Richard Edwards - New Mood (CLEAR VINYL) Vinyl Record

There was a song on 2020s The Soft Ache and the Moon by Richard Edwards (Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos) called Monkey, which was first conceived as a sparse, haunting piano ballad that Edwards described as strictly sexual/escapist in nature. Once in the studio, however, it turned into a jangly, free-flowing, groove-based oddity, and became one of that albums highlights and fan favorites. But, it still had some haunting to do, and its creator couldnt leave that undone.

Edwards re-recorded Monkey after The Soft Ache and the Moon was done and dusted, and he called it Monkey (b). Accompanied only by Dave Palmer (Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann) and Perla Batalla (former Leonard Cohen collaborator), the thing received a different pair of wings. Edwards and Batalla croon and howl and whisper together, sounding otherworldly and fragile and inscrutable, as they do throughout the other seven songs on this collection, all recorded via distance during the first year of the pandemic and released to bridge the gap between 2020s Soft Ache and 2022s Ghost Electricity/Vampire Draw. It was Monkey (b) that prompted the trio to keep recording as such.

If anythingand whether it is over or notthe pandemic has seen Edwards enter into the most prolific phase of his two-decade songwriting career so far. Since dropping the Margot moniker in 2017, Edwards has released six full-length albums, two demo albums, and a plethora of retrospective material, which will be joined by a feature-length La Blogotheque-filmed documentary by this years end.

Unable to tour due to a chronic, undiagnosed abdominal disorder, Edwards will be working from home for the foreseeable futurebut hes making better, stranger, and more frequent records than ever, and New Mood is one of his most compelling entries yet.

1. Golden Moses 2. Monkey (b.) 3. Further 2 Fall 4. Everytime 5. Pineapple 6. None Of Us Became Anything 7. Love 8. With Half Your Heart

• Format Detail: LP Clear Vinyl
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Indie & Alternative