RIYL: The Fall, Royal Trux, The Dead C, Shirley Collins, ’70s British progressive rock, Dean BluntThroughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7"s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning this year with the first-ever vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), Blank Forms Editions is conducting a systematic retrospective of the storied group, including a multi-year LP reissue effort and a forthcoming comprehensive CD box set and an over five hundred page book.Recorded and self-released by the group’s own Dry Leaf Discs in 1993, City Lights is the debut record of the then duo Graham Lambkin and Darren Harris an assured arrival statement teeming with stripling angst and ambition. Lifelong chums Lambkin and Harris were barely nineteen and living at home in the seaside town of Folkestone, Kent, with few overhead expenses. The two were freshly employed as a forklift operator at a hardware store and an aide at a home for children with disabilities, respectively, affording them the time and funds to commit to a proper full-length release. Frontman Lambkin describes the album as a “microscopic examination of leisure activities, this time centered around a nightclub,” a conceit surging through its lyrics, song titles, cover art (depicting an audience of cats and mice at the Leas Club, a Folkestone fixture), and flip side (replete with fictional bandmates and pseudonymous liner notes).On a recently-acquired secondhand guitar, Lambkin plays repetitive, brooding licks that form the record’s backbone, weaving in and out of sync with Harris’s free-form percussion and the pair’s sing-song poetry. Tracks range from unraveling nursery-rhyme ditties to extended jams awash with Casiotone and toy piano noodling. The duo’s musical hobby-horses work themselves in: the influence of Mark E. Smith’s breathless deadpan, the headless outer-edges of ESP-Disk’s back catalog, the eerie atmospherics of Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa, and the deconstructed rock tunes of the Dunedin scene are all detectable, although there is a sui generis quality to the Shadow Ring’s artless temerity. “I’ve got to see and taste those city lights,” intones Lambkin on the album’s title track indeed, this is a record of naked drive and pent-up desperation, and a shimmering glimpse of what’s to come.Track Listing: A1 Double Standard / A2 City Lights / A3 Oooh Ahh / A4 Cape Of Seaweed / A5 Lyin' Eyes / A6 Cold Coffee / B1 Here Come The Candles / B2 Faithful Calls / B3 White Eyes / B4 The Visitor / B5 Snowbirds Of Alkatraz -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thank you for looking at our listing, below are a few points to consider before making a purchase:- All records we sell are Brand New - pre-orders will normally come sealed but if you are purchasing in stock items, please note the copy may have been unsealed for display in the shop. Please email straight after purchase to enquire if this is of importance to you.- Orders won't ship until all items are released, so keep this in mind when purchasing multiple pre-orders or a mix of in stock and pre-order items.- The 'Product' page will show the most up to date info we have with regards to the item and its release date, but this information is subject to change so check in with us if you have any questions.- We unfortunately don't offer tax/vat outside of the UK via the website so please keep in mind that when the items arrives in your country you may be liable to pay a further charge before delivery. (all UK orders the price you see is the price you will pay). Please also note that we are unable to adjust the declared value on items sold internationally.
