Jed Town has a new band and album
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Legendary NZ post punk and electronic music pioneer Jed Town has a new band and a new album.
Ghost Town is a collaboration between Jed Town (The Features, Fetus Productions, ICU) and Mark Beesley ( Dean Savage) with Bryan Shaw on drums.
Sky Is Falling is their first full length album and was recorded at Dave Dobbyn’s Red Trolley Studios in Grey Lynn and Jed’s studio in Henderson. It was produced and mixed by Kerry Furlong, whose engineering credits include Pluto, Goodshirt, Neil Finn, Crowded House.
The album marks something of a musical departure for Town whose seminal 1980 post punk Features recordings were re-released on vinyl last year by Flying Nun.
By contrast, Sky is Falling is a collection of songs about love, loss, longing, and regret served on a 70s rock ballad waterbed of post-Beatles melodies and late night am radio harmonies.
The 8-track album includes a cover of David Wiffen’s Driving Wheel made famous in 1970 by Tom Rush.
Says Beesley: “ The first song we played together was Driving Wheel and I remember the arrangement came together very quickly and naturally – Jed and I found we wanted to scratch a similar musical itch. Like we’d caught a rash in 1972 and Ghost Town was the ointment.”
“As we began writing and playing together we soon found we had a suite of songs that wanted to be an album.”
Jed Town, best known for Fetus Productions’ classic 'What’s Going On' and The Features’ 'City Scenes' has penned another classic for the album in 'Make It (to the other side) '.
His searing, sometimes psychedelic flourishes on his Epiphone guitar, combined with some sublime slide guitar help create an otherworldly, often transcendent atmosphere on the album.
Beesley: “We were recording primarily for vinyl from the outset so we knew tracks would be fighting for space. In the end we set aside some of our noisier efforts and went for more of a mellow, late night/ early morning listening experience. “
In contrast to the Avant-garde experimental art pop of Fetus Productions , ICU and his more recent work in industrial electronica and EDM, Ghost Town’s music is rich in melody and harmonies- an expression of Town’s life-long love of John Lennon and the Beatles. This beguiling set of mid-tempo alt pop-rock songs written and sung by Town and Beesley and enveloped in Town’s subtle psychedelic ambience reminds us at timesnot only of Lennon and Harrison but also of The Flaming Lips or Beck at their most lyrical.
The album is released Feb 26 ( Ghost Records/ Southbound Records.) LP & Digital
Sky Is Falling Tracklisting
SIDE ONE
1. Stolen Kisses (Beesley)
2. Make It (to the other side) ( Town)
3. Sky is Falling ( Beesley)
4. Ghost Town (Town/Beesley)
SIDE TWO
1. Driving Wheel (D. Wiffen)
2. Too High (Beesley)
3. Is It You? (Town)
4. So Sweet (Beesley)
Ghost Town “Sky Is Falling” Auckland Show
FEB 26th - Auckland, Siostra
472 Richmond Rd Grey Lynn
7pm