PJ Moore & Co. – When A Good Day Comes

Description

PJ Moore first broke bread with the public consciousness as part of the original line up of The Blue Nile, along with Paul Buchanan and Robert Bell. Together with collaborators Malcolm Lindsay and Mike McKenzie, hes created a luxurious bed of sound, an affecting record that feels alternatively like the leaves changing colour in autumn or new flowers breaking through frost in spring.

When A Good Day Comes heralds Moores re-emergence into active music making, a project that was encouraged by friend Malcolm Lindsay, who worked extensively on the record. The album follows Moores re-discovery of his beloved Jupiter 8 analogue synth which lends a warm glow throughout, lending the swelling chords a gravitas and grace. With Lindsays background in music for film, the album has an expansive, pictorial feel. Its hard to remove comparisons to Moores previous group of course and there are stylistic similarities. Particularly the synth pads and crisp drum machines recall Hats-era Nile which, of course, is a very good thing. Vocalist Mike McKenzie had never heard Moores previous group when he began the project and brings his own style of quiet, emotion-laden restraint. With Moore as an arch stylist, his music is instantly recognisable as an element in The Blue Nile but with Lindsay and McKenzie and his side the result is a meditative album that references classic balladry suffused with electronic washes and well-tempered dynamics.

The album breathes with an almost oceanic grace, each track taking its time to unfurl out and evolve. The music remains open, supporting McKenzies plaintive, sympathetic singing. Each song features a highlighted instrument that dances around the spotlight. On Need To Believe the synth warbles into a steady groove that recalls the mid-80s Blue Nile peak, with McKenzies vocal performance bedded in to its surroundings offering an implicit hope in the delivery. Halfway Crazy primarily uses a piano for a slow burner before McKenzies vocal soars at the end recalling, to these ears anyway, a deconstructed Frank Sinatra in the arrangements: we cant be the only people to think Halfway Crazy could be a song title on Songs For Swingin Lovers? No? Pale Moon Light uses choral and call / response vocal for a low key, spiritual tonality. On Next Time It Rains the acoustic guitar takes centre stage with some subtle Jupiter pads in the background and McKenzies vocal, particularly in the upper register recalling Chet Bakers vocal work. The lyrics on When A Good Day Comes feel personal enough in McKenzies mouth but also open enough to be universal, these are human stories, timeless and resonant. Tales of relationships and the rituals that form and break them. Album closer Windows For Submarines strikes a positive ending note, with a pulsing synth bassline propelling the album gently into the sunset.

The Herald (Russell Leadbetter) Arriving at the sound of perfection return of a Blue Nile legend

Bryan Burnett, BBC Radio Scotland It really is a bit of magic. Love it. [Need To Believe]

Grant Stott, BBC Radio Scotland An utterly stunning album [When A Good Day Comes album]

Nicola Meighan, BBC Radio Scotland A stunning album you can lose yourself in.full of gorgeous music [When A Good Day Comes album]

Tracklist

Need To Believe
Good Until It’s Gone
Halfway Crazy
Pale Moonlight
All That You Wanted
Next Time It Rains
When A Good Day Comes
Windows For Submarines