The First Noise / Midnight Walks / Dirty Crystal Ball / Sing a Song of Petulance / The Weather Alone

REKABET RECORDS

Putting a decidedly more ragged, jagged and downright noisy spin on the whole singer/songwriter theme, Simon Manstratone is someone whose songs reside in similar sonic territories to the US alt rocking likes of Pavement, Guided By Voices and Voxtrot.

On his debut mini album, ...AND THE FIRST NOISE, Manstratone marries lurching guitar riffs and off kilter melodies to bewitching effect; songs such as the wired THE FIRST NOISE and MIDNIGHT WALKS full of twisted vocal melodicism and jerky guitar histrionics. The less busy sounding DIRTY CRYSTAL BALL finds Simon Manstratone striking insistent guitar chords and crooning romantically, an effect that feels like Snow Patrol informed by Pavement and the Archers Of Loaf. SING A SONG OF PETULANCE is a more energised affair, pulsating drum patterns and jagged guitar riffs punctuating the driving melodic thrust, whilst the closing number THE WEATHER ALONE is a reassuringly lo-fi affair that has Manstratone strumming out gorgeously fractured guitar chords and letting just his voice and guitar carry the mesmerising song.

A refreshingly ragged and skewed take on the whole singer/songwriter scene, Simon Manstratone is someone who stands out as an artist to treasure; ...AND THE FIRST NOISE is a mini album that beguiles and charms.

I am a big sucker for the romantic idea of the old fashioned troubadour. The confident wandering minstrel type who roams about with just his melodies for company; serenading beautiful girls, bringing hope to the desolate and generally saving the world with just a guitar and a voice.

I often wish I were such a creature, but can never escape the fact I was born in the suburbs surrounding Birmingham and any wandering I may have wanted to do was limited to the daylight hours for fear of a beating. I am at best, a punk; slightly disaffected, liable to moan but ultimately sociable.

The music I write is a result of this internal conflict.

My debut mini album Simon Manstratone and the First Noise is out now on Rekabet records.

Simon Manstratone

Fifthton Verifour

Tom Sinnett

... And The First Noise (Rekabet Records>2007)

The First Noise

Midnight Walks

Dirty Crystal Ball

Sing a Song of Petulance

The Weather Alone

Simon Manstratone>http://www.simonmastrantone.co.uk/

Pavement

Voxtrot

Elliot Smith