Prepare to be amazed. This is not what you expect to come out of New Jersey. Four years in the making, the project is the brainwave of Alex J. Weinstein and both he and Kevin Sasko add a host of musicians to offer up one of the albums of the year.
I'd love to know what is going on in Weinstein's head, because as well as being inspired, the album takes incredible twists and turns. The arrangements are astounding, particularly the added strings. It is a piece of work that moves around both the straight ahead and the bizarre.
I suppose you might call it Art Rock, but that is a loose description. At times, there is a feel of early Roxy Music, yet you are just as likely to hear Ragtime and Americana. The latter courtesy of a magnificent vocal from Louise Sullivan that is haunting and the Acoustic Arrangement is beautifully melancholic.
The 17 songs are across three different sections. The second section, In The Courtyard, is more instrumental and arranged and performed with a great deftness. The first section, On The Air, underlines the Art Rock, but Martinique sounds like something European.
You can hear Tori Adore opening up this week's Listening To This Week and this starts off the last section, All In Time. It is a rockier affair than what else is on show. Minutes Still is like Saint Etienne without the synths, wonderfully hypnotic, wonderfully arranged.
Full Regalia is almost a troubadour sort of confessional. I've deliberately not gone into great detail about the songs. This is an album to be listened to from start to finish. The gentleness will move you, the instrumental part will hook you and the break out parts are weird and wacky, just as we like.
You can listen to and buy the album here.
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