Magic Moments

From Boomkat:

Appropriately enough the album appears courtesy of that perennial supporter of apocalyptic songcraft, David Tibet, and his Current 93 bandmate Joolie Wood supplies additional instrumentation to the album with some contributions on violin, flute and recorder.

At the heart of Finn's music is the interplay between his intricate Bert Jansch-like fingerpicking and the funereal bleakness of his impassioned voice.

The album, although not necessarily lo-fi, is recorded with the utmost intimacy, only serving to place emphasis on how emotionally strenuous this album is.

Tracks like 'Crow Flies', 'Walkie Talkie' and 'Wounded Tiger' have moments of genuinely spine-tingling power, largely derived from Finn's remarkable and often challenging lyrics.

Finn makes an interesting parallel case to Vashti Bunyan, another '70's folk luminary who has recently restarted her career after a lengthy break. While Bunyan taps into a hippyish, rather sunny outlook, Finn represents a darker underbelly, and offers an unnerving yet no less beautiful alternative take on the genre. Highly recommended.

From the Wire:

Simon Finn's recent return to live work and recording a mere three and a half decades after the release of his sole album, Pass The Distance, has been one of the most remarkable comebacks of recent times, with his creative powers seemingly undimmed by the intervening years.

Magic Moments is the first collection of all new material to emerge since then and it'll be gravy for anyone who has experienced his wildly hypnotic live shows.

It gathers a clutch of recent performance favourites (three of which "Walkie Talkie", "Eros" and "Wanted You", previously appeared on last year's Silent City Creep EP) alongside a reworking of one track, "Golden Golden", that dates back to the time of his first LP.

The sound is live, primitively executed and extremely intimate, with Finn on acoustic guitar and vocal, accompanied on a few tracks by Joolie Wood, of Sun Dial and Current 93, on flute, recorder and violin.

Finn's presiding influence still sounds like Leonard Cohen, and that same kind of cigarette box apocalypticism defines the atmosphere of much of Magic Moments.

His lyrics are bleak, scabrous and funny, and the combination of violin, acoustic guitar and revealing personal exegesis gives it the feel of Rolling Thunder/Desire-era Bob Dylan.
Tracklisting:

Simon Finn - Magic Moments (DURTRO/JNANA 1956)

Download Album

1.		Simon Finn - Crow Flies	1m 39s
2.		Simon Finn - Woman By The Sea	2m 7s
3.		Simon Finn - Walkie Talkie	1m 48s
4.		Simon Finn - Magic Moments	2m 34s
5.		Simon Finn - Wanted You	3m 35s
6.		Simon Finn - Malcolm	2m 30s
7.		Simon Finn - A Cinder's Prayer	2m 47s
8.		Simon Finn - Gypsy Man	2m 36s
9.		Simon Finn - Eros	3m 44s
10.		Simon Finn - How About That?	3m 3s
11.		Simon Finn - Wounded Tiger	2m 37s
12.		Simon Finn - Golden Golden	3m 3s

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