Trembling Blue Stars

Here's a quote from Bob Wratten -- unrepentant south London romantic, former lead-singer with the increasingly legendary Field Mice, and for the last few years guiding spirit behind Trembling Blue Stars -- as the group sat in a studio in Crystal Palace one afternoon in June, trying to work out how best to segue tracks 7 and 8 on Alive to Every Smile, their new album: "It's so difficult knowing how to get smoothly from The Jam to The Aphex Twin..."

Which probably sums up Trembling Blue Stars. Whilst consistently writing perfectly formed pop songs, with exquisitely wrought lyrics that have broken hearts from Tokyo to Tacoma, Bob's never been afraid to experiment, even at the risk of annoying stuck-in-the-mud indie deadheads who still insist that every track should be based ‘round a gently jangling guitar and a girl with a tambourine. Indeed, TBS's second album was once dismissed disparagingly on internet message-boards by infuriated former fans as "techno garbage,” something which still mystifies Bob, who's always regarded a sequencer as just as vital an instrument as a Rickenbacker 12-string. Which is why both feature heavily on Alive to Every Smile.

Since the last album, Trembling Blue Stars’ line-up has undergone something of a transformation. Bassist Michael Hiscock has moved back to France, his place being taken by Keris Howard, former singer/songwriter with Sarah Records band Brighter - Keris also has his own solo-project, Harper Lee, who record for Matinee Records. Vocalist Annemari Davies, meanwhile, has made way for Beth Arzy, who's recently relocated to West London after gaining underground notoriety with Los Angeles pop-trio Aberdeen (also former Sarah artistes). In addition, the band now features Jonathan Akerman on drums and Harvey Williams on guitar and keyboards - Harvey played alongside Bob in The Field Mice, and has appeared with Trembling Blue Stars both live and in the studio over the years. He also had his own band on Sarah, the ironically monikered Another Sunny Day.

Although Bob is always the one in charge - and it's still he who sings and writes all the songs, of course - having these extra players at his disposal has allowed a new depth and complexity to infuse the songs. But although some tracks were recorded as the full-band, others remain essentially solo pieces, with the other members coming in to add their parts when and where required. Perhaps surprisingly, considering she never takes lead, it's the addition of Beth that's made the biggest difference to the sound; she sings on every track but one, her voice harmonizing with Bob's and carefully layered to create a lushly atmospheric setting for the other instruments. Old TBS and Field Mice fans will be pleased to know that Annemari hasn't disappeared completely, though: she guests on two tracks, "The Ghost Of An Unkissed Kiss" and "Maybe After All.”

Production is, as always, in the hands of Ian Catt (Saint Etienne, Kylie, Shampoo...), and recording has been proceeding on and off for most of the year. This unhurried approach, with plenty of time to reassess and ponder, has led to a much more musically complex album, with even the most superficially simple tracks revealing unexpected subtleties of texture.

"The Ghost of an Unkissed Kiss" is perhaps the most traditional track on the album - a couple of guitar slashes, an achingly vulnerable vocal, a drum-roll and suddenly you're in the midst of a Classic Pop Single, replete with splendidly annoying chorus and crescendo of harmonies at the end. It'll be released as a single by Shinkansen on September 3rd. Other candidates for singles were "Under Lock & Key” —though the opening line would rather blow any chance of airplay, despite the punchy self-loathing and insistently nagging chorus (this is the one we can imagine Nirvana covering, in another universe); the effortlessly lilting "Haunted Days"—sounding strangely shimmery and summery, with a guitar-solo lifted straight off the Isley Brothers hymn-sheet, despite its title and harrowing subject-matter; and "Ammunition,” an Almost Blue ballad strung out along a Blonde on Blonde organ line. As this track slips softly into "Little Gunshots,” it seems the album is winding down to a downbeat close... till suddenly the rhythm picks up and the song spirals off into an accusatory and increasingly despairing appeal for honesty and reappraisal. Then this too cuts dead, leaving nothing but a rising wash of electronic noise, and the melancholy roar of the English Channel breaking quietly over a pebble-beach late one evening in May.

The band has just played a triumphant headline show at London's Highbury Garage. They are now taking the summer off to rehearse the new songs—although Bob and Beth will be making a low-key acoustic appearance at the Benno Festival in Sweden on July 28th - before returning in the autumn to launch the single with another gig at The Garage (September 6th). Once the new album is out, they hope to go back to the USA and follow up on their two extraordinarily successful shows in New York and Washington DC this March. By playing a slightly more extensive tour, they hope also that people won't again feel obliged to fly all the way from San Diego, Orlando and Anchorage (all true!) just to see them.