My Fantoms

Looking at the obscenely tall stack of records and cds I've bought over the last wee while, it would appear that I've forgotten that we're still in the grip of a serious economic downturn and that energy prices are rising faster than the perfect soufflé.  Oops!  One of the cds that's been popped from the stack (warning: that was a computer 'joke'!) most frequently has been 'My Fantoms', the debut album by Hong Kong In The 60s.  Right now 'Sofly Sung' is my favourite from it.  Mei Yau Kan's sighing vocal is both intimate and a little blank but blank in the best conceivable way, the way that moves you.  The drum machine plays out its vaguely bossa nova rhythm with the sound of little beads clacking together and the guitar line encourages you to sway like you've just come out of the sea but can still feel its motion.  Just lovely.  'All At Sea' is equally brilliant, its every element classy, seductively subdued and designed to win the heart through sheer prettiness.  As S in Monorail (time to update that front page, kids!) pointed out when I bought it, there's a mid to late period Sarah Records feel to some of 'My Fantoms' (I'd say especially in some of the bass guitar and in the spaciousness, think Brighter or The Field Mice/Trembling Blue Stars) while at others it sounds like they've been stretched out on a beach towel next to The High Lllamas listening to the Beach Boys on a portable record player.  I'd like to cut out and keep so many of the little keyboard lines in an audio scrapbook and I suspect that a bunch of them could earn the group jobs with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop were it ever to reopen.  Fans of Still Corners, Broadcast and the aforementioned groups are urged to sample then buy the album!