Album: Richard Hawley False Lights From The Land EP (Mute)

Richard Hawley's affinity for the sea has long been evident, through songs such as "The Ocean" and "The Sea Calls", so this slim portfolio of maritime pieces is no great surprise.

It's anchored by the 10-minute "Remorse Code", from his Truelove's Gutter album, which finds the singer "fathoms deep in regret... lashed to the wheel to pay the stars their debt" while his gorgeous guitar fills glint like sunlight on water and the rhythmic swell rolls. Other tracks find him accompanied by the vocal group Smoke Fairies on "Shallow Brown", an acapella shanty about a poor soul "shipped on a whaler" to be sold overseas, and "The Ellen Vannin Tragedy", an old Spinners song about a Manx sea disaster of 1909, recounted over mournful harmonium and guitar.

DOWNLOAD THIS Remorse Code; Shallow Brown; The Ellen Vannin Tragedy