I just received my pre-release copy of the new No-Man album, Schoolyard Ghosts. It’s abso-fucking-lutely brilliant – their best work ever. I ripped it onto my iPhone, and I’ve been wandering around all day with the album stuck on “Repeat”. (Actually, that’s not quite true: some of the time I was watching the videos on the DVDA that’s part of the pre-release package. You can get a taste of it here – click on video.) The album is being released in Europe in just over a week, and in the USA next month. The pre-release special package is still being advertised at Burningshed, although the bonus CD of alternates and edits has sold out.
I really love No-Man’s music. These days Steven Wilson’s band Porcupine Tree is so popular that it’s easy to forget that PT started out as a side-project from his main work with Tim Bowness in No-Man. I first started listening to PT back in 1999, when they released Stupid Dream, but it took me another three years to discover No-Man, when I bought their fourth album, Returning Jesus.
I’m not going to try and categorize their work: you can do that for yourself. It’s the kind of music that I usually listen to with my eyes closed – a private, personal experience. Of course YMMV. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch the video for “Truenorth” again…