Heavenly Records napisał(a):Out Cold - Invasion of Love

Simon Aldred has always been an incurable romantic with a rich and cinematic sound and vision, but his new solo project Out Cold presents another side to the man – more intimate, playful and honest, and frankly, more romantic.

The sound of his superb new album Invasion Of Love, recorded with Ash Workman (Metronomy / NZCA Lines) is also a breakthrough for Aldred. The 11 tracks tap both influences born primarily from sixties Motown, seventies Philadelphia and eighties New York and London, from blue-eyed soul to electronic-pop produced by analogue synths and drum machines, with guitar stitched into the seductively silken mood. Aldred’s typically distinguished baritone has also found a more relaxed and lighter mood, to suit the material.

The origins of the album formed after the Bolton-born Aldred and his band put together the second Cherry Ghost album, 2010’s Beneath This Burning Shoreline and finished touring the record. Aldred knew it was time again to think about a new record, “but the pattern of strumming a guitar felt really flat, I didn’t want to make another miserable Northern record! The last album, I was plucking quotes from Chekhov and film noir, so I wanted to give myself a little break. I could have easily made an acoustic troubadour-style album, and I had half that written, but it shouldn’t be that easy.”

Given Aldred has always listened to soul music - “rather than country, which people associate with me” – and has enjoyed many a contemporary synth-pop / chillwave record (for example Twin Shadow and Destroyer), a new sound wasn’t long in forming. “It still needed to be appropriate to me, but it had to be something unexpected, something that pushed me, that kept me light on my feet,” he says. “So I began learning how to use these weird old analogue machines, but with the view to keep writing good songs.”

It means Aldred hasn’t surrendered the melodic beauty of his previous work, though there is less of a melancholic sensibility to Invasion Of Love, and for a good reason. “I used to write with a real yearning and darkness but this is the first album where I’ve been more hands on in terms of real, tangible emotion, about love and relationships. “Invasion” has a negative connotation, but the album is mostly about embracing relationships and love, with a longing that’s now tinged with reality, of being gay and singing from that perspective.”

There had been signs, such as “Kissing Strangers” where the lyric and the promo video suggested a man with a secret. Though Aldred was out to his friends, he says he was a late starter, and he hasn’t before written a lyric like, “He turns to greet me with a kiss” (from the slow, sultry “Fingers Through The Glass”) until now. “Growing up working class in a northern satellite town, around the usual Alpha males, you’d generally avoid talking about it,” he explains. “That mood definitely affected how I used to write. All I’ve done is to embrace my reality.”

His lyrics also now have a new-found honesty. Take the gorgeous “Sorrow”, which Aldred reckons has hallmarks of Bronski Beat’s eighties classic “Smalltown Boy”, “two people falling in love, trying to keep it secret, and eloping from that smalltown mentality.” There are direct love songs such as “All I Want” and “Synchronised” that bookend the album with two of its biggest arrangements and more than a suggestion of disco mirrorballs overhead, though “Syncronised” has more than a touch of yearning to it (“used to be we could dance toe to toe, hypnotised / can’t you see, it could be paradise, you and I synchronised”).

But Invasion Of Love is more than just about the ups and downs of romance, from “Shoulder To Shoulder” (”making something of oneself, and becoming better than what you thought you’d be” says Aldred) to “Murder Black Corvette” (“living my life on the high wire is taking its toll / deep in my heart, there’s a wildfire taking control”). Invasion Of Love is grabbing hold of life’s possibilities and opportunities and moving onwards and upwards.
Reviews

“With influences ranging from Motown to ‘80s synth-pop and contemporary chillwave, Aldred lays bear his emotions in a trembling falsetto over a clutch of caramel-sweet melodies. Think Metronomy, Junior Boys and a (much) chirpier John Grant.”
MOJO ★★★★☆

“An 11-track work of electronic wonder, replete with ‘80s syndrums and bubbling synths. Recalling Marvin Gaye’s swansong 82 album Midnight Love, Aldred is vocally convincing in his newfound role as a soul crooner.”
Q ★★★★☆

“A glistening series of electro-pop songs that borrow from house, Philly soul and beyond. The mood is celebratory, basking in the warmth of bubbling synths, fizzy rhythms and dance beats.”
UNCUT – 7/10

"Blue-eyed soul with a lush analogue electronics in the production and great melodies & songs...It’s a lovely album without an ounce of cynicism in its 59 minutes."
Ewan Pearson