Even As We Speak - John Peel Sessions 16.02.92 and 20.09.93

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 5 / 12 / 2023

Label: Select Label
Format: N/A

intro

Dave Goodwin is impressed by two 1990’s John Peel Sessions by Australian indie pop band Even As We Speak, which have just been released on the ever reliable Precious Recordings of London.

Another marvellous surprise landed on my doorstep in the guise of two more wonderful 10” vinyl records from those lovely folk at Precious Recordings of London. For a while now. they have been producing some great sounds from back in the days of the John Peel sessions. We at Penny Black have already had our well vinyl-ed mitts on a few of these including sessions from the likes of Boyracer and BMX Bandits, and now we have two more offerings from 1992 and 1993 from the band Even As We Speak. Even As We Speak are an Australian indie band from Sydney who originally formed in the mid-1980s, and found their way to Britain by luck more than judgement. They relocatied to Hove near Brighton on the south coast. Founding members Matthew Love (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Mary Wyer (vocals, guitar) were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass), Anita Rayner (drums, banjo, mandolin), Paul Clarke (guitar, vocals) and Julian Knowles (keyboards, guitar, production). They are one of a handful of Australian bands to record Peel Sessions – others were The Birthday Party, The Triffids, The Go-Betweens and Laughing Clowns and the group also recorded one session for Mark Goodier for BBC Radio 1. Having gone their separate ways, Even As We Speak reformed In 2016, without Clarke, to play a few shows notably in New York and record a compilation album of the complete sessions recorded for the BBC. This led to the band recording and releasing another five track EP of newer material, ‘The Black Forest’, also on 10-inch vinyl and CD in the US in 2017. A year after this a 25-year re-issue of their original debut ‘Feral Pop Frenzy’ was released. Even As We Speak toured Britain in 2018. Before releasing another full-length album ‘Adelphi’ in 2020. These two gems are from recordings made at Maida Vale and offer four tracks on each EP. Predominantly 1960’s-influenced in sound, they have a slight up-beat Mazzy Star feel, apart from the ‘The Revenge of Ella Mae Cooley’ which sounds a little like ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’! As I listened further. I was thinking of a mix up of the Arctic Monkeys and Camera Obscura. As I delved further still, Wyers’ versatile vocals reminded me of various iconic female singers -Debbie Harry around the time of ‘Plastic Letters’ on ‘Straight as an Arrow’, Dolores O’ Riordan on ‘Sailors Graves’ and a slice of Hope Sandoval on ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’. The package comes with postcards of photos by photographer Liane Hentscher from around the time of the recordings, and the whole thing comes in the red, black and white sleeves we have come to be accustomed with from the Precious Recordings people. Once again they have scored an excellent result with this pair of records. I’m actually having to put them on the deck again, Even as we speak!

Track Listing:-

Picture Gallery:-