The Perfect English Weather - Just Beyond The Lights
The Perfect English Weather - Just Beyond The Lights
‘Just Beyond The Lights’ is the new album by The Perfect English Weather who are Wendy and Simon, a husband and wife duo from the East Sussex coast of England. Their “beautiful, slightly melancholic pop” has often drawn comparisons to artists like The Sundays and 10,000 Maniacs.
The album title is taken from a lyric in the song ‘Preston Street’, which is sung from the point of view of somebody who drives the van for a band and always picks them up “just beyond the (traffic) lights”. The title also reflects on Wendy and Simon’s move away from the big, bad city of Brighton to the edge of the Sussex Cuckmere Valley; and perhaps is a small nod to their commercial appeal being just a little outside the mainstream.
A recurring theme on the record is an enduring relationship with place. Opening track ‘Pilgrimage’ was inspired by the melancholy feeling of visiting a location that is associated with an icon and then wondering how they might have felt about the tourist industry that has sprung up around that place. It could be the John Lennon peace memorial in Central Park, Alan Turing’s office at Hut 8, Bletchley Park, or a walk across the Yorkshire moors after reading a Bronte novel. Meanwhile, ‘Paperback Reader’ takes place on a favourite park bench, where the protagonist escapes during the working day for a little longer than they really should.
There is also a trio of songs set in Wendy and Simon’s old hometown of Brighton, including singles ‘Caroline of Brunswick Square’ and ‘London-by-the-Sea’ plus the aforementioned ‘Preston Street’. Bletchley Park also finds a place in the song ‘Margaret’, whose story is based on the women who worked in the code breaking teams in WW2. Their contributions are a stark reminder of how diversity in the workplace was accepted when it was desperately needed, but once the war ended those brilliant women were largely silenced and their skills underused.
The album aims for a natural musical feel with acoustically recorded piano, viola, drums and guitars across most tracks. It was recorded at Church Road Studios in Hove, with contributions from talented local musicians.
- Pilgrimage
- Paperback Reader
- London-By-The-Sea
- Caroline Of Brunswick Square
- Margaret
- Leonard
- For An Angel
- In The Light
- Preston Street
- Just For A Second There
reviews
The music of The Perfect English Weather sounds like you'd expect from a band with a name like that. That's not a diss, but sort of a compliment at the mood captured here on the duo's new record. Just Beyond the Lights is an album that sounds like the mood one might have on a rainy Sunday in England, when the sun's going down and the kettle's on. That kind of thing. Opener "Pilgrimage" is elegant and lovely, Wendy's voice multi-tracked behind her lead. The tone is brighter a bit on "Paperback Reader", a modestly more upbeat melody anchoring this one. Lots of The Perfect English Weather may make a listener think of Sarah Cracknell's solo works, or even Yank outfit Ivy ("For An Angel" especially). And "London-by-the-Sea" reveals a faint hint of inspiration taken from the later works by The Sundays. Things don't jangle quite as much, but this is uniformly lovely stuff, with a distinct perspective on the English experience. That kind of thing translates well into the sort of music I tend to gravitate to, and I'm assuming anyone reading this site probably feels the same way. The best way to describe Just Beyond the Lights is that it is a sort of concept album. I'm not saying that there's a story here, but that the album is one where the songs feel connected, at least in terms of mood. And the entire thing is looking at life in England in a very specific way, one that sees the gloom as sort of a balm. The Perfect English Weather found a way to channel that whole vibe consistently over the span of a whole record. In that sense, this is a release best listened to in order, and all at once. So I guess it kind of is a concept album. In a way. Just Beyond the Lights is out now via Matinée Recordings. —A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
Seven years after their beautiful Don’t You Wanna Feel The Rain? album pondered the modern-day experience of adulthood, Wendy and Simon Pickles (The Popguns) other project, The Perfect English Weather, is back with a 'Just Beyond The Lights' third album that strips back just about every imaginable musical utterance and sound to provide a sentient minimalism that thrives on the juxtaposition with a multi-layered context that can be as clever or as obvious as the reader decrees. Whilst other reviews I have read quite correctly ruminate upon the sense of place that the album delves into, to my mind the release is more of a detailed life’s “middle-aged wisdom” response to those that have been hero worshipped by the couple at some point. From the windswept, faux-aural soundscapes of 'Pilgrimage' and their slight unease as to how the abode of a hero has become a tourist attraction; to the maudlin acceptance that at some point the meaning of all life will somehow be diluted to just that of another person in a queue, no matter important they once were, as detailed in 'Margaret', a song about WWII heroine Margaret Rock who was responsible for great intellectual feats of code breaking which are now seemingly meaningless. Of course, love lost (or perhaps lust in relation to 'Leonard'), or more specifically the thrill of giddy youthful love, is fondly remembered as perhaps the ultimate hero-worship, no matter how temporary it may have been. Here 'In The Light' and the closing 'Just For A Second There' sums just how important our earliest loves will always be within our memories and somehow gains even more credence amid a Wendy Pickle vocals delivery that is so sweet, precise and perfectly intonated. Available on CD from Matinée Recordings, this album has to be the most ‘beautiful’ of the year 2025 so far !? —Janglepophub
