The Magical World of the Strands in Bloomington, MN

Michael Head
, former frontman of
the Pale Fountains
and current co-leader along with his brother
John
-- who is also a
Strand
-- of
Brit pop
outfit
Shack
, turns in a stellar
chamber pop
performance with
Magical World of the Strands
.
Head
, who is no stranger to either classy, baroque
pop
or
neo-psychedelia
, has composed an album of gorgeously illustrated songs that are lushly orchestrated by a standard
rock
quartet augmented by a flutist (
Leslie Roberts
) and a string quartet. The result is an album that, while little known, is a classic, a masterpiece of modern
. Released in 1997, this disc walks the line between the deep, darkly expressionistic
chamber
work of
the Tindersticks
and the airy, classically augmented breeze-laden
of
Nick Drake
a la
Five Leaves Left
-- long before the millennial obsession with the latter's work was revived due to a Volkswagen commercial. The disc's first two tracks,
"Queen Matilda"
and
"Something Like You,"
are striking in their seductive, velvety tenderness. The ghost of
Drake
is everywhere, floating in and hovering above the strings. In the refrain to
one can even hear his voice in
's phrasing. The difference, however, is in how
composes lyrics: he's more economical; he merely illustrates the essence of what he's communicating--be it image or emotion--and leaves the listener to fill in the blanks. The other huge influence on
the Strands
is
Pentangle
, with slippery modal folk and rock. This music could have been recorded in the early '70s, but what it conveys is timeless. What reverberates through this album on every track is musical savvy. It's in the lyrical reverie of
"X Hits the Spot,"
with jangling guitars and subtle backbeat.
"It's Harvest Time,"
recalls
Dave Cousins
Strawbs
with open, ringing 12 strings, and piping, echoplexed flute. The electric-acoustic guitar tradeoff between
Michael
James
in
"Fontilan,"
contains a melancholic theme inside a spacious mix colored by swelling strings. Throughout this gem showcases compositional class and an aesthetic sensibility at once artful yet completely accessible to anyone with an interest in well-written, -played, -produced, and -sung
. ~ Thom Jurek