We all get forgetful as we get older. I’m terrible at losing door keys and glasses, misplacing books, and, on one occasion, my cat, but even I haven’t lost a whole archive of musical recordings. But rock and roll legends are built on such stories, and this is one of them.
London musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and all-round good egg, Chris Pascoe, has just put out a quartet of songs under the moniker SulkyMan that have been lost for 30 years. But no, not lost, misplaced, and now reinstated and finally released.
These four great songs are led into the light by the title track, a spacious, jangling slice of infectious indie built on shimmering guitars and the warm melodic pulse and poise of the fretless bass. And while it is fair to say that this song would have felt right at home had it been released in the mid-nineties, it feels just as at home in the here and now. Actually, in that cyclical way that music works, where once it might have felt like a song moving with the times, now it feels as if it is leading the charge.
‘I Wonder Why’ sounds like the bastard son of The Bunnymen and Nikki Sudden … obscure reference points perhaps, but those in the know will know. No? Guitars careen and career, but for me it is those Danny Thompson-esque four-string slides that are the real charm.
‘Nothing Is Easy’ is snarling and angular but also has something Beatles-like lurking within it, and ‘Never Change’ gives a new wave nod to those more fractious and fraught post-punk new-pop pioneers.
Apparently, there are five albums’ worth of music now unearthed, and recent events have also given him reason to write new material. Most of us are inspired by those that have gone before; it is rare to find someone inspired by their own younger self. But why not? It’s great stuff.
A fantastic EP, and I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more from Mr P. and Sulkyman.
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