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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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      £5.99 GBP  or more

     

  • 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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  • Entire Sinister Locals back catalogue - 1 unique set!
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    All 4 albums by Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals plus 2 signed A2 posters.
    Effigies
    Mute Effigies Soundtracks (down to our last 6 copies)
    Tunguska Tydfil
    Scattersparks
    Signed lyric sheet
    Plectrum

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

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  • Limited edition Compact Disc - only 1 left!
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    LAST COPY OF THE FIRST PRESSING. Signed by Nathan Hall with a signed lyric sheet included and plectrum.

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

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  • Scattersparks set - 3 copies
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Super rare 24 Song CD album in a plastic wallet with 2 lyric sheets, a photo of the Sinister Locals, a plectrum, and 2 cartoons by surrealist Mexican artist Santiago Seudonimo.

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

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1.
Rooms 03:00
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Stately home 03:07
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Do it 02:05
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Laika's song 03:17
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about

24 songs that cover a lot of ground, from psychedelic lullabies, communing with dead Roman soldiers on a boring Bank Holiday, sentient scarecrows, the death of smugness, vile blood soaked royalty, yummy mummies, hallucinations in a garden in Devon, a smack down between Winter and Spring, a requiem for Laika the space dog, a modern take on the House of the Rising Sun theme of corruption in bad places, a horrible prelude of winter during an August walk in Cardiff Bay near a deserted fairground, and an Ivor Cutler influenced end of the album song.

GREAT REVIEW BY UNIVERSAL MIND DECODER
We're offered a cornucopia of psychedelic delights, wistful imagery, baroque flourishes, bucolic whimsy and analogue electronics, and whilst the spirit of Syd is never too far away, these songs owe more to the visionary soundscapes of Brian Wilson; spacious and light, with swirling melodies, inventive touches and a lysergic sense of playfulness, this is an album to charm the senses and entrance the mind.

GREAT REVIEW FOR SCATTERPARKS IN PENNYBLACK MUSIC
The inventive and prolific songwriter Nathan Hall returns with another collection of mind blowing songs.

Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals “Scattersparks” (Hip Replacement)
“Scattersparks” is made up of 24 songs and instrumental tracks all wrapped up in a package of hazy vintage psychedelia.

From the word go you slip into Hall’s mystical and fantastic imagination. ”Rooms” has that signature warmth, gentle harmonies and otherworldliness that are his trademark.

There are moments when you could be forgiven for thinking you have stumbled on a long forgotten album from the mid 1960s. Pastoral acoustic guitars, swirling Hammond organ and lovely harmonies, even some backward masking thrown in for good measure.

Seamlessly blending a touch of Syd Barrett , Love and carefully constructed psyche pop melodies, the listener follows the White Rabbit on a journey among Roman soldiers, and unusual places!

Strange? Yes but mysterious, intriguing and occasionally sinister.
Wrapped up inside this airy psychedelic and innocent exterior are glimpses of Nathan Hall’s inventive and creative mind.

Songs about Scarecrows and Butterflies, strange goings on in Cardiff are all interspersed between short instrumental breaks. The album’s dreamlike production is both addictive and intoxicating allowing you to float away on this eclectic, wistful and charming record.

“Effigies”, Tunguska Tydfil” and now “Scattersparks” .What a long strange trip it’s been. I am glad I bought a ticket.
KEITH HOW.

GREAT REVIEW FOR SCATTERSPARKS IN TERRASCOPE
This is the third solo album by the Soft Hearted Scientists songwriter Nathan Hall, helped out by Michael Bailey – bass, and Frank Naughton– drums on Leprechaun Lattes.

It follows on from 2018’s Tunguska Tydfil. 24 tracks long there’s something for everyone in these mainly acoustic tales.

A veritable arsenal of instruments are utilized, from analogue keyboards to live drums. A lot of the songs are quite short but packed with great inventiveness, and terrific lyrics, there’s no fat on these bones.

We get songs about Leprechauns, Roman soldiers, Samson, Pumpkin scarecrows, Laika the space dog, Ghosts, Unicorn horses, X- boxes and Cardiff Bay.

A psychedelic reverie, that’s full of tootling mellotrons, backwards guitars, harpsichords etc, etc.

None of the songs outstays its welcome, breezy and succinct; this album deserves to be heard for its unalloyed enjoyment, for its wealth of ear worms, ideas, playfulness, and of course some terrific playing.
(Andrew Young)

GREAT REVIEW IN BLISS/AQUAMARINE, AUGUST 2019.

NATHAN HALL AND THE SINISTER LOCALS Scattersparks CD/Download
(The Hip Replacement)
Third album from Soft Hearted Scientists offshoot Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals, cramming a massive 24 tracks into just under an hour. The album is based around original, creative psych-pop and psych-folk, with multi-layered arrangements employing a wide array of vintage keyboards, including harpsichord, Mellotron and organ, alongside guitars and percussion.

The lyrics show a dry, quirky wit, and explore topics that go far beyond standard lyrical fare; Roman soldiers' ghosts, Laika the space dog, overpriced coffee, deserted fairgrounds and fake unicorns are just a few of the subjects covered here. Sunrise Sunset is beautiful psych-folk ornamented with vintage organ. Leprechaun Lattes is super-melodic psych-pop with a swirling, kaleidoscopic arrangement. Gold, Bones and Evil Thrones sounds both ominous and luxurious, bursting with tanpura drones, temple dance rhythms and chants.

Stately Home is atmospherically and evocatively accompanied by the whoosh and whirr of spacey synths. Ghosts are Not as Strange as Being Alive is melancholic contemporary folk swathed in eerie retrofuturistic electronics. An inventive album, recommended to all who appreciate free-thinking music.

KIM HARTEN

credits

released July 1, 2019

Songs written and arranged by Nathan Hall.

Vocals, guitars, keyboards, special effects, and reverse tape effects by Nathan Hall.

Keyboards include Mellotron, Harpsichord, Hammond organ, Minimoog, Roland SH2000, and a £20 Yamaha keyboard from Cash Generators.

Percussion includes real drums, drum machines, books, a table, Green Goblin plastic figurine, and an analogue vintage ruler being twanged.

Bass guitar by Mike Bailey.

Mainly recorded and mixed in The Sinister House, 67, Sinister Lane, Cardiff.

Some recording by Frank Naughton at Ty Drwg, Cardiff.

Drums on "Leprechaun Lattes" by Frank Naughton

license

all rights reserved

tags

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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