Wisdom Twins 2014
In A Strange Slumber
Life and death rumination from a purveyor of penumbral delights.
There’s always been a dark hue in Chris Wade’s folk-tinctured tapestries like "Sounds Of Day And Night", but this album marks his first descent in such a gloom. No, it’s not depressive in there – sitar-spiked hard rock riffs of “Never Be Alone” see to it, while Nigel Planer-delivered story “Entrepreneur In The Garden” reveals the humorous side of the underground – yet opener “The Dance” marries Morris moves to raga in an elegantly funereal way. So the title track has its acoustic bliss compromised by anxiety, and the organ and electric guitar swirl in “I’m Coming Back” produces a zombie crawl.
By the same token, the theatrical piano of “The Wind” blows the cobwebs off a troubadour strum under “A Day In Your Life,” whereas “Clunes The Gravedigger” rolls out another funny narration piece. Still, the multilayered pull of “Don’t You Pass Me By” feels irresistible – we’ll all join the dead on another side, after all; therefore, the solemnity of “A Sweet And Strange Surprise” holds no wonder. The album does, though: it’s a dimly lit passage to a dream.
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