Anton Barbeau – In The Village Of The Apple Sun

Anton Barbeau’s music has been ranked alongside that of XTC, and one suspects parallels are being drawn with that band’s Dukes of Stratosphear incarnation. The comparison is probably unfair, for while the Dukes’ village green psychedelia was a nostalgic if unruly pastiche, Barbeau’s flowers in a world where punk and indie have definitely happened. In this Village, the vocal mannerisms of Bauhaus, Bowie and Barratt collide with the sound experiments of Graham Coxon and George Martin.
Setting a powerful pace, ‘This Is Why They Call Me Guru 7’ with its god-like, post-punk wall of guitar immediately convinced me of its brilliance – no easy feat these days. ‘On A Bicycle Built for Bicycle 9’ pretended it was going in a formulaic or repetitive direction, only to drag me off the path and into the woods where it had its wicked way with me.
This sense of descent / ascent into madness / enlightenment lies in wait throughout the album (the astonishing ‘Seeds of Space’, the spiralling ‘Murray Boots Are Conquering The World’). ‘The Bane of Your Existence’ blossoms under the influence of Jamie Smith’s violin only to be wonderfully hi-jacked by a demon’s tribute to Fleetwood Mac. It sounds like the 80s being played 60s instruments.
The stand-out track is ‘When I was 46 in the Year 13’ which starts out like the aforementioned Dukes’ ‘What in the World??…’ and transforms itself into something from Bowie’s ‘Low’ period before getting into a fight with the Rolling Stones and the Moody Blues. It’s like a whole album, a whole epoch in three and a half minutes.
‘Mushroom Box, 1975’ benefits from Sharron Kraus and Lara Miyazaki’s early indie backing vocals, and I wish Kraus’s Maddy Pryor-isms in particular were more present throughout; the ‘Sing Gypsy Sing’ edit left me wanting so much more. The seemingly underdeveloped ‘Eric has Gone Wrong’ and ‘Outro’ also left me hungry with the hope that Barbeau will experiment further in future, exploring longer instrumentals or opening up the vocal space to other singers. Barbeau’s music is consistently brilliant, but his vocals are at their most distinguished when they’re odd and scary. The vocals in the title track – which is catchy but flimsy – suffer from a Mike Scott-type earnestness, redeemed only by a Revolver-style musical workout.
And while I’m being critical, the drab and ugly sleeve would benefit from carrying the bright complimentary colours of the image printed on the actual disc.
However.
‘In The Village Of The Apple Sun’ is an indisputable triumph, a treat for the ears, and one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. Go and find it.

Elton Townend Jones