ARNALD PAUL – Transparent Ideation (2022 10” Lathe-Cut (33rpm) + DVD Fruits de Mer Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: 10” Lathe-Cut (33rpm) + DVD

Release Date: end Feb 2022

Arnald Paul is an American singer-songwriter who includes Syd Barrett and Robyn Hitchcock among his influences. He’s never had anything commercially released, beyond very local projects. And all these till now, because Arnald Paul came to Keith’s attention (Head of Fruits de Mer Records) and a 7-track 10” clear vinyl lathe-cut (with an accompanying 75-minute DVD of his music) is a fact!

FdM’s press release reads:

“Transparent Ideation is a 7-song 10” clear-vinyl lathe-cut EP by US singer-songwriter Arnald Paul, containing a selection of tracks revisited by him during the 2020 lockdown; it comes as a package with a 20-track DVD.
In many instances, his original recordings were embellished or remastered with additional instrumentation and effects; home recording onto a 4-track analog cassette deck over a span of nearly thirty years, this presents his first official release beyond cassettes and CDrs distributed personally at live performances or local record shops. I have no idea why his music isn’t already available more widely, but I’m glad I get the first chance to share it.
Arnald Paul’s musical influences are worn on his sleeved tentacle, inspired by songwriters such as Syd Barrett and Robyn Hitchcock, and numerous sixties psychedelic bands and purveyors of neo-psych. Revolving mostly around his acoustic 12-string, the songs also incorporate electric guitars, strings, keys, and subjects that range from the ethereal to the absurdly whimsical; I even detected touches of Nathan Hall in there somewhere, although, of course, they’ve never heard of each other!
The accompanying DVD ‘Yellow Facet Lime’ runs to about 75 minutes, and features 20 Arnald Paul songs – some are on the lathe-cut, most of them aren’t – the cover design is by Plasticlands’ Glenn Rehse.
The lathe-cut cover was created by Ian Barrett; on hearing the music of ‘Transparent Ideation’, Ian’s impressions resulted in a mutated water-colored octopus with a lobotomized mantle. Mr. Barrett has been a part of several commissioned projects, including artwork for musical tributes to his Uncle Roger (Syd Barrett) and Daniel Treacy (Television Personalities). Follow Arnald Paul on Twitter @ArnaldPaul / more about Ian Barrett at ianbarrettart.com”…

Of course, lathe-cut means that very limited copies were produced, but in this case, besides the few copies that went to the artist, Fruits de Mer offered 60 copies (Sold out by now) to club members… So, the 7-song EP starts with “Spiders”, under a 60s Folkie acoustic scenery, the song flirts with the sunny side of the late 60s British Psych underground (yes, of course, there was one…). “The Travelling Troupe Of Simon Smart” has a gently sentimental acoustic melody while a troubadour (from the old days) tells the story of Simon, the elephant man, under a rhythmic but still Folkie musical background. There’s an intense Syd Barrett aura on “40 Souls”, an amazing tune, lyrically and musically, drenched into some early 70s Pop psychness… “The Soiled King” is a song that dangerously flirts with the very early bluesy Pink Floyd days, it’s more soft and less raw than the ’65 Floyd, more Folk-Psych than Blues-Psych, a song that is very very hard to believe that it wasn’t recorded 50-55 years ago! “Dr. Please” sounds like an acoustic Folkie Spacey Hawkwind-ized tune that also blends the most obscure moments of Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd era), a cool track that could have definitely been released as a B side (and non-album) Pink Floyd Psych tune! “Stiff”, is fuzzy, lo-fi, and garage-y, with a deep psych-space aesthetic emerging a lovely DIY bedroom feeling, ending in a mass of feedback! The last song “Annabel Lee” is an acoustic balladesque kind of Folkie tune, a total antithesis of the previous song, indicating a trippy ambient-like and raga-ish background! A warm, remarkable set of songs, a perfect and ideal appetizer for a might forthcoming LP album! TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist