NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY Alaska 1993 UK LP Field Mice

$

33

UK original 1993 very hard to find VINYL copy on the Vinyl Japan label with glossy cover of this excellent post Field Mice work with that nice dream pop ambient shoegaze indie pop Sarah records feel to it (ASKLP 23).

AMG PROFILE: Formed from the ashes of the beloved Sarah Records band the Field Mice, Northern Picture Library reunited the group's frontman Robert Wratten and keyboardist/vocalist Annemari Davies, who together pursued a more ambient, trip-hop-flavored aesthetic than in their former incarnation. After releasing a handful of tracks under the name Yesterday Sky, Wratten and Davies formed Northern Picture Library in 1993 after the addition of drummer and fellow Field Mice alum Mark Dobson, soon debuting with the EP Love Song for the Dead Che; the full-length Alaska followed that same year, and in early 1994 the trio returned with the EP Blue Dissolve. After one last single, "Paris," Northern Picture Library disbanded in the wake of Wratten and Davies' romantic fallout; the former resurfaced in 1996 with the LP Her Handwriting, a solo project issued under the name Trembling Blue Stars.

AMG REVIEW: Northern Picture Library's debut is largely impulsive, frayed, and capable of creating an affecting, almost inactive atmosphere. Sandwiched in between the on-stage self-destruction of the Field Mice and the creation of Trembling Blue Stars, Alaska underplayed indie traditionalism as it took an unexpected, interesting tenure into dream-based ambient pop. Annemari Davies and Robert Wratten's compositions were frequently free of guitars, lyrics, or drums. By avoiding an emphasis on found sound, however, songs like "Glitter Spheres" and "Skylight" were also connective and built from melody, while "Dreams and Stars and Sleep" seemed to anticipate the predatory, childlike dub gospel of Saint Etienne's Sound of Water and Dusted's When We Were Young. Northern Picture Library would break up soon after its release, but Alaska's better moments, its quieter moments, were some of the more memorable, most overlooked yields of all of the Field Mice's offshoots.

SONGS: A1 Untitled #1 A2 Into The Ether A3 Catholic Easter Colours A4 Glitter Spheres A5 Insecure A6 Dreams And Stars And Sleep B1 Lucky B2 L.S.D. Icing B3 Truly Madly Deeply B4 Isn't It Time You Faced The Truth? B5 Untitled #2 B6 Skylight B7 Of Traffic And The Ticking B8 Lucky (Reprise)

CONDITION: The record & cover are in near mint condition (each label side has a very tiny spindle mark on it so it was played once but no visible wear).

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