Review by Phil McMullen of Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine:
In case you were wondering, like me, what became of York’s finest export Reefus Moons since the rising of the ‘Marmalade Sun’ CD on Delerium where he was backed by the Suicidal Flowers, the answer is an easy one: this Incredible String Band / Soft Boys disciple simply “fell asleep for five years” (unquote).
How I wish that more musicians would follow the example of Rip Van Winkle, especially if it eventually results in an album as strong as the winning pop psych found in his ‘Waiting for my Albatross’ CD, which is apparently a soundtrack for a film of the same name.
If this is on the level and not an example of Mr Moon’s imagination in hyperdrive, it could be an eye feast for sure, particularly if the sleeve depiction of a giant flying banana is anything to go by.
I could imagine fellow plantainophiles the Man band and Kevin Ayers sitting up and taking notes.
As with numerous lunar-related occasions in the past, like ‘The Word Raven’, now fetching £17.50 on certain mail-order lists, ‘Waiting for my Albatross’ remains a strictly one-man operation.
I especially like ‘Sea in a Jar’ with its xylophone / analogue synth decoration and ‘The Loon in the Moon’ a good-timey psychster which merges solo Syd styled whimsy with banjo-shaded country inflections. ‘A Song About Time’ is another high point and seems to resemble a Goffin/King experiment in flower pop once you dig beneath its swirling top coat, while ‘Moss on my Shoes’ is markedly less exuberant, with lines like “There’s two insects on my shoe, at least they’re going somewhere new” showing a potent blend of poignancy and quintessentially English surrealism, coming from a severely undervalued pen.
If you’re ever in the YO19 region and see a trail of Zzzzzzs leaking out of a nearby bedroom window, that’ll probably be Mr. Moons catching 400 winks. Leave him be: those thought balloons might just be the backbone of his next album.
Tracklist:
Lost for Words
Sea in a Jar
A song about time
White crystal birds
The loon in the moon
Gargoyles
A certain kind of grin
Moss is on my shoes
Summer ghosts
Waiting for my albatross
Reviews:
'Roar' starts with 'What happened to your shrines of evolution, what happened to your revolution? Did you leave it for tomorrow?'.
'Roar' is by far his most varied record and it occasionally has a dark tinge to it like on 'Solar Face' where the protagonist says 'I stand like a scarecrow, because no-one remembers my name, I don't cast a
Reviews:
'Roar' starts with 'What happened to your shrines of evolution, what happened to your revolution? Did you leave it for tomorrow?'.
'Roar' is by far his most varied record and it occasionally has a dark tinge to it like on 'Solar Face' where the protagonist says 'I stand like a scarecrow, because no-one remembers my name, I don't cast a shadow, because shadows are for the insane.'
With astonishing ease Moons writes songs that stay within a certain identifiable range but are almost diametrically opposed to each other. And above everything his philosophy is hovering and it says, you can be what you want to be, if you want.
'Heaven is in the mind', it's your attitude that counts, it's your vision that makes man.
Songs like 'Wonderful Land' exemplify his social concern, his concern for interpersonal relationships, the freedom of choice and decision, as well as his ecological attitude. The latter might tie in with what he answered when asked about his dayjob, and he mentioned 'a bit of gardening here and there, you know, sweeping leaves and things like that. Anything out in the countryside.'
Hartbeat Magazine #20 1997
..Reefus Moons is the pseudonym of a musically very talented young man from Yorkshire.
He has this strange, almost Syd Barrett-like fascination for unusual situations, strange people and animals, especially those of the insect kingdom.
He firmly believes in the tradition of recording everything at home and in this DIY spirit he released all his albums so far. The cassettes 'World in a Droplet' ('88), 'Moondust' ('89), and 'The Art of Slow Travelling' ('91) came out on Steve Lines' Acid Tapes label.
Reefus Moons started his own label, Insect Eye Records, in 1991 and released the LPs 'Reach for the Sundial and Kiss for the Hits' ('91), 'The Word Raven'('92) and the CD 'Upright Sound from the Message Tree' ('93).
So, as I said, it's been a while since we got some new material from him but it'sbeen worth waiting.
'Roar' features eleven new songs (36 mins) with the same bizarre English folk, populated with strange creatures, half insect/half human.
Reefus Moons has taken more time in recording and producing all the instruments used on each track and the result is great: 'Everything Under The Sun' sounds like psychedelic West Coast rock, 'Alien' is a spooky trip to outer space, 'Solar Face' and 'Interplanetary' are fantastic psychedelic rockers with heavy guitar riffs and tracks like 'The Invisible Revolution'. 'Wonderful Land' and 'Heaven is in the Mind' demonstrate his ability to create psychedelic folk with a wonderful personal touch.
Reefus Moons is a strange man but his music is even stranger and it's about time YOU started to discover his world. It's too good to miss!!
Crohinga Well #13, 1997
'Uptight Sound from the Message Tree' (Insect Eye Records: SQUISH 3, UK '93)
The 1st CD release which was limited to just 500 copies and now sold out and as Reefus said: "Recorded on an old Tascam 388 reel to reel 8-track under the influence of confusion and several cats.'
Phil McMullen- Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine 1993:
"The material on here
'Uptight Sound from the Message Tree' (Insect Eye Records: SQUISH 3, UK '93)
The 1st CD release which was limited to just 500 copies and now sold out and as Reefus said: "Recorded on an old Tascam 388 reel to reel 8-track under the influence of confusion and several cats.'
Phil McMullen- Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine 1993:
"The material on here is, if anything, sharper than ever. Moons specialises in delivering poignant visions of contemporary life filtered through distorted gossamer veils of paranormal pictures. Just listen as he spouts forth on such diverse subjects as 'Frostbite', 'Life on a Razor Blade' and 'Acid House Sergeant' in his understated, underhand kind of way, each song propelled along by guitar, rhythm and keyboards and the keyboards and the Reefus Patent Insect Energizer Device, an arcane methodology but one which does seem to work.
'The melody still lingers/Like the smell of rotting apples' sings the Reefus in 'Ghost', suddenly bursting into flower with a tiny Stylophone solo which somehow fails to undermine the majesty of the composition.
The excellent 'Seven of Seeds' and the equally worthwhile 'Skyscraper Song' only serve to confirm what we have suspected all along: Reefus Moons is one of the good guys.' Phil McMullen- Ptolemaic Terrascope 1993.
Tracklist: Mystic Man Love Bomb Life on a Razorblade Head of Chaos Clockwork Creatures Acid House Sergeant Seven of Seeds Ghost The Skyscraper Song Frostbite Uptight Sound from the Message Tree
"In one case it would go between late Lou Reed and early REM, and in the other between Monty Python and Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Both are very appropriate.' Aiden Merritt- Positive Vibrations Magazine.
Originally released in 1991 on a limited edition vinyl LP..... The Word Raven From 'Ptolemaic Terrascope': This second album from Reefus consolidates his gnomic position of Pretender to the Footstool of the great god Hitchcock, sat somewhat left of Marc Bolan and not a million miles from Barrett himself. Whimsical yet timely pivoted tunes that
Originally released in 1991 on a limited edition vinyl LP..... The Word Raven From 'Ptolemaic Terrascope': This second album from Reefus consolidates his gnomic position of Pretender to the Footstool of the great god Hitchcock, sat somewhat left of Marc Bolan and not a million miles from Barrett himself. Whimsical yet timely pivoted tunes that circle around a basic guitar motif with sometimes an underpinned keyboard are sung lyrically in a poetical monotone throughout. 'Thinking of You' is a jolly little drum-coda masterpiece set against a jangly guitar rhythm. 'Gardening the Mind' electrifies your nerve-ends and the up-tempo 'Insect Rider' with its beautifully distorted guitar centrepiece sets the tone for what's to follow. The closing side-piece of 'Cormorant in Shades' is a similarly well-crafted piece of guitar anxiety. All in all, a rewarding investment that deserves to be heard- but you'll have to move fast. Phil McMullen.
From an interview with Ivor Trueman in 'Freakbeat': "The Word Raven": This latest LP includes a fine selection of sublime ditties, like "Raven Crauscelene" - built around a droning bass line, with Reefus enthusing over the delights of seeing the world from a crows point of view; "Salamander Raincoat" - posing questions about what would have happened if people like Jesus or Hitler had been incarnated as reptiles rather than humans; & "Cormorant In Shades" with some elegant gliding guitar. Like many of his songs "Hive", bobs along merrily, with ringing guitar and harmonic ooh's & aahs creating waves of drifting emotion. Other tracks include the love song "Thinking of You", the Barrettesque "Psyco-Gnome", and the hypnotic drone of "Gardening The Mind". Maybe The Soft Boys grew up and had a child after all... "The Word Raven" is a welcome anti-dote for too much noise and comes highly recommended. It's a limited edition tho' so be sure and be quick - Write to Reefus at the address at the end of this article !
The best of the Acid Tape Years and other oddities. Features previously unreleased songs such as 'The River', 'Millionaire', 'Love Bugs' and the original version of 'Electric Chair'.
Limited edition of only 200 and only a few remaining!
Review by Phil McMullen of Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine:
In case you were wondering, like me, what became of York’s finest export Reefus Moons since the rising of the ‘Marmalade Sun’ CD on Delerium where he was backed by the Suicidal Flowers, the answer is an easy one: this Incredible String
Limited edition of only 200 and only a few remaining!
Review by Phil McMullen of Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine:
In case you were wondering, like me, what became of York’s finest export Reefus Moons since the rising of the ‘Marmalade Sun’ CD on Delerium where he was backed by the Suicidal Flowers, the answer is an easy one: this Incredible String Band / Soft Boys disciple simply “fell asleep for five years” (unquote).
How I wish that more musicians would follow the example of Rip Van Winkle, especially if it eventually results in an album as strong as the winning pop psych found in his ‘Waiting for my Albatross’ CD, which is apparently a soundtrack for a film of the same name.
If this is on the level and not an example of Mr Moon’s imagination in hyperdrive, it could be an eye feast for sure, particularly if the sleeve depiction of a giant flying banana is anything to go by.
I could imagine fellow plantainophiles the Man band and Kevin Ayers sitting up and taking notes.
As with numerous lunar-related occasions in the past, like ‘The Word Raven’, now fetching £17.50 on certain mail-order lists, ‘Waiting for my Albatross’ remains a strictly one-man operation.
I especially like ‘Sea in a Jar’ with its xylophone / analogue synth decoration and ‘The Loon in the Moon’ a good-timey psychster which merges solo Syd styled whimsy with banjo-shaded country inflections. ‘A Song About Time’ is another high point and seems to resemble a Goffin/King experiment in flower pop once you dig beneath its swirling top coat, while ‘Moss on my Shoes’ is markedly less exuberant, with lines like “There’s two insects on my shoe, at least they’re going somewhere new” showing a potent blend of poignancy and quintessentially English surrealism, coming from a severely undervalued pen.
If you’re ever in the YO19 region and see a trail of Zzzzzzs leaking out of a nearby bedroom window, that’ll probably be Mr. Moons catching 400 winks. Leave him be: those thought balloons might just be the backbone of his next album.
Tracklist:
Lost for Words
Sea in a Jar
A song about time
White crystal birds
The loon in the moon
Gargoyles
A certain kind of grin
Moss is on my shoes
Summer ghosts
Waiting for my albatross
'Marmalade Sun' with Suicidal Flowers (Delerium Records :DELEC CD 066, UK '00) CD. SOLD OUT! Sorry!
'Marmalade Sun' is a CD only release and is a joint collaboration with top UK psychedelic outfit Suicidal Flowers featuring eleven classics ranging from his usual eccentric, whimsical English folk to insane garage- stomps laced with spiralling and
'Marmalade Sun' with Suicidal Flowers (Delerium Records :DELEC CD 066, UK '00) CD. SOLD OUT! Sorry!
'Marmalade Sun' is a CD only release and is a joint collaboration with top UK psychedelic outfit Suicidal Flowers featuring eleven classics ranging from his usual eccentric, whimsical English folk to insane garage- stomps laced with spiralling and trance-like psychedelia. From the sublime and lucid to the sheer ridiculous and lunatic (on the darker side of hysteria). Available on Delerium Records (DELECCD 066)
The recording is a result of popular demand after the success of the '(All Aboard) The Electric Chair' single which also appeared on the Flowers' 'Worship The Waterfall' album in 1998. Reefus had decided to re-release his old classics 'Love Bomb', 'Mrs Orbit' and 'Groovin' With The Vicar' with the full backing of the Flowers bringing orchestral elements to his music (violin and flute)- also featured on his new classics like the brilliant 'Trojan Horses' and the spooky 'Dinosaur's Toe'.
Tracklist:
Marmalade Sun
Love Bomb
Mrs Orbit
Mystic Man
Solar Face
Trojan Horses
I Feel so Good
Dinosaurs Toe
Goodbye
Groovin With the Vicar
Marmalade Sun (eclipse mix)
"Reefus' surreal songwriting and DIY outlook is given a Dali-esque make-over with the help of members of Suicidal Flowers and Gods Little Monkeys. Brimming with upbeat, polished and disjointed psychy pop, Reefus revisits some old favourites ('Love Bomb', 'Mrs Orbit', 'Groovin' With The Vicar') and reveals some new classics ('Trojan Horses', 'I Feel So Good (I Think I Might Kill You)' and the eerie 'Dinosaur's Toe')...Definitely Reefus' best insect colony to date, lovers of the Soft Boys, Syd Barrett, Nick Haeffner etc should check this out!!" FREAK EMPORIUM, 2000.
