US AND THEM – An Introduction To Us And Them (2023, CD Fruits de Mer Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition

Release Date: 20 Mar 2023

Our beloved Swedish duo Us And Them returns with an unexpected but really groovy compilation of their so-far releases! It is brought to us by Fruits de Mer Records and let’s have Keith (the boss of FdM) explain the purpose of the release and why they choose the CD as the releasing format…

Keith: “Fruits de Mer Records turns 15 years old this spring and it feels like a good time/excuse to launch a series of retrospectives, featuring artists who have supported the label consistently over the years, for some inexplicable reason.
And as we launched Fruits de Mer as a vinyl label back in 2008, just at the point when vinyl was declared dead and buried, what better time to launch a series of CDs as the compact disc is widely reported to be in terminal decline? That said, we are doing our best give the CDs a bit of vinyl feel, thanks to Sam Giles Design, who I hope will also be taking care of the design of our future releases in the series.
This first CD focuses on Swedish duo Us and Them, whose contributions to the label began with a Pink Floyd cover in 2009, moved on through songs from ‘The Wicker Man’ and tributes to Sandy Denny, fitting in some self-penned songs along the way; Britt Rönnholm has a voice capable of doing justice to Sandy Denny’s songs, something few could justifiably claim, and she is always supported instrumentally by her partner Anders Håkansson”...
“An Introduction to Us and Them’ comprises 12 tracks taken from their FdM outings together with four ‘bonus’ tracks, chosen by Britt and Anders from Us and Them from recordings that have appeared on other labels, with a total duration of 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds! Also, the featured tracks are in chronological order of their release, starting from 2009 and reaching up to 2022.
Here’s the complete list of songs:
01 Julia Dream/Of All The Pretty Little Horses (Pink Floyd/trad) originally released as Crustacean 09 7″ single (2009)
02 Home To Stay (Tudor Lodge) from Crustacean 09 7″ single (2009)
03 Corn Rigs (Giovanni) from ‘Songs From The Wicker Man’ – Crustacean 20 7″ EP (2011)
04 Willow’s Song (Giovanni) from ‘Songs From The Wicker Man’ – Crustacean 20 7″ EP (2011)
05 Butterfly (Hollies) from ‘Re-Evolution – FdM Sings The Hollies – Crustacean 37 LP (2013)
06 By The Time It Gets Dark (Sandy Denny) from Winkle 14 7″ single (2014)
07 Do I Know You? (Us and Them) from Winkle 14 7″ single (2014)
08 We Are Sacred (Us and Them) from ‘Lobster Disque’ – promo 02 CD (2014)
09 Winterwinds (Sandy Denny) from ‘Fading Within The Dwindling Sun’ – Crustacean 75 10″ EP (2016)
10 The Banks of the Nile (Sandy Denny) from ‘Fading Within The Dwindling Sun’ Crustacean 75 (2016)
11 What Did You Do To My Life? (Neil Young) from ‘Sunny Spells’ – Crustacean 93 7″ EP (2019)
12 Annabel Lee (Edgar Allan Poe) from ‘The Darkest Voyage’ – strange fish twenty 6CD set (2020)
Bonus tracks (not previously released by Fruits de Mer):
13 When I Was Walking (Us and Them) from their own 7” single, Mega Dodo (2016)
14 From The Corner Of My Eye (Us and Them) from their own album, ‘On Shipless Ocean’, Mega Dodo (2018)
15 Among Antiques And Things Left Behind (Us and Them) from the compilation ‘On A Distant Shore – 4 Examples On Display’, Mega Dodo (2019)
16 Evening Song (Us and Them) from their album ‘…And I Observed The Blue Sky’, Withdrawn Records (2022)

So, this is an astonishing and remarkable CD compilation! For sure, it gathers all of the duo’s best recorded moments! And it describes at best the title of the compilation, an Introduction, indeed! An introduction to Us And Them’s inspiring dreamy neo-folkie pop music that sometimes flirts with Psych while other times their music emerges a sweet serene Medieval feeling! It’s almost impossible to pick up a highlight! So, all you “starters” out there, what are you waiting for? Enter the magical world of Us And Them! TimeLord Michalis

Feel free to check some reviews of their previous releases:

2022 “…And I Observed The Blue Sky” (Review)

2018 “On Shipless Ocean” (Review)

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