Lovesong: Sweet Billy Pilgrim: Joyful Reunion

`Crown And Treaty' is the new album by Sweet Billy Pilgrim.
Tim Elsenburg's soundscapes have always intrigued but never connected quite so... movingly. The previous whiff of 'prog rock' now smells like your favourite button up cardy.
Elsenburg's admirable sonic ambition is tempered and tamed by his need to understand his own past (now there's a thought):


"I wanted to talk about history, and the idea that we're all chained to it; all our ideas, actions, wants, needs... everything, are tied to what's gone before. We might not see it consciously but everything we do is coloured by the past, for better or worse, and to be able to break away you have to recognise it and make your peace. You have to crown it. Make a pact with it, and move on. I've always wanted to make a record and throw practical considerations to the wind; to let my imagination run riot, and make music with all the stuff I can hear in my head, without having to worry about how we're going to play it live, or how it might be received after a previous record. And this time, I wanted to make it in bold strokes... less smudging... primary colours. Basically, I wanted to make a record that sounded like a million dollars for next to nothing. My physical view, from the window, had opened up. This record was going to have the same feeling."


I don't think that I've been as excited by an album as much since... maybe the last Elbow but one.
'Blood is Big Expense' and 'Blue Sky Falls' are the one's for me but this lead track works the waterworks as well. Come to think of it; not only am I getting the odor of new favourite jumper; I can taste a Mercury award...