And Then There Were Four

One of 1990's most celebrated releases round this way was Sheer Taft's Cascades (together with the Hypnotone remix), a joyous, bubbling, magical piece of acid house released when Creation suddenly realised drum machines, samplers and synths could go alongside guitars and FX pedals. I've posted Cascades before, several times. Sheer Taft, sometimes shortened to Sheer, is the recording name for Thomas Taft, Glaswegian now resident in Spain. In 2018 Sheer found himself on the back end of a messy night involving the Spanish version of Pernod, Pacharan, and decided (having found the name ... And Then There Were Four) to start recording an album of spaghetti western inspired folk/ post- punk/ indie, with the intention of creating an album that could be a 1986 compilation tape made anew. With new partner Ed Chapman and friends/ Primal Screamers Martin Duffy, Andrew Innes and Darrin Mooney plus singer Justine Petty- Burrows and violinist Rachel Hewitt, the album took shape- the first Sheer Taft release for twenty five years. Duffy and Mooney manged to escape Spain just before lockdown hit in March 2020. Now, two and a half years later, the album is set to be released. The title and opening track, ... And Then There Were Four, is six minutes of Morricone inspired acoustic guitars, bells, horns and violin. The album follows in August- there are a few pre- orders of the vinyl edition at Bandcamp if you're quick.