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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 34 Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals and Soft Hearted Scientists releases available on Bandcamp and save 80%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Phantom of Canton Halloween Demoz E.P., Waltz of the Weekend, Night of the Gorgon E.P., Golden Fleece, California Time Machine E.P., The Kraken of Roath Park Lake, Stand and Deliver/Pointing Paw, Sasquatch!/Tarantula!, and 26 more. , and , .

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  • On The Blink
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    REVIEW BY ANDREW YOUNG AT TERRASCOPE
    NATHAN HALL AND THE SINISTER LOCALS – ON THE BLINK

    (CD from Bandcamp )

    We do like a bit of Nathan here at Terrascope. This is his fourth Sinister Locals album since his debut in 2017 with Mute Effigies Soundtracks.

    This was originally to be his fifth album after the scheduled and nearly completed ‘Pointing Paw’ album had to be put on ice due to the restrictions of Covid 19. The song and title of the album ‘On The Blink’, were conceived before the current pandemic, but just seemed to be an ideal choice of title for obvious reasons.

    On The Blink is a double album, stretching to 22 songs. Nathan’s music is very much pop psych, with haiku like songs; throughout which various instruments frame lyrics of serpents, solar swans, bumbling bees, of country houses, modern day highwaymen, tin robots and orange elephants. The instrumentation is mainly acoustic guitar, organs, analogue synths, pianos and electric guitar with a whole host of others enriching his playful songs. He even had to learn how to play the bass guitar due to lock-down rules.

    Along the way we take in the skewed pop psych of ‘Serpent On The Path’. Reminiscences with the barking mad title track ‘On The Blink’, the humorous envisaging of ‘Stand And Deliver’, where all that could be proffered to an assailant these days would be a debit card! It is a cracking tune, with electric guitar rhythm and woozy mellotron to the fore.
    ‘When We Are No Longer Numb’, adds sitar and drones. There are linking pieces, Interludes and multi part songs such as ‘Solar Swans’, which sounds like a long lost children’s show theme tune, with music by Vernon Elliott.
    Songs about childhood continue with ‘The Signs’, with its multi tracked harmonies, accordions and synths, drifting down the river on a bed of hammered acoustic guitar notes. ‘Angels Understand’, is a multi part song which incorporates a spoken word section on park life and is pure fun.

    More pop psych abounds with ‘The Orange Elephant’, a highly melodic song, a dreaming of Albion. The percussion is quite light and used sparingly throughout the album and used to particularly fine effect on ‘Figure Of Fun’ a did me wrong song with acoustic guitar over which analogues synths bleep and pulse.

    ‘Insomnia’, playfully deals with lack of sleep to drifting organ and synth, dreamy psych from a man desperate to drop off into the land of nod. The Victoriana of ‘Spring Song’ takes us out into the country to the awakening flora and fauna. ‘Time Stables Its Horses’ unleashes strange forces, another mad melodic merry go round of a song. The album ends some 60 odd minutes later with another multi part song, the playful, organ infested strains of the near instrumental ‘The Sea Is In The Trees/The Sea Ignites The Stones’, a song which does indeed excite these weary bones.

    This is another terrific album from Nathan and is pure escapism for these troubled times.

    (Andrew Young)

    ZEITGEIST REVIEW
    In case you were wondering who Nathan Hall is, well he’s the frontman of well regarded psychedelic band the Soft Hearted Scientists. They’ve put out a bazillion releases of wizardly Welsh wibblings over the years and in his solo capacity Mr Hall is catching up fast.

    It’s a double album (in old money) with 22 songs although a few of those are brief musical interludes. Even then most of the songs hover between 3 and 4 minutes as he presents a series of songs which would have fitted nicely on a set of 7″ singles back in the day. To be honest it’s not a million miles away from his day job so anyone who enjoys the SHS will find themselves very much at home here. It’s very sixties influenced with a smattering of Canterbury, pre disco Bee Gees and sunshine pop. And it’s really good. Especially if you’re interested in bees, highwaymen, elephants (of the orange variety), nature, murmurings, drone, sleeplessness and more.

    A proper solo album, this was put together in three weeks as his next planned release was put on hold to the madness of the modern world. At times it’s very whimsical although there are moments of sadness woven in hither and thither. It’s definitely the kind of record you want so sit down and listen to as a whole. Preferably through headphones. Having said that I was particularly taken with ‘Serpent On The Path’, ‘Stand And Deliver’ and ‘The Signs’.

    I always sigh when folk reckon things like this aren’t mainstream. Yes, it’s not tinny pop designed to be heard through a phone in the back seat of the bus. But it’s dripping with melody and deserves a much bigger audience.

    Review by Kim Harten of Blissaquamarine
    NATHAN HALL & THE SINISTER LOCALS
    On the Blink CD/Download (The Hip Replacement)
    Nathan Hall & the Sinister Locals had to shelve their planned fourth album, Pointing Paw, due to Covid lockdown preventing bassist Mike from visiting Nathan's studio. Instead, Nathan taught himself bass and recorded this alternative fourth album on his own (aside from two tracks which Mike appears on, which I guess must have been recorded before lockdown began). The title On the Blink pre-dates the pandemic, but Nathan found it an appropriate name for an album recorded in the disastrous year that was 2020.

    The album is packed with joyous music that's a perfect way to escape during these troublesome times. There are jaunty psych-pop songs like Every Garden, with its lilting Mellotron and bouncy piano riffs, and Rabbit Rings which takes in thumping dance beats and kaleidoscopic synth whirrs alongside lyrics that raise an eyebrow at modern absurdities: "It's easier to modify a mountainside than half the fucked up habits of the modern mind". Sometimes the music veers into territories where the boundary between psych-pop and psych-folk is thin, such as When We Are No Longer Numb, which has qualities that are sure to appeal to fans of The Incredible String Band or the folkier side of Donovan.
    The Orange Elephant features a Spanish-tinged tune, ostentatious military drumming, and analogue synth sounds that conjure up images of shimmering stars, accompanying lyrics that see beauty and calm in the things people often miss: "Little things like bees can drive the fear out of me".

    The Wrong Song distills the Covid situation into just a few words, "Gone wrong... the world's gone wrong... such strange times", intoned mantra-like over a backdrop of minimal acoustic guitar and creaky sound effects, before giving way to a fuller arrangement with retro organ, pizzicato strings and whooshing cosmic synth. As well as the songs, the album has expressive instrumental interludes dotted throughout, from the dramatic piano piece Creepy Country House After Dark to the electronic chug of March of the Tin Robot to the vintage sci-fi music of Moon Crater Melody.

    Great stuff as always from Nathan Hall. Get the album at nathanhallandthesinisterlocals.bandcamp.com

    Includes unlimited streaming of On The Blink via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more

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about

Hello everybody
“On The Blink” is the new digital and CD album by Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals!

The CD should be ready to mail out within 14 days (subject to world events beyond our control!)

It comprises 22 tracks totalling 65 minutes of music so is effectively a double album crammed on to one disc to keep the price down.

It covers a huge range of styles, from radio friendly 3 or 4 minute psych pop singles such as “Serpent on the path”, “On the blink”, “Stand and deliver” and “When we are no longer number” to sprawling epics and song suites like “The wrong song”, “Angels understand” and “The sea is in the trees/The sea ignites the stones”.

It is probably already a cliché to state this but its absolutely true that its conception was shaped by this vile Covid pandemic.

A 4th Sinister album was nearly ready to go in September, called “Pointing Paw”, then extended lockdowns prevented my long time SHS and Sinister buddy Mike from coming to record, so that album was put on ice. The frustration was horrible.

This album came together in 3 weeks of manic activity – a mixture of works in progress and brand new material.

I just could not contain the need to release a new record any longer and this was my way of fighting back against the hideous limitations placed on us by the virus.

It took on a life of its own and I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out.

The title “On the blink” seemed to sum up 2020 for me. An absolute swine of a year.

But its not a doom and gloom Covid concept album. The opposite. Its a musical two fingers to a ghastly year, and its bursting with colour.

REVIEW BY ANDREW YOUNG AT TERRASCOPE
NATHAN HALL AND THE SINISTER LOCALS – ON THE BLINK

(CD from Bandcamp )

We do like a bit of Nathan here at Terrascope. This is his fourth Sinister Locals album since his debut in 2017 with Mute Effigies Soundtracks.

This was originally to be his fifth album after the scheduled and nearly completed ‘Pointing Paw’ album had to be put on ice due to the restrictions of Covid 19. The song and title of the album ‘On The Blink’, were conceived before the current pandemic, but just seemed to be an ideal choice of title for obvious reasons.

On The Blink is a double album, stretching to 22 songs. Nathan’s music is very much pop psych, with haiku like songs; throughout which various instruments frame lyrics of serpents, solar swans, bumbling bees, of country houses, modern day highwaymen, tin robots and orange elephants. The instrumentation is mainly acoustic guitar, organs, analogue synths, pianos and electric guitar with a whole host of others enriching his playful songs. He even had to learn how to play the bass guitar due to lock-down rules.

Along the way we take in the skewed pop psych of ‘Serpent On The Path’. Reminiscences with the barking mad title track ‘On The Blink’, the humorous envisaging of ‘Stand And Deliver’, where all that could be proffered to an assailant these days would be a debit card! It is a cracking tune, with electric guitar rhythm and woozy mellotron to the fore.
‘When We Are No Longer Numb’, adds sitar and drones. There are linking pieces, Interludes and multi part songs such as ‘Solar Swans’, which sounds like a long lost children’s show theme tune, with music by Vernon Elliott.
Songs about childhood continue with ‘The Signs’, with its multi tracked harmonies, accordions and synths, drifting down the river on a bed of hammered acoustic guitar notes. ‘Angels Understand’, is a multi part song which incorporates a spoken word section on park life and is pure fun.

More pop psych abounds with ‘The Orange Elephant’, a highly melodic song, a dreaming of Albion. The percussion is quite light and used sparingly throughout the album and used to particularly fine effect on ‘Figure Of Fun’ a did me wrong song with acoustic guitar over which analogues synths bleep and pulse.

‘Insomnia’, playfully deals with lack of sleep to drifting organ and synth, dreamy psych from a man desperate to drop off into the land of nod. The Victoriana of ‘Spring Song’ takes us out into the country to the awakening flora and fauna. ‘Time Stables Its Horses’ unleashes strange forces, another mad melodic merry go round of a song. The album ends some 60 odd minutes later with another multi part song, the playful, organ infested strains of the near instrumental ‘The Sea Is In The Trees/The Sea Ignites The Stones’, a song which does indeed excite these weary bones.

This is another terrific album from Nathan and is pure escapism for these troubled times.

(Andrew Young)

REVIEW BY UNIVERSAL MIND DECODER

Recorded in a white-hot blaze of frustration following the postponement of a nearly completed Sinister’s album due to Covid restrictions, Hall seems to have played all of the instruments himself in his heroic attempt to release a new record. ON THE BLINK, a title that aptly sums up 2020, comprises 22 tracks that cover a huge range of styles, from radio-friendly 3 or 4-minute psych-pop singles such as Serpent on the Path, On the Blink, Stand and Deliver (already a firm favourite with this show) and When we are no Longer Numb to sprawling epics and song suites like The Wrong Song, Angels Understand and The Sea is in the Trees/The Sea Ignites the Stones.


Despite its provenance (or perhaps because of - who knows?), this is, nevertheless, an album to captivate the senses; colourful; buoyant; full of understated psychedelic flourishes and whimsical lyricism that have all the charm of a children’s playground chant. Songs often shimmer beneath a lysergic haze, others sparkle like dewdrops in a sunlit meadow - there’s clearly something in the water in Wales (or at least growing on the golf courses). Rather than the usual reference points (Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd in general) a far more useful comparison exists with P.G. Wodehouse - there is a playful lightness of touch with the instrumentation, and the wordplay delights and enchants. With 22 tracks there’s going to be a certain amount of eclecticism - Hall himself references Ennio Morricone, dub reggae, JJ Cale and The Beatles - but what holds it all together is his ability to knock out a melody that would have Paul McCartney in his Sgt. Pepper’s heyday scrabbling to take notes.

Overall, the album manages to mix lockdown seriousness with a playful, kaleidoscopic outlook, and I find myself feeling envious at the noises Nathan Hall must hear in his head.

Eledir Seren.

credits

released November 15, 2020

Songs by Nathan Hall

Electric and Acoustic Guitars, organs, synths, percussion, special effects, bee impersonations and vocals by Nathan Hall

Recorded mainly in The Sinister House, 67, Sinister Lane, Cardiff between 2018 and October 2020.

Aspects of 4 songs recorded by Frank Naughton in Ty Drwg, Cardiff

Mastered by Gaz Williams in Bristol

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about

Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals and Soft Hearted Scientists Cardiff, UK

The music mixes psychedelia with baroque touches, and analogue electronics and seeks to create the same confusion of the senses that a prime Beach Boys track does. Is it summer or is it Christmas? Neither. Its both simultaneously. The lyrics walk the dark side of Sunny Psychedelia Street and know that all is not well with the world. Burning effigies and suicidal Ice Road Truckers all feature. ... more

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