Andrew Morgan has just released one of 2009’s outstanding albums, ‘Please Kid, Remember’. He’s also answered some questions we sent him:

If I were to play just one of your songs to someone who hasn’t heard your music, which would it be and why?

Probably Leaves/Please Kid, Remember (which is really one composition, but split into two tracks) because I feel like it pretty much encapsulates the kind of music I’ve tried to make thus far.

You are being sent to the moon. You’re allowed to take 1 album. What is it?

Definitely the 50th Anniversary Edition of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis because 1) it’s been my favorite album for 12 years and I still listen to it constantly, and 2) it comes with about extra hour of music via outtakes, alternate versions, and a bonus disc.

What was the last album you bought?

Kingdom of Rust by Doves

Tell us an interesting fact.

The sound the wind makes is in a minor key.

Tell us about a band or singer we might not have heard of who should be featured on Suitcase Orchestra.

Julie London, and her songs Dark, About the Blues, Bouquet of Blues, Meaning of the Blues, and Blues, All I Ever Had. I know very little about her, and discovered her music sheerly through chance, but have been absolutely transfixed by its film noir aura for the past 2 years. Haunting stuff.

What film would you be a character in?

A fun question to think about! While I’d love to sneak my way into the new Jason Bourne film that’s in development, I’d probably fit better in a Wes Anderson film as a character in the mold of Rushmore’s Max Fischer.

Recommend a book.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

Would you rather a number 1 record or lasting respect from musicians you admire?

The latter, though I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive (i.e. The Beatles). I love the story of Doves, who had a hit song as Sub Sub, then were able to channel that success into the time and resources needed to develop into the phenomenal band they’ve been for the past decade.

What question should I always ask in a Q & A?

“What are your Top 5 Favorite Albums of All Time?” It’s a stock question, but something I’m always interested to know…

so, my current All Time Top 5 is

05. Nico – Chelsea Girls

04. Elliott Smith – XO

03. Radiohead – In Rainbows

02. Yann Tiersen – Amelie

01. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

The next group would be

Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left

The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle

Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of the Bewilderbeast

The Strokes – Is This It

The Smiths – The Queen is Dead

And new album most likely to crack the list is Fleet Foxes S/T.

Andrew Morgan’s latest album, ‘Please Kid, Remember’ is available now through Broken Horse Records.

The rather special Fanfarlo have just announced a string of UK dates for September and October. And here they are…

September 28 Manchester – Deaf Institute
September 29 York – Fibbers
October 1 Glasgow – ABC2
October 2 Middlesbrough – Westgarth
October 3 Nottingham – Bodega
October 4 Bristol – Start the Bus
October 5 Oxford – Jericho Tavern
October 6 London – Bush Hall
October 7 Brighton – Hanbury Ballroom
October 8 Cardiff – Iforbach
October 9 Leeds – Brudenell Social Club

Kai Reiner – Kai Reiner

As the wait between Teenage Fanclub albums gets longer each time around, the need to find something else to scratch that particular itch gets stronger accordingly. Gone through The Pernice Brothers back catalogue? Dug out the Primary 5 albums? Well this eponymous offering from Kai Reiner should tide you over nicely until the next Fanclub album arrives in early 2010.

Reiner, who lives in Hamburg, claims his music was transformed overnight when his brother dragged him along to a Brian Wilson concert and while this doesn’t sound like the Beach Boys, there’s more than enough chiming guitars and hazy vocals to give the album a summery feel.

http://www.myspace.com/kaireinermusic

Life In Film – Sorry

Hey pop kids, why waste your time on turgid crap like Maximo Park when, with a litle more digging, you can unearth nuggets of indie pop like Life In Film’s debut single, ‘Sorry’? It’s an insistent little tune which skitters along nicely for just over three minutes, which is pretty much what you want from a single. The b-side ‘Suitcase’ is more of the same but with a jangly guitar sound which harks back to the indie pop sound of the mid Eighties. The best recommendation I can give it though is that Artrocker magazine described it as ‘Shit.’ Must be worth a spin then. Go on, get it now and then you’ll be able to tell your mates you were in to them at the very beginning. And it’s free from here:

http://www.myspace.com/alifeinfilm

Inside this man's mind lurks the most beautiful music.

If scientists were able to insert probes into trees and record the actual sound of leaves turning from green to gold in Autumn, then those recordings would form the basis for Andrew Morgan’s second album, ‘Please Kid, Remember’. Veering between impossibly pretty and achingly beautiful, Morgan has pieced together a masterful collection of songs and brief instrumentals.

Normally, a seventeen strong track listing would do little to inspire me but this album, which put to use 33 different musicians in 2 different countries, is essentially ten songs, bookended and interspersed with short instrumental pieces which hint at a future in film score work for the Kansas born Morgan. The titles tell their own story: ‘Leaves’; ‘Snow’; ‘Turn Your Collar to the Cold’; ‘First Snow of the Year’. This album isn’t just autumnal, it is Autumn – even the back cover of the album is a photograph of golden leaved trees – there’s a warm glow to it but a hint of coldness to come.

Overall, the album sounds like the product of locking Badly Drawn Boy, Teenage Fanclub and the late Elliott Smith in a studio. Nowhere is this more obvious than on ‘A Gesture Of Love’ which starts like one one of Smith’s jauntier moments before moving into ‘Howdy’ era Fanclub, all with a gloss of Damon Gough’s twinkling over the top and Morgan’s breathy, almost whispered vocals. The introduction to ‘Three Months In Cook County’ is possibly the most beautifully arranged and layered string and piano that I have ever heard, somehow effortlessly combining mournfulness and sparkling prettiness reminiscent of the arrangements which Robert Kirby washed over Nick Drake’s songs on ‘Five Leaves Left’, an album which clearly was somewhere in Andrew Morgan’s mind when he set out to put this album together.

In fact, there was a fair bit in Morgan’s mind when he wrote these songs – his friend Elliott Smith had died, another was institutionalised, he was almost killed by a tornado and his vocal chords were paralysed for three months by an allergic reaction. The recordings were beset by technical problems and sessions had to be repeatedly scrapped and work reconvened elsewhere. This resulted in a five year hiatus since his debut offering, ‘Misadventures In Radiology’, in 2004. Somehow, out of that maelstrom emerged one of the most wonderfully ornate and beautiful records ever. Happily, he is already under way with his third album.

Please Kid, Remember is available to download in the usual places but if you order it on CD through his website, you get a free mini-album, Victory In Passing’ tucked inside too. I can’t tell you what that’s like though as I haven’t been able to stop playing Please Kid, Remember yet.

http://www.myspace.com/morganandrew