Age Of Loneliness is the debut album of Vamberator who are the new project of Shelleyan Orphan legend Jem Tayle, the album deals with growing older and losing close friends, including his long-term collaborator in Shelleyan Orphan Caroline Crawley. The album was recorded in association with Boris Williams also of Shelleyan Orphan and the Cure. Alongside a host of musicians including Charlie Jones, Max Marchini, Archimia String Quartet, Joe Northwood, Joe Bentley, Pete Johnson, Angelo Cinti, Luca Etzi, Rebecca Magri, Jo Nye, Annie Barbazza, Ola Kot, Vinita Joshi and Inky Crawley.
The album opens with the brilliantly titled I Used To Be Lou Reed, the question being which Lou Reed, the drug ravaged maniac, the great lyricist, the guitarist, this is lush romanticism with strings and wide screen guitars, somewhere between Blow Monkeys and Orange Juice which, magically makes it one of the only Lou Reed tribute songs I own, that sounds like nothing Lou would actually record, but has loads of Lou details in the lyrics, from an artist who I'm pretty sure I saw support John Cale back in the 80's back when they were in Shelleyan Orphan.
Tiny Little Finger is slow ambient electronics with a spoken word poem about that Tiny Little Finger. Sleep The Giant Of Sleeps is epic strings and piano for some heartfelt reminiscences of past adventures with the closest of friends, odd elements add to a sense of disjuncture at how things turned out, hoping they got one more go round.
Pilgrim has a soundtrack to a mysterious lost 70's European TV series feel, with spoken word vocals, almost like an abstract narration of the Pilgrim and the journey they are on through mystical lands.
I Don't Want To Cut The Grass is the second song I've reviewed on the subject of cutting grass this week, this one is far more bucolic and restrained compared to Aerial Salad's King Of The Grass, in this case they want to be able to lose themselves in the long grass, with gentle strings and a distinct bass drum sound helping to camouflage them.
Age Of Loneliness seems to update the lush dance pop sound of Ultramarine, with almost choral backing vocals, this is a full-on anthem, with far deeper lyrical intent to many dance records. The strings swirl around you in the loneliness you feel, now your closest collaborator has departed, the soulful imprecations of the backing vocals work brilliantly.
I Need Contact is stripped back piano and atmospherics, with slow pleading vocals, that just seek some contact and love, while finding yourself bereft with the pain of loss and loneliness in this digital desert, where you can have digital contact easily, but real life connection is more difficult, they want to go walking with a good friend to help soothe the pain they are in.
Zebra Butterfly Swallowtail is for the memory of Caroline Crawley whose passing in 2016 hangs heavy on Jem, the pain of losing his life's creative partner in Shelleyan Orphan, this has the pain of that loss wrapped in sepulchral sounds and a soaring guitar solo, along with careful snatches of the adventures they had, shining through the lyrics.
Creature In My House has an intro like you're at the start of a horror movie, then the synths and central riff come in, the fright they feel, cowering beneath the bedsheets to get away from that dreadful creature. The fear rises, so does the brass section, this is a perfect fright night tune.
They're All The Same is worried about an identikit society, does one string section sound the same as another, how will individuality be expressed when everyone uses presets, have you been stripped of your clothes, does the brass fanfare celebrate your nakedness or not? Clothed in lush production this seems to gloss over the limitations by adding yet more layers to everything.
The album closes with Imps a full-on evocation of all the monsters you are fighting, hoping to survive and thrive, desperate to not be distracted by the wild things, rather to seek relief from them.
Find out more at https://store.maracash.com/product_info.php?products_id=868 https://lnkfi.re/Vamberator_AgeofLoneliness https://vamberator.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-loneliness https://www.facebook.com/Vamberator
