About this item

As one of the UK’s most prolific and beloved bands, it has become expected – nay, the fans have demanded - that The Wave Pictures release several albums a year. This year, they are releasing two albums and they’re kindly letting us know well in advance, so that we can set our calendars and save our pennies in anticipation. Starting with the spontaneous, recorded in one-day, minor-key, epic masterpiece that is Brushes with Happiness in June, the trio of Jonny Helm (drums), Dave Tattersall (guitar & vocals) and Franic Rozycki (bass), will be following up with a more up-beat party album, Look Inside Your Heart in October.

Brushes with Happiness sees The Wave Pictures in contemplative and expansive mood. Mellower and more reflective than last year’s rock’n’roll surf-garage-rock collaboration with Charles Watson from Slow Club, as new band The Surfing Magazines, or 2016’s blues driven Bamboo Diner in the Rain or 2015’s Billy Childish produced Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon. This album is more akin to 2016’s acoustic release A Season in Hull, which, like Brushes With Happiness, was recorded live in one room in a single January day.

Guitarist and songwriter Dave Tattersall explains the process of recording Brushes With Happiness; “We recorded this album live in a small room to tape on one night in January, playing music into the wee hours. Listening to the album feels like being in a ceremony. It takes you to that place. This is music that emanates from one group of people in one place in space and time. Listening to it is like being let in on a secret.”

They wanted to make an album that was as spontaneous as possible, emulating the jazz, folk, blues and live albums that they love so much. As Dave explains; “As music fans we treasure spontaneous recordings. When we put an album on we want to hear a little of the human spirit.”

The Wave Pictures undertook several steps in order to ensure that this was a magical album:

- Tattersall didn’t write any music prior to the recording sessions, just lyrics. “The lyrics were written in advance, but the music was an improvisation, completed in one night. You can thus hear how in tune we are with one another after ten years playing together in bars.”

- Everything on record is a first take and mostly material that Jonny and Franic had never heard before and Dave had never played. None of it existed in any shape or form before they put it to tape.

- They recorded it late at night so as to be as relaxed as possible. As Dave explains; “Lots of bands pretend that they have made their Tonight’s The Night or Astral Weeks, that special album which is recorded in those rare, late-night, pressure-free circumstances; that loose collection of inspired jams. They haven’t done it really. They’ve spent bloody ages working on the thing. They’ve lost their nerve. This is the real thing. A genuine shitfaced improvisation.”

- They got extremely high and inebriated, “We wanted to get rid of any self-consciousness together,” says Dave.

- The songs are predominantly in minor key. Dave explains; “I cannot help how I feel - for me this is the happiest kind of key to play in.”

For an album recorded in this way, Brushes with Happiness really does surpass all expectations. From the languid guitar licks to Dave’s faltering vocals, every note oozes emotional truth. The synchronicity of the band is evident in tracks like “Laces”, where you can hear the very process of composition or the Django Reinhardt inspired “Red Suitcase.” “The Burnt Match” is the kind of song they would have tried to do many times in the past but wouldn’t have been able to pull-off as they would have over-thought it. Yet in this live environment it turned out perfectly. As Dave explains; “We just improvised these songs on the fly, on the spur of the moment. So you can hear them come together with a lot more vitality than they would have done in the past.”

The album title double meaning is a nod to Jonny Helm’s completely original approach to drumming with brushes. As Dave enthuses; “The way he does it seems to me to come out of the natural world, like waves crashing on rocks, rather than to come out of some school of drumming textbook.” Dave also praises Franic Rozycki’s bass playing, saying, “He uses the bass guitar as a vehicle for personal expression, which is virtually unheard of outside of the jazz world.” Not to be outdone, Dave Tattersall himself has been hailed for his musicianship, with BBC 6 Music DJ Marc Riley calling him; “the greatest guitar player of his generation”.

Brushes With Happiness sees a band at the top of their game. No other band could just improvise an album out of thin air, no trouble at all, and have it sound THIS good.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: This album was recorded in one night, in one room, in one take. They arrived to record with just some lyrics and everything else was improvised on the night. It's a lovely laid back affair, and the nature of the recording gives it a raw, intimate feel. It captures the trio on fine form, completely in synch, and as ever the songwriting is top notch.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Red Suitcase
2. Rise Up
3. Jim
4. Laces
5. The Little Window
6. Crow Jane
7. The Burnt Match
8. Brushes With Happiness
9. Volcano