Mark Peters and Elliot Ireland - Deep Blue

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 11 / 1 / 2016

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Review

This is Mark Peters’ third solo album outside of his main shoegaze project, Engineers, which also features Ulrich Schnauss whom he recorded his first two solo albums with. ‘Deep Blue’ was recorded in London and in Mark's home town of York where he has lived for the last ten years. Featuring contributions as well from his friend Elliot Ireland, ‘Deep Blue’ is the most chilled-out album I have ever heard. It starts with ‘Seven Year Monday’, which features lightly played strummed guitar and relaxed slow beats. ‘Mojave Eagle’, while still pleasant enough, in contrast, however, has a harder edge. ‘Interstate 80 West’ is more ambient and bops along sweetly. It is trance-like and almost hypnotic, and as far away from My Bloody Valentine as possible. The title track, ‘Deep Blue’, is very calm, and has a husky, almost shy vocal from Mark over hi-hat drums and barely played chords. ‘Oar’ is an atmospheric piece which is almost like a film soundtrack, and, a piano-based number, recalls Tindersticks. ‘When You Sleep’ has a touch of funk, a 70’s groove and gracefully spoken vocals. ‘Mountain of Silver’ has a mystical 60’s undercurrent and light, but edgy lead guitar. ‘The Aching Light’ has distorted Syd Barrett vocals over a fairy tale rhythm before drums kick in and speeds things up. ‘Scarlet Sunset’ is another hypnotic and mystical number, and sounds like a combination of the House of Love and the Stones. ‘Cloud Surfing’ has an electric classic 70’s groove that will have you tapping your foot. ‘Secret Solstice’ is a multi-layered and multi-textured instrumental. It ends with ‘When You Dream’, which is the only song sounding like Engineers and the loudest track here. A beautifully arranged and delicate album.

Track Listing:-

1 Seven Year Monday
2 Mojave Eagle
3 Interstate 80 West
4 Deep Blue
5 Oar
6 When You Sleep
7 Mountain Of Silver
8 The Aching Light
9 Scarlet Sunset
10 Cloud Surfing
11 Secret Solstice
12 When You Dream

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/Elliot-Irelan
https://twitter.com/elliotireland
http://elliot-ireland.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/engineersband
https://twitter.com/talktopeters

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pedigreecuts/
https://twitter.com/pedigreecuts
https://www.youtube.com/user/pedigreec
http://www.last.fm/label/pedigree+cuts