BELLA UNION
This compilation of lesser-known gems collates every song the Baltimore dream-poppers have recorded that didn’t make the cut for any of their six albums. The earliest material here is 2005’s Rain In Numbers and there are a clutch of songs from the band’s most prolific periods – 2009 to 2010 and 2014. Despite the B-side status of these songs, the quality is consistently high, and the sedated aura that envelopes the whole record gives this decadespanning anthology an immersive continuity. The guitar leadline on Equal Mind, recorded during the sessions for 2012’s Bloom, is absolutely delicious. The song missed the cut for that album, purely because it has the same tempo as Other People, but it’s a treasure. Saturn Song emerged from a piano loop written for those sessions, and originally appeared on a compilation of space-related songs released in 2014. It’s sparse and wonderfully enchanting. A pair of songs that didn’t fit on 2010’s Teen Dream – White Moon, present here in the form of an iTunes live version, and The Arrangement – are also revisited, and another iTunes session cut – the enthralling, downbeat Norway – appears with a different bridge from the original. I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun, originally a free unmastered internet release, is finally completed. A surprisingly great starting point for the uninitiated.
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