Yesterday, the day of the seemingly heathen Swedish half-holiday Walpurgis Night, saw the release of Paul Messis’ first single as a duo together with Jessica Winters of London group The Hall of Mirrors. A fitting framing considering the soft psychedelic sounds of the two tracks, touching down halfway between English psychpop group Kaleidoscope and West Coast-styled folk-psych group The Growing Concern. Conceptually linked to classic duos like Sonny & Cher and Lee & Nancy, Paul and Jessica still manage to bring something new to this tested formula. The self-professed influence from The Folklords on Messis’ compositions is beautifully apparent on a-side “Sunflower”, which combines autoharp with sitar and 12-string guitar (watch the video below). Even better (and the opening track on the latest Record Turnover podcast) is “As Nightmares Turn to Dreams”, which reminds me of the majesty of The Ashes’ recordings (pre-Peanut Butter Conspiracy). Pick this great two-sider up on green vinyl from State Records.
