We have been very busy at Onomatopoeia Records and have several unique and beguiling releases coming in the next few months of which Crayola Lectern – Happy Endings is the first. It will be released on opaque vinyl LP with download code (HUM24), CD (HUM25), and download. Release date 1st June, pre-orders open NOW to ship next week.
“I didn’t get where I am today by going in the right direction,” opined Crayola Lectern on the final track of his critically acclaimed debut, The Fall And Rise Of…, indeed going in the wrong direction and getting lost has allowed that extra space to take the dream that bit further into The Zone.
Happy Endings is an album of extraordinary music, borne of an extravagance of imagination, unfettered by convention or fashion, poised rather sexily in some other dimension beyond the usual parameters. With this in mind, we have decided to call it ”psychedelic.”
Death and love crop up a lot on this LP, with a sacred/profane, soulful/irreverent, silly yet deadly serious wisdom, which recognises the universality of its themes, allowing them to gently explode into your ears. Crayola is reaching out here. The contradictory nature of stuff can be seen in the album’s cover image of his grandmother on her wedding day.
With this in mind, Happy Endings could be viewed as an optimistic take on death.
It’s musick with a “K”.
Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins, Lost Horizons and boss of Bella Union Records says this:
“An absolutely superb new album from one of the UK’s most underrated mavericks. Imagine Robert Wyatt, High Llamas, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Todd Rundgen all in one magnificent human. That’s Crayola Lectern. Superb arrangements throughout, (I am sure I even heard a kazoo amongst some trumpets!) and in common with all the above I suppose, a sense of adventure and playfulness is evident throughout. One of my favourites of the year so far.”
The players are:
Crayola Lectern: voices, piano, vibraphone, cz101, oboe, alto saxophone, acoustic and electric guitars.
Jon Poole: keyboards, subotron, harmonium, bells, timpani and spacecraft.
Alistair Strachan: cornet, flugelhorn, melodica, omnichord and percussion.
Bob Leith: drums.
Christian Hayes: electric guitar on Lingeron, Lux, (No More) Happy Endings and Finale.
Damo Waters: drums on Rescue Mission
Jake Rousham: needy robot bleeps on Rescue Mission.
Track listing:
01 Rescue Mission
02 Submarine
03 Lingeron
04 Barbara’s Persecution Complex
05 Giant Moon Up In The Sky
06 Lux
07 Don’t (Let Go)
08 Secrets
09 (No More) Happy Endings
10 Finale
Reviews to date have elicited comparison with Robert Wyatt (who is a fan), Cardiacs, Roy Wood, Neil Innes, Todd Rundgren, and The Addams Family.
We can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.
To order direct from us send a PayPal payment to ononist@onophonic.com using the pricing below. You can, of course, also buy from iTunes, Juno, and the usual physical outlets from 1st of June, but it is better for the label and artiste if you buy direct from us.
- LP £19.50 inc. postage & packaging in the UK. £21.00 inc. p & p in Europe. £22.50 including shipping to the US and rest of the world.
- CD £12.00 including postage & packaging in the UK. £14.50 inc. p & p in Europe. £15.50 including shipping to the US and rest-of the world.
- Both LP and CD £29.50 including postage & packaging in the UK. £31.00 inc. p & p in Europe. £32.50 including shipping to the US and rest of the world
For multiple orders, please email onoman@onophonic.com and we will get a quote for you.
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