My Autumn Empire - Visitations

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 29 / 5 / 2014

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Review

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 Landed
2 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/MyAutumnEmpir
https://twitter.com/myautumnempire

Label Links:-

https://waysideandwoodlandrecordings.b
http://waysideandwoodland.com/
https://www.facebook.com/waysideandwoo
https://twitter.com/waysideandwoodl/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/waysid