Cavil - Mares' Tails

Radio Khartoum
(khz110-1: 664449202410/khz110-2: 664449202427)
Release date: 06/15/2010
Genre: Indie Pop

$13.50

Mares' tails — known to cloud watchers as cirrus uncinus —are feathery strands of frozen cirrus cloud. Beautiful from afar, they signal the approach of a warm front, forecasting change and turmoil. Cavil's MARES' TAILS captures life lived under the presence of prevailing south westerlies in a Pennine town in a series of folk nocturnes, filled out with brushed drums, trembling bass, glockenspiel, and the occasional waves of echoing guitars. Delivered with a calm assurance, the major chords never far from minor, and the lyrics, while essentially contented, never far from a tinge of regret. These are lullabies of everyday betrayal and longing. Phantoms of freedom abound: the wind, a plastic bag waving from the branches of a tree, flocks of migratory geese, and the art of plane spotting. Recommended if your tastes run to Tindersticks, the Montgolfier Brothers, or the sound of a distant train whistle in the night.

"'Northern Englishness' — that's the quality I've been turning over in my head over the last few weeks. It's something that Hood, John Shuttleworth, Jake Thackray and Pulp have — and this album has it in spades. The trouble is it's difficult to define, it's unmistakable yet unfathomable. Whatever it is, there's an old-fashioned honesty in these songs and their delivery: love, nature and truth conveyed by an acoustic guitar, a piano and a voice." —Richard O'Brien, Vespertine & Son

"Swims somewhere in the same sea with Ben Watt's 'North Marine Drive' or Beaumont's 'No Time Like the Past'. A melancholy, almost spiritual album. A very personal joy. Something you might be tempted to keep all to yourself…" —Corey W. Schmidt, Central Services

1. Terese
2. These Things
3. Plastic Bag (That’s My Flag)
4. Clumsy Hands
5. When I Think of You
6. Why Say Anything?
7. Cold Heaven
8. Planespotter
9. Pennine Town
10. Certain Friend
11. Piranha Canal
12. Small Moments