69CD - Rophonic - In With The Out Crowd - CD plus download

It’s been a summer we won’t forget in a hurry, but for me there’s another reason – the first full-length album release from Rophonic. It’s as though they knew we’d need something to listen to on the balmy evenings, so have spent the last three years making an album which is now my soundtrack to this sweltering summer. Their line-up has evolved over the last few years, but at its core has always been the multi-talented musician Michael Harding and singer Peter Rophone, who has a distinctive and beautiful voice, sometimes almost whispered but always totally compelling. The 12 tracks here all manage to have their own unique character but form an album in the truest sense. It’s as though with each new song you turn the page to discover something new, but they are all somehow linked by a musical thread. Tracks like ‘The Jewelled Crown’ have delicate, almost choral arrangements of voices and music, together creating a soundscape, as though you are in some giant, ethereal cathedral. Sometimes, on tracks like ‘The Door Into Summer’ or ‘Across the Coronal Plane’, there are few or no words and the music is a swirling mist of treated instruments. The closing track, ‘Curtain Call’, has a smouldering jazzy feel to it, and is the perfect low-key ending to one of my favourite albums so far this year. - EXPOSED

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Enigmatic chilled out beauty - TRUST THE DOC

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A dreamy hybrid of fertile, floating, surreal, majestic, scattered folk ballad, early music explorations, and neo space atmosphere. The initial seconds are a ground zero take off, with Colin Blunstone-like cottony soft vocals, in tender ballad, along with an airy tropical tinged thing of beauty. “In With The Out Crowd’ is by Peter Rophone (who performs vocals, guitars, double bass,harmonium, flute, all vocal arrangements, and writes the lyrics), and Michael Harding (piano, organ, sythesizers, samples, and clarinet). Guest musicians are Cath James (strings on ‘The Jewelled Crown’). The album cover is a combination of futuristic, fantasy, and even a bit looming. You learn that the glaring bright sky is part of a theme which I will leave for the hopeful listener to discover more about.

Both musicians have impressive backgrounds, with Peter playing acoustic guitar and singing on Regal Worm ‘Pig Views’ and also a guest on I Monster ‘Bright Sparks’, as well as formerly being one half of The Third Half (a Sheffield duo).  Michael has many years of experience and is one half of Animat, an ambitious electronics and soundtrack outfit, who have made quite a few recordings. He also has a solo out now. Both Peter and Michael have released 3 previous Rophonic EPs, but this is their first full length and most expansive to date. ‘The Erl King’ (track 3) recalls the style and sound of Declan de Barra (singer, composer, musician formerly of Clann Zu, who has solo releases now) with its distinct slightly dark celtic prose. Following that ‘Sunhead’ (track 4) has a glorious warm atmosphere supported by multi tracked voice in choir arranged pinwheels, daisies, tulips, rare roses and buttercups. More sacred beauty with Blunstone-like vocals and de Barra style wonderment.

‘In With The Out Crowd’ is very different from anything else released by Martin Archer’s brilliant and brave Discus Music label, and with certainty, a supreme addition on all levels. Primarily a vocal oriented recording, with lush framing from the sometimes sparse but blissful instrumentation, Peter’s vocal arrangements carry the listener into hidden places and far past the edge of reality. But those places are like rich gardens, surreal planets, sweet slumber, and more than gorgeous multi regional time periods. The miles of treasure Rophonic uncover, and allow the witness of, are compositions which discover generous and gentle places for the soul. Each piece comes with a silent curtain opening, presenting the audience with elegant enchantment from an imperial stage. The entire set of works are somewhat comparable to the more wayward and mysterious vocal pieces of Martyn Bates and the music of his band Eyeless In Gaza when in otherworldly mode, however Rophonic have their very own exclusive sound, which brings generous and unusual styles together on a singular platter. The duo has created a remarkable masterpiece. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. - LEE HENDERSON, ART ROCKIN

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Sin dai versi iniziali della prima traccia, Welcome Back to the Afterlife, che invitano ad “allacciare le cinture per il volo”, l’album ci invita a partecipare a un viaggio tra ballate liriche, esplorazioni nella musica celtica tradizionale e curati soundscapes. Peter Rophone suona le chitarre, il contrabbasso, l’harmonium, il flauto; inoltre scrive le liriche – vagamente esistenzialiste – e gli arrangiamenti vocali e canta, con una interessante voce espressiva e melodica –a volte (per i miei gusti forse troppe) sussurrata, altre modulata in falsetto (in modo eccessivo in alcune occasioni: per esempio in What No-OneSees). Michael Harding suona il piano, l’organo, le tastiere e il clarinetto. In The Jewelled Crown al duo si uniscono i violini di Cath James. Nonostante sussurri e falsetti, l’album in generale funziona abbastanza, soprattutto per alcune melodie che ci trasportano, avvolgono e coinvolgono. Oltre al brano iniziale, mi paiono riuscite The Jewelled Crown, My Friend The Abyss, You'll Be The Death Of Me. Brani come Across The Coronal Plane insistono invece un po’ troppo su un a monotonia che vorrebbe essere suggestiva, ma a lungo andare è un po’stucchevole - A G Bertinetto, KATHODIK.

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ROPHONIC, le groupe du chanteur-guitariste-bassiste-organiste-flutiste Peter Rophone et du claviériste-clarinettiste Michael Harding, nous propose un album hors du temps : « In with the out crowd ». Résultat de 3 années de travail, mise en avant des voix et les harmonies, des balades sophistiquées qui nous rappellent certains groupes des années 70, pour un résultat attachant et raffiné. - Guy Stuckens, Radio Air Libre

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