R. Elizabeth is Rachael Finney, a London-based musician who makes an enticing mix of synth-pop and art rock. The tunes on the musician's new album, Every And All We Voyage On, out on September 27 via Night School Records, are as much experiments as they are dives into the sort of stuff that flourished in the earliest days of New Wave. That so much of this record feels like the sounds out of a dream, is also a reason to recommend it.
Some of what's here, like the title cut and "Cut Piano", sounds a lot like what one might have found on a 4AD album, or a Bill Nelson instrumental release, at some point in the mid-Eighties. R. Elizabeth has a unique knack for making experimental music that also contains a nice throwback vibe about it. Elsewhere, like on "An Image is Different", the material of R. Elizabeth veers closer to something like early O.M.D. or Human League, the tune being strong enough to nearly be a pop song. It's this dichotomy between art and accessibility here that makes Every And All We Voyage On a compelling release, and which gives the album its energy. For an attentive listener, an elegant number like "Spiritual to Symphony", can be a gateway to what's being created here, and the reinvention of past forms for current explorations.
Every And All We Voyage On is out on September 27 via Night School Records.
More details on R. Elizabeth via the Night School Records Facebook page.
[Photo: Artwork by Virgina Wing's Merida Richards]