VESPERTINE & SON

is a sporadically active collective that, in conjunction with its precursor, the Vespertine, has foisted Gnac, Quigley, the Montgolfier Brothers, At Swim Two Birds, the Otto Show, the Bitter Springs, Bear (and a few other worthies) upon the world. The lights are currently dim, and while we expect to be able to offer these releases for a while longer, supplies of everything are thinning.

Distribution for Vespertine & Son in North America (and, to some extent, beyond) is coordinated by Radio Khartoum. If you are a shop looking to purhase wholesale quantities, please click here for a list of our wholesale distributors.

Before You Left underlines Roger Quigley's credentials as an expert purveyor of slowly unravelling melancholic pop.

Over more than a decade, both on his own and as leader of Manchester's Montgolfier Brothers, Quigley has developed a distinctive style of composition and delivery. The voice, increasingly rich and sonorous, presides over a backdrop of delicate, repetitive guitar arpeggios and sweeping cello. The mood — soporific, hypnotic — recalls Spiritualized's woozy refrains as well as the likes of Bill Callahan and Leonard Cohen, with whom Quigley has been compared in the past.

Regular live collaborators Sophia Lockwood and Otto Smart bolster the music, and there's an appearance by Doves keyboardist Martin Rebelski, who wrote and arranged Let Her Go with Quigley.

With a knowing nod to A Man Alone, Sinatra's bleak exposition of love and loss, Before You Left unblinkingly explores the collapse of a relationship with the help of recurring melodic motifs.

In a recent blog, former Creation and Poptones boss Alan McGee declared: "With their baroque music, regretful lyrics and northern soulfulness, the Montgolfier Brothers should have been huge". With the release of Before You Left, there's still time to catch up with At Swim Two Birds.

First solo album in a long time from Quigley, and it's like having an old friend in the house—no matter that Roger (who is indeed an old friend...see Transmarine) has gone and re-christened himself "At Swim Two Birds." You know (or should know) his voice from The Montgolfier Brothers. Gentle yet intense, intimate...or is that confessional? Either way (and any way) we always find Quigley best when we want something quiet that is not background music. Undulating guitars with a hint of a carousel or circus in the distance, moody and pretty. Vaguely along the lines of the Durutti Column, but driven not by Vini's noodling, but by lyrics and personality. No, not that kind of personality—no rock stars please!

This CD comes in a die cut paper sleeve, neatly folded and quite elegant in simple black and white.

More sour, surly and irresistibly absurd ramblings from south London’s least popular postmen. Features Vic Godard singing in French and producer Mike Coe reading the credits. Sample lyric: “from good to bad / from bad to worse / a hundred women in their knickers chase your hearse”

"Dark and blistering humour... Miserabilism turned on its head" — 8/10, NME

"A mainlined mixture of Jarvis Cocker, Johnny Vegas and Stuart Murdoch, mired in the mundane but utterly extraordinary" — 9/10, Melody Maker

A collection of vintage recordings (some previously available on cassette but none previously on disc) from Otto Smart, the mysterious third Montgolfier Brother.

“My GOD, I don't know what to say...this is INCREDIBLE! Definitely THE record of the year, and one of the best records I've ever heard. Yes, I'm dead serious! Like the perfect mix of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Vic Godard and Young Marble Giants...I know this is egocentric thinking but: it feels like this record is designed just for me and my musical tastes. 5 out of 5 is not enough, this record gets 6 out of 5.”
—Petter Herbertsson (Testbild!)

Appendix Out (Alasdair Roberts), Butterfly Child, Cavil, Fuxa, Gnac, Lazerboy, Mongers, Nautilus, Oneironaut (Ian Masters), Quigley and Transfiguration all avoid opening their mouths in a concept album charting an evening in a large, dank, ruin of a house with track-suited trick-or-treaters with byronic curls and an ever-expanding drinks cabinet.

“21 song compilation with Quigley, Gnac, Lazerboy, and many others playing top notch studio mood pieces that are challenging, not just soundscapes; these are fully developed songs by bands who seem to operate in a different arena than the verse chorus bridge one that is so familiar to us all. I really could have gone on and on about this CD because it is so good, but the very experience of this CD is not to do that; the experience schools you to just accept it as what it is and enjoy it in your own way. I hope you do just that and get to spend some time with this disc at the station or in your home.” —Carl Thien, Gullbuy

“One we’ll still play when all our friends have died” —DDDD

“An innovative record if nothing else” —City Life