Dyble Longdon - Between A Breath And A Breath (out September 25th 2020)

[Fritzinger]

Dyble Longdon - Between A Breath And A Breath


I could have posted this in the Big Big Train thread, but I decided to create a new one for this project. I just put on the vinyl LP for the first time, and I felt it deserved a thread on its own.

David Longdon and Judy Dyble have worked together on the Big Big Train song The Ivy Gate off the band's Grimspound album. Their musical visions and voices worked well together in my opinion.
While listening to it on this rainy day, I realise that it sounds completely different than BBT. Also, it will take some spins and time to completely "get it". It's folky, it's old school, it's acoustic and analogue. It feels like there was always a chimney fire burning while this music was made (like on the picture inside the gatefold, visible below). At times, it sounds a little jazzy and weird even. It's definitely a prog album. Full of layers and creative backing vocals, but never bombastic. I'm excited for what I will find during the next spins.

According to Longdon, it was purposely constructed to be a 1 LP album ("old school", as he described it), and I love that. The gatefold cover and artwork are lovely and full of detail.

Sadly, Judy Dyble died shortly after this album was announced. So there can never be a second album or live performances. It surely would have been interesting to hear what those two would come up with next.


If you have not heard this yet, I recommend that you do.

[HOF]

I was holding out on getting this just because I wanted to stream it first to be sure. Haven’t had a chance to listen yet but hope to soon. I did like Astrologers, so I’m pretty sure it will be worth getting.

[The Letter M]

I, too, thought about posting about this in the BBT thread, so you're a couple steps ahead of me there Fritz! 

I'm about to have my first listen to this album. I've never heard anything by Judy Dyble before outside of her appearance on that one BBT track, so this will also be my first experience with her on a whole album. I love that most of BBT play on this album as well, as this sort of serves as a stop-gap between BBT albums, but it definitely seems like it'll be a beautiful album all on its own, though fans of BBT should definitely check it out.

-Marc

[Fritzinger]

I, too, thought about posting about this in the BBT thread, so you're a couple steps ahead of me there Fritz! 

I'm about to have my first listen to this album. I've never heard anything by Judy Dyble before outside of her appearance on that one BBT track, so this will also be my first experience with her on a whole album. I love that most of BBT play on this album as well, as this sort of serves as a stop-gap between BBT albums, but it definitely seems like it'll be a beautiful album all on its own, though fans of BBT should definitely check it out.

-Marc

Looking forward to your thoughts on this album Marc!

You're right, most of BBT play on this album, but they are purely session musicians - and I don't mean that in a bad way. As mentioned, this is something very different to BBT music and not just here to "fill the gap" between two BBT albums  and I think that's great. The musicians from the band mostly don't play together in the same track(s) if I recall correctly. Also, for example Rikard doesn't play keyboards oder guitars - he plays accordion. And how awesomely he plays it!

[HOF]

Wow! Wow again. Just finishing my first listen and it’s a spectacular recording. Very lush with lots of layered instrumentation. It’s not directly like BBT, but I think it has the same quality of writing and performance that you would expect from a BBT album (reminds me somewhat of parts of Far Skies Deep Time maybe). Mostly it reminds me of albums by artists like Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Tears for Fears, etc. It’s folky too, but more so because of Judy’s voice and the lyrical approach. Now I wish I had preordered because sitting down with it for the first time would have been a lovely surprise.

Who plays the guitar solo on the next to last track? That’s a really powerful point in the album.

[Fritzinger]

Wow! Wow again. Just finishing my first listen and it’s a spectacular recording. Very lush with lots of layered instrumentation. It’s not directly like BBT, but I think it has the same quality of writing and performance that you would expect from a BBT album (reminds me somewhat of parts of Far Skies Deep Time maybe). Mostly it reminds me of albums by artists like Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Tears for Fears, etc. It’s folky too, but more so because of Judy’s voice and the lyrical approach. Now I wish I had preordered because sitting down with it for the first time would have been a lovely surprise.

Who plays the guitar solo on the next to last track? That’s a really powerful point in the album.

According to the liner notes of the LP, the only guy playing guitar on that song (Whisper) is David himself! I was also surprised yesterday to learn that he's apparently quite the guitar player...

[HOF]

Wow! Wow again. Just finishing my first listen and it’s a spectacular recording. Very lush with lots of layered instrumentation. It’s not directly like BBT, but I think it has the same quality of writing and performance that you would expect from a BBT album (reminds me somewhat of parts of Far Skies Deep Time maybe). Mostly it reminds me of albums by artists like Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Tears for Fears, etc. It’s folky too, but more so because of Judy’s voice and the lyrical approach. Now I wish I had preordered because sitting down with it for the first time would have been a lovely surprise.

Who plays the guitar solo on the next to last track? That’s a really powerful point in the album.

According to the liner notes of the LP, the only guy playing guitar on that song (Whisper) is David himself! I was also surprised yesterday to learn that he's apparently quite the guitar player...

Oh, that’s really cool. I knew he played guitar and really all sorts of instruments, but didn’t realize he played like that. He is an incredibly talented musician.

[HOF]

So this album and Rikard’s new Gungfly album are probably going to fight for album of the year.

The song Tidying Away The Pieces will break you when you consider Dyble’s life circumstances while writing it. France is a gorgeous mini-epic. That orchestral theme near the end is magical. Heartwashing is a very cool spoken word piece. Everything is great though and so far rewards repeated listens. Lots of detail and the songs just sort of unfold as they go in a way that is really special.

[Fritzinger]

Listening to this album again right now. I came back to my apartment in Austria this week after visiting my parents and friends back in Germany. That means I couldn't listen to many new albums on my proper turntable. Well, this album just got better for me while listening with good speakers. The sound is fantastic, and I hear small details within the arrangement coming out of every corner. France is playing right now, simply beautiful. But I love that this album is not all nice and pretty, it also has some edge and experimental parts on it.

I think, Alone Together will be next! Man, BBT has some seriously talented musicians  Imagine Alone Together, Between A Breath and Invisible all put into one album. I hope, the next BBT album will be a collaborative effort. I'd love for Rikard to sprinkle some weirdness into the band.