The Catenary Wires - Til The Morning

Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey have been making beautiful music together as members of legendary twee pop bands Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, and Tender Trap. Their latest project began about five years ago and their debut, the brilliant Red Red Skies on Spanish pop imprint Elefant was a welcome return, albeit in a more sedate, acoustic style, focusing on their intricate harmonies and wonderful sense of penning unforgettable melodies that stick around for weeks after you’ve listened. Their latest comes almost exactly four years later and it’s been well worth the wait.

‘Dream Town’ is as soft as a summer breeze, the couple’s voices intermingling like wind through an empty meadow. ‘Sixteen Again’ is a nostalgic look back at our earlier relationships when we were young and frivolous – oh, how easy it was to frolic carefree but now we have grown into responsibilities (financial, emotional) that will never let us be sixteen again, and ‘Dark Brown Eyes’ is a melancholic ballad with muted brass flourishes and Pursey sounding like an even sleepier Peter Perrett, a tone we’ll hear throughout. ‘Back On Hastings Pier’ could be an answer song to ‘You’re So Vain’ (“This song is not about you”) and ‘Love On The Screen’ features one of their best duets, those harmonies intertwined like a caduceus staff.

‘Tie Me To The Rails’ is a rousing, swaying singalong for raising a glass and toasting absent friends, and ‘I’ll Light Your Way Back’ is a snappy little pop tune with a light and breezy arrangement, although the competing vocal approaches are distracting and Fletcher’s spoken word bits are lost in the process. The title track is a piano duet that recalls any number of end-of-the-party moments when the hosts take to the piano for a rousing singalong, only this one’s an uplifting salute to leaving worries behind and facing the future together in each other’s arms, able to tackle anything life has in store.

There are a few cracks around the edges of those harmonies and a few bum notes slip in now and then, but those swaying melodies and unexpected flourishes (brass, acoustic pluckings, tambourines, forceful proggy intros, fuzz guitar solos) ensure another pleasant listening experience is in store.