A NEW ALBUM FROM THE SHADOW KABINET
‘SMILING WORLDS APART’
In the beginning there was HARK!
And the people harkened and it was melodic and good.
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Now The Shadow Kabinet have reconvened for their latest sonic adventure, Smiling Worlds Apart, confirming Steve Somerset’s position as one of the keepers of the flame of melodic guitar pop.
Smiling Worlds Apart features 19 original songs, all written, performed, arranged and produced by Steve Somerset. From the Helter Skelter mayhem of the title track to the English psychedelic whimsy of ‘Just As Lost As Me’ this is music that owes as much to Salvador Dali as it does to the Beatles.
“If there’s a manifesto for the Shadow Kabinet it can be summed up in just one word: melody,” says Steve. And there’s no shortage of great melodies on this album. Taking his cue from the great writers of the Golden Age of Pop, like Ray Davies, David Bowie, Lennon and McCartney, Steve creates music that is at once familiar and yet original and innovative.
“I’m a huge fan of the three and half minute pop song,” says Steve. “Variety is important too. I think there is definitely a ‘Shadow Kabinet sound’ but it encompasses a wide variety of styles.”
Don’t just take Steve’s word for it. Here’s what XTC’s Dave Gregory says about the album
"The Shadow Kabinet's best ... a scenic, colour drenched trip across Steve Somerset's dreamy universe... all aboard!"
There’s a sense of fun here too with songs like ‘Bad Hair Day’ and ‘Tabla Motown’, while songs like ‘When Winter Comes To England’ convey a poignant yearning for days gone by.
So sit back, place your ears twenty-four inches apart and enjoy a journey in Shadowphonic Stereo Sound through some of the grooviest tunes to massage your ears in this or any other year.
"Another gem from London's unsung pop genius." - Mark Hudson of The Daily Telegraph.
" kind of reminds me of Lennon, Moody Blues... but new too!" - Darius Brubeck
"Steve Somerset, AKA The Shadow Kabinet, deserves to take his place among the distinguished company of several English ’60s-inspired psych-pop troubadours. If you are so inclined you can detect in his music traces of Bowie, Syd, Donovan, Ray Davies, Robyn Hitchcock, XTC, Martin Newell and a score of lesser lights, but such influence-spotting is to miss the point. Mr Somerset excels at inventive and romantic tunes on which he plays and sings everything. The songs are simply too good to be derivative; fans of the artists mentioned above will really enjoy this CD. There are some wry observations on ‘Office Life’ and ‘Trouble And Strife’ and a gentle humour is at work on ‘Bad Hair Day’ and the nifty instrumental ‘Tabla Motown’. Another instro, ‘Surfing On The Shadows’ is a twanging, rumbling guitar-fest. One of the strongest tunes, ‘The Strings Of Her Sitar’ contains no sitars at all."
Phil Suggitt
Shindig Magazine
"Like most great albums, Smiling Worlds Apart is a grower. It appears as an album heavily influenced by the psychedelic 1960s. Only a handful of tracks belong in the psych bag, in my humble opinion. Instead I think the album is influenced by the best of the 1960s music as such. Melodic, though you don't get tired or bored by the songs after a few spins. Quite the opposite.
The Shadow Kabinet is a one man band and Steve Somerset sings in the John Lennon tradition, to some extent. There are traces of George Harrison as well, within and without the Beatles, and other 1960s music harder to pin down, and a little bit of vintage Bowie and Roxy Music. The album opens and ends with some great 60s flavoured pop songs that are hummable and preserve or improve your high spirits. Pop songs that keep spinning in the head in a non annoying way. For instance "What Am I Supposed To Do?" sounds like Lennon in fine form with Harrison on a nice slide guitar. "Office Life" is a mysterious cross between Roxy of the 70s and underground hero Martin Newell of the 80s (if you haven't heard about Martin, check out Giles Smith's wonderful book Lost In Music about playing with Martin and the outskirts of music biz). "Oh Poor Me" is the resigned singer-songwriter number, only accompanied by an acoustic guitar or two whereas "Just As Lost As Me" is a piano-driven merry sort of number with some tasteful guitar work, especially that slide again.
With track no. 6 "Sylvia The Psychic" the album moves into murkier waters. The song sounds like a psychedelic breed of Lennon's/Beatles' "Hey Bulldog" and "Bungalow Bill" (!) with sitars and all, believe it if you can. "Tabla Motown" (great title!) is an instrumental Indian folk gem interspersed with a strange string quartet arranged by a psychedelic genius. It's all Steve! My personal favourite of the lot. "Between Two Worlds" is the "Tomorrow Never Knows" of the album, drone stuff, only a little too short to be hypnotic. The title track on the other hand moves towards heavier prog-psych; guitars all over the place. This section is rounded off with the harmonic pop-in-the-Byrds-vein "The Strings Of Her Sitar". Good time!"
Johan:-The Lunar Cafe Global Music Inn March 2009
Praise for HARK! the debut album from The Shadow Kabinet:
"The Shadow Kabinet is one-man outfit Steve Somerset who does everything on his Hark! CD. The title track opens the disc and comes across like a post-Floyd Syd to some extent. ’Shadows On A Foggy Day’ is a slightly baroque pop number whilst ’Save Me’ is a light, melodic plea for elevation from the throng and hum of the urban everyday. Light, well written and melodically styled pop vignettes make this a perfect end of the day soundscape." - Shindig Magazine
"Somerset! The great trash alchemist, the man with the rock ‘n’ roll gazetteer in his pocket, the entire youth culture roadmap in his head, trailing melody in his wake like a faint perfumed mist... his ragged juvenile lead tones, as ineffably English as country lanes and the sort of Sunday teas nobody eats any more." - Mark Hudson Music Critic for The Daily Telegraph.
Hark! is a great disc, full of variety, plenty of sounds to sooth the soul of the sixties and seventies fan. Wonderful vocals and songs throughout. I’m in love with “I’d Rather Be Out in the Rain”: love the backgrounds, love the harmonies. Intoxicating melody. “The Laugh Was On Lazarus’ is beautiful with a wonderful melody. " - Alan Haber, Pure Pop, WEBR Virginia
'I love my old soul. Other music rarely moves me. But the psychedelic pop of Hark! (carnival weirdness, jangly melancholia… Bit Bunnymen, bit Beatles) I like. A lot. And considering The Shadow Kabinet are not dead, black or American, that’s really saying something - Bibi Lynch TV Presenter
HARK! IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A DOWNLOAD ONLY FROM CD BABY
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