The past few years I’ve been seeking out more and more instrumental music. Khruangbin, The Comet is Coming, Material, Pharoah Sanders… but I wasn’t expecting to add Robyn Hitchcock to that list!
Robyn has released a few instrumental tracks in the past. I Often Dream of Trains is bookended by two short instrumental tracks, “Nocturne (Prelude)” and “Nocturne (Demise)” that are hauntingly beautiful. But the vast majority of his catalog includes his unique vocal stylings. (If you’ve never listened to Robyn, you should correct that immediately. But if you want a description, just take equal parts John Lennon and Syd Barrett with a dollop of Bob Dylan and there ya go.)
Anyway, I was excited to see the announcement this week that he’s releasing an all-instrumental album Life After Infinity in April. Two tracks are already live on Bandcamp, and you can pre-order the album there in the format of your choice. Unless your choice is 8-track, in which case you cannot, but why would you?
“Celestial Transgression” reminds me a lot of the aforementioned Trains. “Come Here, Little Ghost” has a twangier, folkier feel than I’m used to with his music. Maybe a touch of bluegrass? That’s the genre that comes to mind, but admittedly I’m not a big bluegrass listener so I could be way off target there.
At any rate, I love both tracks and can’t wait for the full album to drop in April.