Imagine a time when putting together the best cassette compilation ever (Today it’s called a playlist) was the sole purpose of the day. Getting it right would mean the difference between a good day or bad day. It was also the best way to impress girls and show your mates how hip you were. A time when dreaming, looking cool and disregarding the rules was everything. Decades later and life catches up, broken relationships, broken families. You make a playlist to reflect this but you have no one to send it to. ‘Mystic Science’ is that playlist. Lyrically its looking back, its now, it might be tomorrow. Characters with front, angry, confused, fragile, aghast. Ruminations, temptations, visions, superstition, and blind faith, you might say the deep end of the pool. They sound personal but maybe they are stories, characters, imagination? The sounds are warm, seductive, melodic, human, mostly intimate, sometimes raucous, folk n roll? There’s a lot to discover here. Give ‘Mystic Science’ your time and attention and it will become your best friend. This is Davey Woodward and The Winter Orphans third album, following their self -titled debut in 2018 and 2020s ‘Love and Optimism’. Davey Woodward- Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica Julian Hunt- Lead Guitar Steve Dew Drums Jonathan (JB) Bewley- Bass Harry Furniss- Cornet Charlotte Nicholls-Cello, Backing Vocals. Produced and Recorded by Joe Garcia About The Recordings: As with the first two albums Davey’s vocals were recorded live together with his guitar and drums to capture the ‘feel’ of a song. There are no ‘vocal drop ins’ to rectify any wrong notes or miss-timed phrasing, they are simply the best ‘take’ of the song. The best takes were often the second or third version, some went into double figures. This is the approach many artists used in the 60s/ 70s before multitracking and recording instruments separately became the industry standard. Precision has been sacrificed to give the songs room, warmth, a naturalness that is often a struggle to achieve when playing to a backing track. Some songs are completely live and others find Julian and JB adding their parts later. You will note that there is some layering of Julian’s lead guitar to create a more intricate sound. JB also plays acoustic bass on a number of songs, the bleed over into his mic was sometimes too much so these were recorded separately. There are also a few numbers where Davey adds a majority of the instruments himself. These were spur of the moment songs that the band had never heard before. Steve played using brushes to create a mellow warm feel on the kit. On one song he plays the beat on a book and adds bongo’s to others. Harry’s cornet and Charlotte’s cello and backing vocals were added later. However, the spontaneous feel was kept as their parts were created in the studio, with no prior rehearsals with the band. Joe set the studio up so everyone had eye contact with each other and created as much separation as possible. For a small studio space this is quite a technical feat. Having recorded the previous two albums he instantly knew what the band meant when asking for ‘a big warm guitar sound’. He recorded Julian’s guitar through a Fender Twin Reverb and Davey’s guitar through a Vox AC30. The recordings took place in January 2022, 4 days playing and 4 days mixing. Background: Davey’s musical history starts with 80s indie group The Brilliant Corners and Late 90s/00s The Experimental Pop Band. He also has a rock n roll band called Karen whose debut album was released in 2022. Interest in The Brilliant Corners continues, the C86 scene and indie guitar sounds of the 80s has gained a new audience. The band are seen as an integral part of that scene, however listening back to their albums there is a diversity in the songs that point to the eclecticism of Davey’s future musical output. Cherry Red Records have released CD compilations of the band’s singles and early albums. The BBC have released the John Peel and Janice Long sessions. Last Night From Glasgow will be releasing a double vinyl album of selected songs from their albums later in 2023. The Experimental Pop Bands 1996 single ‘Boutique in my Backyard’ was Melody Makers single of the week and was covered by Sophie Ellis Bextor of the band The Audience. The Experimental Pop Band went on to sign to hipster label City Slang Records, receiving much critical press from the likes of The Guardian for their album ‘Tracksuit Trilogy’ 2001. The band played Glastonbury and did sessions for John Peel. The band released several albums but failed to gain a wider audience, their final album ‘ Vertigo’ was released in 2012. Davey released his first solo album ‘6 miles east of here 5 miles north of nowhere’ in 2010. A mixture of acoustic folk and pop and low fi orchestral backing that points the way for his work with The Winter Orphans. Davey also has 2 volumes of electronic and soundtrack music he has recorded over the last 2 decades but never released. Record review on Louder Than War Label: Old Bad Habits