OCTOPUS part 10, by Adam Leonard

OCTOPUS part 10

by Adam Leonard

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1.	I Know You'll Never Die (with WotD) 03:46	buy track
2.	Brian Aldiss (Echoes In Rows) 04:00	buy track
3.	In Receipt Of Zeros And Ones (AFTH) 04:18	buy track
4.	Weird Woman 03:15	buy track
5.	I Died In A Line Of Ambulances 03:33	buy track
6.	Year One 04:20	buy track
7.	The Mercury 7 (Acoustic version) 02:53	buy track
8.	Hour Glass (with Richard Moult) 02:22	buy track
9.	Esme's song 04:28	buy track
10.	Sod Off! 02:37	buy track

about

The ongoing 'Octopus' project is an audio exhibition of Adam Leonard's recorded work over the last 2+ decades, under his own name, pseudonyms, side projects and collaborations, bringing together music from sold out limited edition releases plus outtakes, demos, live versions, soundtrack work, BBC sessions and cover versions. Each release (or 'tentacle') features previously unreleased and/or new material. Stylistically impossible to pin down 'Octopus' issuesforth harmonium dirges, acoustic guitar/vocal artefacts, pulsing analogue electronics, laptop prog, spooky instrumentals, glassy-eyed drones, piano torch songs and more besides. Parts 1-8 were released in 2014 and 2015, and Part 9 followed in 2018. This latest installment spans Adam Leonard’s complete musical journey from 2000-2022 and contains 10 tracks, 6 of them previously unreleased. The album will be issued on the 10th day of the 10th month 2022.

"Should send a fair few down the Octopus series wormhole in search of further obscure gems" - David Roy, The Irish News (7/10/22)

A huge thank you to Emma Lilian Martin for allowing her painting to be used on the sleeve art. Find more of Emma’s wonderful art here: www.instagram.com/emmalilian.art/

credits

released October 10, 2022

ALBUM OVERVIEW BY STEVE TUDOR

The first side features a selection of the electronic sounds Adam has recorded in recent years, either alone or with his collaborators Warriors Of The Dystotheque and David Ansara (the duo recorded as Echoes In Rows), and features 2 previously unreleased songs; ‘Weird Woman’, a cover of the Liverpool cult band Citron Inoxydable d'Accord’s glorious study of stranger obsession, presented here as an almost ‘Born Slippy’ style banger, and ‘I Died In A Line Of Ambulances’, a blissed out electro gem with the usual franklypeculiar subject matter we’ve come to expect from Leonard, with music provided by Invaderband (and Undertones) producer Rory Donaghy. This track is brand new.

Side 2 is a more Arcadian affair opening with one of Leonard’s earliest songs, ‘Year One’ written at the turn of the millennium just after he became a father. His son Jude, now 22, shot and edited the video for the latest Invaderband single ‘Cheese Slices’. Another early song, ‘The Mercury 7’ contemplates the fate of NASA astronauts in 1959, presented here in an acoustic guitar and harmonica version not heard before. It doesn’t sound anything like his hero Bob Dylan. An extremely noisy version of this song, including Leonard making loud sucking-through-teeth sounds (as if being launched into space?) was one of the tracks that made his demo to Real Wood in 2002 really stand out.‘Hour Glass’, a collaboration with former United Bible Studies member and Current 93 arranger,Richard Moult provides haunting orchestral grandeur, and in a similar vein, the avian adventures described in ‘Esme’s Song’ (again, concerning one of Adam’s children) is powerful acoustic guitar balladry recalling 1970s Roy Harper - a huge influence on Leonard and a fellow Mancunian. This track is lifted from an “abandoned” acoustic solo album. After hearing this, I would love to see that LP unabandoned and completed. The set ends with ‘Sod Off!’; an affectionate pastiche of the music of Adam’s best friend and regular collaborator, Gareth Davies of Mancunian maximal cult band Suburban Vegetable. There are echoes of another Northern English wordsmith here, Graham Fellows’ tiptop comic creation John Shuttleworth.

Considering that ‘Octopus Part 10’ is essentially an album of rarities spanning over 20 years and not a cohesive volume of work from a certain period, the collection holds up surprisingly well.I give it 8 tentacles out of 10 :)

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about

Adam Leonard Londonderry, UK

Adam Leonard has quietly – and noisily – tinkered at the edges of eccentric English folk, electronic music, and garage artrock (with Invaderband), issuing a plethora of original music to critical acclaim via highly regarded boutique labels such as The Great Pop Supplement, Northwestern Recordings, Tectona Grandis, Polytechnic Youth, Castles In Space, Bibliotapes and TDO Cassettes. ... more

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