reviews

Second album here from The Perfect English Weather who are Wendy and Simon from The Popguns - indie pop is the order of the day and it's a pared down sound compared to The Popguns with a more acoustic sound for the most part and a restraint to much of the album. Soundwise, it follows on nicely from first album "Isobar Blues". Lyrically things are downbeat, nostalgic and melancholy - the Bandcamp page tells you some of the themes - love, work, travel and parenthood - there's a summery track on here about watching your kid dancing at a festival. I always found that The Popguns lyrics dealt with the everyday and likewise here although we're in 2018 now and not 1992 so the everyday is a little different these days. The sound is pretty clean and Wendy's vocals will always sound familiar to me as I first heard them in the early 90s - has it really been that long? I think it has. When I was visiting home recently my Dad had found my old box of tickets and therein was the ticket from when I first saw The Popguns supporting Cardiacs at ULU - 29th November 1991 - that was indeed a while back. "Air Travel (Interspace)" is kind of like an interlude - it sticks with the melancholia but is a drifting, subdued track with hushed, wordless vocals and a lovely guitar line. Towards the end of the album, I was thinking that "Still" sounded familiar and then realised that it was on their "English Weather" EP at the end of last year. The album rounds off back where it started with lyrics about the rain on the melancholy "Call Me When The Rain Comes". They still know how to write bittersweet pop songs. --Collective Zine

Indie-pop fans rejoice! One of the most anticipated releases of the year is almost here, but beware. This walk-up single may be a laid-back little taste of what's to come, but "Rockin' To The Beat," a song about "picturing a parent watching their adolescent child dancing at the edge of a summer festival crowd" is going to work you into a lather for the long player. Just a while longer, friends. 'Don't You Wanna Feel the Rain?' by the Perfect English Weather will be out next month via Matinée Recordings. If you're a regular around here, you surely know by now the Perfect English Weather are the husband-and-wife team of Wendy and Simon Pickles from the Popguns. In what felt like nothing short of a miracle, the Popguns came back to us after nearly two decades away with 'Pop Fiction.' This was no lazy nostalgia trip either. The album rivaled the band's best work and was far and away my favorite album of 2014. Since then, fans of the Pickles have been treated to an embarrassment of riches with the Perfect English Weather, an outlet for the duo to turn down the volume a bit and channel some of their dreamier sounds while continuing to produce the indie rock of the Popguns in equal measure. I can't recommend TPEW's debut enough. Upon release in 2016, I called 'Isobar Blues' "a perfect storm of ballad and boom, and all part of a warm front that drenches you with a downpour of pop hooks." The electro-acoustic pop of 2017 EP "English Winter" was even better. No foolin'.  --Linear Tracking Lives

We suppose that the term "English weather" may mean different things to different people, depending on where they live, what weather they have experienced or heard about in England, and their climate preferences.  But for those of us safely ensconced in the warm confines of WYMA Tower, English weather means only one thing - the welcome arrival of another record by The Perfect English Weather.  The personal project of Wendy and Simon Pickles, husband and wife and mainstays of long-running and beloved band The Popguns, The Perfect English Weather creates well crafted indie pop with a melancholy shading.  While perfectly capable of bringing the noise, the output is overall quieter and more contemplative than their work with their other band.  Yes, different, but certainly no less satisfying. The new record is the 12-track Don't You Wanna Feel The Rain?, their second full length.  Styled as a concept album, the album addresses adult life, and the unique perspectives on romance, separation, parenting, careers, travel, and other matters occupy one's life as one grows older.  We can relate, but more importantly, we appreciate the melodic and incisive treatment that this set of songs provides.  We feel the longing, the joy, the uncertainties, the self-depreciation, and the acceptance.  And we celebrate the great tunes that deliver the observations.  If loving this album marks us as having reached 'a certain age', then so be it.  We even will consider feeling the rain. --When You Motor Away

Beautifully judged light Pop Music from Brighton's wonderfully named The Perfect English Weather. Featuring former members of The Popguns it's a stately, dignified stroll into middle age. Reminiscent at various points of Tracy Thorne, Saint Etienne and Dubstar, it's all understated and distinctly English in terms of its essence. Full of 'ba ba bas; and swooning vocals. The record is called Don't You Wanna Feel The Rain. These people know exactly what they are doing. --It Starts With A Birthstone

Les amoureux de la pop seront ravis d’apprendre que le duo anglais The Perfect English Weather revient la semaine prochaine avec un nouvel album au titre de saison, Don’t You Wanna Feel The Rain?. C’est chez le label californien Matinée Recordings que le groupe a trouvé refuge. Le couple a écrit et composé des chansons reflétant ces derniers voyages depuis les bars de Londres, en passant par un hiver glacial à Varsovie en Pologne ou les souvenirs de soirées à Ibiza, pour terminer en Nouvelle-Écosse où The Perfect English Weather a posé ses valises. Un périple sur la vie, ses joies, ses tristesses, ses séparations et ses retrouvailles. Vous serez séduit et on vous conseille vivement d’écouter la chanson d’ouverture Only Shadows, qui sonne déjà comme un classique ! --Fanfare

Sapiamo bene che dietro alla sigla The Perfect English Weather si nascondono Simon Pickles e Wendy Pickles che, spesso, abbiamo citato quando riversano la loro carica power-pop nei Popguns. In realtà c’è anche un aspetto più malinconico e folk nel duo, che emerge appunto in questo progetto, che abbraccia un sound dolcemente folk e prevalentemente acustico. Questo giusto per dare una visione in linea di massima. In realtà poi, in questo nuovo album, ci sono certo delle perle avvolgenti e struggenti, basti pensare a un brano come “Air Travel”, che pare quasi ammantarsi di dream-pop, ma non mancano anche dei piacevolissimi mid-tempo, adatti a questa stagione autunnale e ai suoi colori (“Still” su tutte). Sicuramente i ritmi sono più bassi rispetto alla band madre, ma le melodie restano un marchio di fabbrica assolutamente inconfondibile: la dolcezza melodica di “The Waves Upon The Shingle” non potrà che soddisfarvi in pieno. Sorprende, invece, l’escursione elettronica di “Kisses On The Dancefloor”, vera e propria sorpresa dell’album con il suo andamento comunque scarno che, per una volta, mette da parte le chitarre. --Indie for Bunnies