I Saw You Blink - Stornoway Single Review

Stornoway

Photo: Caroline R Vogt

Single Review

We reported on this chipper little pop song last month when it was but a mere download - now it gets a low-key 7" issue but it deserves far, far more than 4AD seem willing to spend on it. For a start, the record is housed in a plain die-cut black sleeve - I know packaging shouldn't matter but, well, this is 4AD! No images of strangled cats draped in lace for this Oxford quartet, oh no sirree.

What really matters here are the songs, particularly the main track "I Saw You Blink", a joyful ditty that has been designed to create sunshine and prompt impromptu smiling amongst the most hardened of hard-hearted harridans. "I caught the sun on my way home" is a bloody optimistic start to a song - "Are you the one?" croons Brian Briggs shortly afterwards. Y'see, our Brian is day-dreaming about his love and ended up missing his train because of it, a far better reason for missing it than being hungover or dead commuters on the line and possibly reason enough for adding this very smashing slice of springtime gay abandon at your earliest opportunity. Oh, and the flip "Gondwanaland" is a slice of melancholia straight from the hammock - sleepy sadness indeed.

The forthcoming album "Beachcomber's Windowsill" promises much.

Paul Pledger