Dimly Lit is an album by British band Neils Children. The album was recorded throughout December 2012 at Studio La Vache in Toulouse, Southern France and was released on vinyl/digital download on Monday 10 June 2013 on the French independent record label Boudoir Moderne. The record represents the band's first release since 2009 and the first ever Neils Children album to be released on vinyl.
Background
After a three-year hiatus, founder Neils Children members John Linger and Brandon Jacobs played shows with original bassist James Hair, focusing on material from their 2003–2005 period. The shows put the band in touch with French promoter and label owner Damien Louchet, who proposed the group recording an album for his label Boudoir Moderne. Once the decision was made to record a new album Linger completed demos for various songs that feature on the album, and once the material was chosen the sessions for the album were booked. Without Hair on board (who decided against further band work in favour of building up his homemade food business) Linger and Jacobs decamped to Toulouse, France to record an album's worth of new material as a two piece, sharing the instrumental duties of drums, bass, guitar, percussion and keyboards between them.
Musical style
The material differs from the band's previous work and focuses on much more melodic instrumental parts, performed on vintage synthesizers and keyboard sounds such as Roland Juno, harpsichord, mellotron and hammond organ whilst sidelining the importance and prominence of guitar. The song 'The Beat of the Boulevard' also features the unique sounds of the autoharp based iPhone app AutoArp.
The album incorporates elements of psychedelia, library music recordings, jazz and krautrock. Bands such as Stereolab, Broadcast and Silver Apples have been noted as being an influence on the album, which can be heard in the drum patterns, keyboard lines and vocal melodies, as well as in the production of the songs which feature strong use of spring reverb, valve amplifiers and tape delay. The short, hauntology-esque vignettes between various songs also bear resemblance to releases from the Ghost Box record label, such as those by The Focus Group and Belbury Poly. Studio La Vache, the studio at which the album was recorded in rural Toulouse, uses a mixing desk once belonging to the famous cabaret venue Moulin Rogue.
Track listing
Side 1: "At A Gentle Pace" "Edward the Confessor [Featuring Amy Turnnidge on vocals]" "Dimly Lit" "The Beat of the Boulevard [Featuring Bonnie Carr on vocals]" "The Way The Web Was Woven" "Warm Wave" Side 2: "Never Could Be Any Other Way" "Telling" "Trust You" "Those You Thought Would, But Who Never Will Again" "What's Held in My Hands"
All songs written by John Linger. John Linger- Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Keyboards. Brandon Jacobs- Drums, Keyboards, Percussion. Recorded and Produced by Neils Children, John-Michel Cros and Ayumu Matsuo. Mixed by James Aparicio. Cover photo by Damien Louchet. Artwork by Ciaran O'Shea.
After recording
After the recordings were completed, the pair recruited former Strange Idols guitarist David Smith and French musician Syd Kemp (on keyboards and bass respectively) to form the nucleus of the current live band which have played exclusive one-off shows in support of the album. The first of these was an intimate sold-out show at London's Power Lunches venue where the full album was played in sequence. Since the primary Dimly Lit shows the band have pared down the number of songs in the live set, but the set still consists only of material from the album. They played Bad Vibrations' all-dayer at The Shacklewell Arms with Novella, YoungHusband and The Tambourines. On Monday 10 June 2013, the release date of Dimly Lit, they returned to the same East London venue with support from YoungHusband and Lost Harbours. It was announced that in July 2013 the group would play as part of the East End Live festival line-up featuring Toy, The Monochrome Set and Pere Ubu among others.
The video for the lead single "Trust You" was featured on The Pirate Bay's "The Promo Bay" home page and received over 60,000 views.
Critical reception
The album has received widespread critical acclaim from various important music publications such as Q Magazine, Loud and Quiet, Louder Than War, Artrocker and Shindig! Magazine.
Q Magazine gave the album 4/5 in their August 2013 issue claiming the album as being "unexpectedly brilliant". Drowned in Sound gave the album 9 out of 10 and declared it 'One of this years finest albums'.