Paul Hayworth – Ultra Violet – LP review

Paul Hayworth is a solo musician from Cambridge in England whose recent releases span genres from indie to space rock. He’s also a prolific artist, having released nine albums and an EP in little over a year – a brief listen to his most recent few left me wondering how one man could produce such diverse music.

Paul Hayworth - Ultra Violet

Paul Hayworth – Ultra Violet

For the sake of brevity I’m going to concentrate on his latest release, the nine track LP Ultra Violet, which came out on the 6th May 2013 and is an especially intriguing one as it is the first in a collection of four albums which explores some of Paul’s previously unreleased back catalogue from the 1990s.

From the start this album is laden with psychedelic overtones, with an emphasis on spacey composition rarely heard in modern times. I’m a sucker for trippy music and this fits the bill nicely.

The opening track, White Sun, is akin to an indie-psych Radiohead without the crisp production. Indeed, the entire collection is a little rough around the edges, but the artist explains the material was recovered from an old 4 track recorder left to gather dust for the best part of two decades, so the ambient hiss and odd crackle is perfectly in keeping with the theme.

If White Sun wasn’t enough to sway your opinion of this collection then perhaps Black Hole will finish the job, with its dreamy vocals, melancholy piano melody and moody synth work.

Title track Ultra Violet (UV) displays a more upbeat psych-rock persona which verges on dream pop, with muted percussion and a pleasingly pulsing rhythm.

With its hazy swagger and ostentatious intro, Engineer is one of the most memorable tracks on the album, reminding me a little of early Porcupine Tree.

The final track Propeller Boat ends the collection with a definite “bang”, going for a more focused composition which flows very nicely indeed.

At times the production is somewhat muddy and lacking in overall crispness, which is a shame as there tends to be is a lot going on at any one time, but once again this is no doubt due to the age of the material and rarely spoils the experience. Overall this is a really nice assortment of hazy-day songs, and a perfect accompaniment for long journeys and sunny afternoons.

Hopefully the rest of this collection will be released soon and the artist can continue to create some original and varied music.

Thanks for the review Robbie as always. For more of Robbie’s thoughts on Twitter.

If you would be interested in reviewing bands on the Indie Bands Blog, please drop me a note to tim @ indiebandsblog.com.

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