Twelve Thousand Days – The Boatman On The Downs (Album – FinalMuzik)
Genre/Influences: Ethereal, Experimental, Neo-Classic, Chanson, Cinematic.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This is the seventh full length album by the duo Martyn Bates – Alan Trench under the Twelve Thousand Days moniker. Their collaboration started in 2000 but they have been mainly active releasing new stuff since 2018.
Content: The new songs sound in the vein of previous releases although it even became more diversified than ever before. Every single song sounds as a new journey driven by another influence but in the end there’s a true cohesion. From Ballad to Experimental to an important Cinematic part to Chanson and even a rather Ethereal debut cut the album covers it all. The work has been composed with different real, acoustic, instruments and electronics.
+ + + : This project appeals for an imaginary travel throughout very diversified landscapes. I like the darker side of the work emerging at “Arthur McBride” and the even more obscure, and tormented, “The Brides Of May”. There’s also something to say about the Ballad-driven “The Supper Tree”.
– – – : This album isn’t always easy to catch and especially for some chaotic passages. Like most releases from this project I’m still missing a true climax.
Conclusion: I’ve some mixed feelings with this album -and the project itself, as there are some excellent songs featured next to others I can’t really seize.
Best songs: “The Brides Of May”, “Arthur McBride”, “The Supper Tree”.
Rate: 6½.
Label: www.finalmuzik.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Final-Muzik/85814529244
About Twelve Thousand Days
Twelve Thousand Days is the collaboration between English singer Martyn Bates, known for the post-punk band Eyeless In Gaza, and Alan Trench, known for his work with Orchis, Temple Music and as a Nurse With Wound collaborator. The pair began working together in 2000, describing their output as “channelled wyrd folk, psych-musics & other curios”.
Their discography includes “In the Garden of Wild Stars” (2000), “The Devil in the Grain” (2001), the “At the Landgate” CD-EP (2005), “From the Walled Garden” (2006), “Insect Silence” (2018), “Field’s End” (2020) and “The Birds Sing As Bells” (2022), all on FinalMuzik.
“The Boatman On The Downs”, reviewed here, followed in 2023. The duo released “They Have All Gone Into the World of Light” in 2024.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
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