There are several reasons why people prefer the inferior sound quality of vinyl to that of a CD. The first is vanity and consist of the i) “Ooooh look at how many extortionately priced albums I have purchased because I am considerably richer than you” sorts and ii) the ‘its cool this year’ crowd. These are the sorts who take great pleasure in posting pictures of their newly acquired vinyl all over social media or posting really interesting YouTube videos of the vinyl playing.

The other primary reasons are a) a hankering for lost pleasures of yesteryear and b) it is the inferior sound quality of pops, hisses, whistles etc that adds to a sense of warm aural pleasure. Perhaps point b is the only one with any real merits, as there is certainly something endearing about music swathed in imperfections.

Perhaps this is why so many artists go to great lengths to release their projects and especially side projects, on 8/4 track formats? Perhaps they are trying to create that extra sense of raw naivety, that only comes from having the sound recorded in a manner that is so free from production bells and whistles, that it just sounds like the artist has trapped you as a willing prisoner in a basement studio, to merely run a few ideas past you.

Julian Pitt’s latest Armstrong project, thrives upon the four track format not just because of the reasons given above, but also due to the sheer contrast with the sophisticated guitar pop that his studio work provides. It is a sound that is still inimtably intimate, but now even more beautifully so.

The sense of 4 track augmentation is revealed via three primary aesthetics on this release. Initially the more uptempo tracks of Let’s Be Decisive, Sunday Walking and Believe in You, prosper on the extra aural space that the uncluttered 4 track format provides, enabling impossibly Cleaners From Venus style pop rock melodies to tumble out of each other and subsequently re-convene in jangly perfection.

The format also provides the best vehicle for the fuzz inclinations that the artist occasionally visits, with the tracks I Like You Too Much and When He’s Had A Few (He Changes) slathering fuzz into the 4 track omnipotent ‘distant feel’, to provide a  slight shoegaze feel, without ever being engulfed by it’s introspection.

The very best of this album is thankfully the most prevalent and is seen in tracks like Troubador Timing, Maybe You Could, Sandbox, Now and Then, Art is on Quicksand and When Things Don’t Work Out. Here, the tempo is completely reduced, and the stripped back production and recording techniques reveal an emotionality to Julian Pitt’s voice that has always been omniprescent, but never quite so intensely vibrant. 

Of course the whole 4 track thing will always tend to remain the domain of demo’s and noodlings, but sometimes a release like this, shows the format’s propensity to reveals extra layers of beauty, in the already beautiful.

I am not sure you will ever find a more stunning (legally) free download than this !!!

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