine

  by Steve Kinrade

published: 17 / 1 / 2018

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Straight off the bat, if there was a poll to name your favourite album titles, I think 'Morning Tea Migraine' would be high on my choice, alongside 'Brain Salad Surgery' and most Half Man Half Biscuit albums, such as 'Achtung Bono' or 'CSI Ambleside'. But, if you were unlucky enough to suffer from a severe pre-breakfast headache, this wouldn’t be the album to soothe your furrowed brow. Oli Heffernan is the solo creative force behind Ivan The Tolerable, but also routinely pokes the wooden stick into the concrete mixer of creativity that pours forth the musicality of King Champion Sounds, Detective Instinct and the wonderful Year of Birds. He is prolific, once described as the Teeside Joe Meek, and releases some 90% of his output. His philosophy is generally if you like it - good, if you don’t - good. And that’s why I like it. Music today is generally a bit safe, a bit boring, vanilla sex for the ears. But music is a broad church, and I for one like the eclecticism of it all. Maybe it is your taste, maybe not, but these artists are contributing to the great tapestry of musical creativity. The big guys at the moment - Ed Sheehan - may get to weave the larger pictures, but it is artists like Oli Heffernan who are working at the micro level, busy at keeping the overall together. 'Morning Tea Migraine' consists of thirteen challenging tracks, some instrumental, other built on reoccurring musical motifs, guitar lines, distorted vocals, old style analogue sounds. This is an album which has in no way been thrown together. Much thought has gone into the production and assembly of this musical jigsaw. It actually could double, with some judicious editing, as an art installation soundtrack, along the lines of what David Sylvian has done in the past. But the ambience that is created isn’t soothing, but haunting and menacing, with those distorted vocals insinuating tension and hostility. For example snatches of menace can be heard through 'Water and Hair'. The album opens with 'Vitamins' which is a weird mash up of an Indian influenced Beatles-like drone and The Fall. The gloriously titled 'Dashwood Subjects' drives with a motorik beat into your consciousness, a sort of cross between Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire. A hefty comparison indeed. This album is old school. To coin a phrase. It dates back to when vinyl was king, and your musical choice was meant to be cherished. You bought your lip, and then brought it home to commune in the ritual of listening, with undivided attention. 'Morning Team Migraine' is such an album. And to make it even better, it's available on a limited edition cassette! So go on, put it on the Xmas list. Santa should have no problem at all in slipping it into your stocking. In fact, he will chuckle with satisfaction that you have great taste.

Track Listing:-

1 Vitamins
2 Dashwood Subjects
3 The Eye Song
4 Hair
5 Morning Tea Migraine I
6 Grow Mossy (Glow Green)
7 M.B. 1
8 Water
9 Head To Toe
10 Morning Tea Migraine II
11 Former Shapes
12 Under Canvas
13 M.B. 2
14 Fat (Part II)

Band Links:-

https://en-gb.facebook.com/oli.heffernan

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