Monday 30 October 2017

EP; Phil Cosby - Blue Daze

Phil Cosby - Blue Daze


Info: 'Blue Daze', a breathtakingly emotive record, sees Cosby effortlessly drawing on late 70's / early 80's youth nostalgia, resulting in a truly immersive soundscape. Collectively the five tracks juxtapose themes of hope and loss over powerful, melodic rhythms. He details the EP: "I took inspiration from the Tangerine Dream track – Love On A Real Train, heard in the 80's movie 'Risky Business'. The track’s evocative and unique quality sparked my interest in nostalgia, and the idea that this emotion in music, might be more than just a ‘time and place’ association personal to the listener – that certain music has in itself a nostalgic quality."

For the recording of 'Blue Daze', Cosby assembled a band of notable musicians. On bass – Simon Edwards (Talk Talk), keys – Mikey Rowe (David Gilmour), on drums – Malcolm Catto (DJ Shadow, Floating Points) and Martyn Barker (Goldfrapp). The album was engineered by Phill Brown (Talk Talk, John Martyn), and mixed by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics, at his vintage analogue studio – Quatermass Sound Lab, in Dalston, London. 'Blue Daze' has been mastered and cut for vinyl by John Dent (PJ Harvey, Portishead).


Phil Cosby - 'The Days We Were Young'

From it's soft beginnings on 'MEM#01', Phil Cosby's new EP Blue Daze which was released last week hones in on creating an introspective atmosphere, there's that meandering build you'd expect from Mogwai, echoing guitar notes drift off into the distance while the low-hum of the bass stays nearby. In both title and sound second track 'Star Rider' conjures images of 70's funk and prog-rock, there are some really neat and enjoyable guitar effects at play here and Cosby goes big on building a truly exhilarating crescendo up to the half-way point before dropping us back into those airy instrumental calms once again.

Before third track 'Mirari' even arrives I'm right down with the artist's groove, and this is a mellow mellow piece of twinkling blues psychedelia, there's an almost invisible yet wholly in tandem relationship between all of the instruments here, ten minutes of this wouldn't have been too long in my book. Following the similarly serene 'The Crash', Blue Daze closes with 'The Days We Were Young' (above video). Cosby opts for 80's electro soundscapes on what is equally the most current song on the EP, once again using a carefully delivered rising tempo which never over-reaches itself, but still leaves us with that same sense of vitality we experienced on 'Star Rider' earlier. Ultimately Blue Daze is a captivating EP release from Phil Cosby which is consistent in its flow and sound and a really enjoyable journey courtesy of the Wicklow man.


Look / Like / Listen & Follow:

Website: https://www.philcosby.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philcosbymusic/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6zgUEoZG7eZm1V2gREStf6

Bandcmp: https://philcosby.bandcamp.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/philcosbymusic