Still Corners

Creatures Of An Hour

 

01. Cuckoo

02. Circulars

03. Endless Summer

04. Into the Trees

05. The White Season

06. I Wrote in Blood

07. The Twilight Hour

08. Velveteen

09. Demons

10. Submarine

Creatures of an Hour, the debut full-length by Still Corners, glows with the delicate vocals of singer Tessa Murray and the atmospheric, cinematic influences of songwriter Greg Hughes. Still Corners capture both the youthful tone of French New Wave and the unease of Italian horror, from the projections (created by band member Leon Dufficy) that feature heavily in their live performances, to the free-floating grace of Creatures of an Hour. “There’re just certain things in certain movies, like older horror movies and other foreign films, that you see sometimes. They just have a certain vibe and atmosphere,” says Hughes. “All these little bits, these tiny moments. That’s what I was trying to go back to. To bottle that up and put it into a song.”

Recorded at Hughes’ own studio in Greenwich, the devil is truly in the details of Creatures of an Hour. Fusing whispered intimacy to the emotional expansiveness of composer Ennio Morricone, Hughes crafts deceptively simple songs that linger like half-remembered dreams.

Lead single “Cuckoo” shines in its simplicity, a single drumbeat, ghostly guitar, and distant organ highlighting Murray’s haunting soprano as she asks, “I’d like to read your mind/can you read mine?” “It’s about confusion,” explains Hughes. “It’s about being confused. Am I going crazy? Does this person like me? What’s happening? That’s the vibe of the whole record really.”

For the time being, Hughes is happy to maintain Still Corners’ musical mystery. “I don’t like to talk too much on decoding the songs. It takes the mystery away,” he says. Reviewers like Gorilla vs. Bear, Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound however have proven more than happy to sing the praises of the pop beauty of Still Corners. So grab some popcorn and stick around—for Still Corners this is just act one.

Released: October 11, 2011

 
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