Soft Cavalry, Soft Cavalry, LP

Vinyl LP pressing. For Steve Clarke, The Soft Cavalry's self-titled debut album is equally a labor of love, and the first record he's masterminded from start to finish, with invaluable contributions from his wife, Slowdive's Rachel Goswell, on co-vocals and spiritual/practical guidance, and Steve's brother Michael, who produced the record. The band's music is a particularly British brand of intense cinematic drama. Melodic and timeless, the album lands in the atmospheric dimensions between Pink Floyd, Talk Talk and Mansun. A record radiating midlife crisis but equally enormous elation; a helix of fear and hope, aching for resolution. If the album has a theme, reckons Steve, "it's recovery versus new doubt. I'm there, in the middle. The word that kept coming back to me was 'resilience'. With the right mentality and people around you, especially family, we get through, and find a level of hope."