There are musicians who prefer to make the recording process an endurance test, obsessively poring over every note, and then there’s Vini Reilly. The elfin Factory stalwart – who’s confessed on many occasions to owe his career to the mentorship of Tony Wilson – is of a different mindset, according to creative partner Kier Stewart “Vin wants to be there for as little time as possible, when the creativity’s happening, when the paint’s flying around. He doesn’t want to be around for the needlework.”
It’s a precedent that goes all the way back to his debut album The Return of The Durutti Column, one which was largely framed by producer Martin Hannett. Then, as today with Renascent, Reilly claimed he hadn’t heard the finished article until it was ready to be released.
Now 72, his ways of working have become no less eccentric either. Along with Stewart and long time collaborator Bruce Mitchell, work on the material began in 2017: pandemic distancing rules meant that in order to continue through that period Stewart would park a van outside the maestro’s kitchen window and record whatever he heard.
The results have a timeless feel and eclectic vista, a celebration perhaps of The Durutti Column’s legacy of experimentation within certain loose boundaries. Where Reilly himself contributes vocals – on Liars and Scammer – they’re barely above a whisper, but his neighbour Caoilfhionn Rose helps to upbraid Sargasso Sea and especially the Cocteau Twins-like Agonistes. The centrepiece though is Stewart’s tasteful rework of For Belgian Friends; now renamed For Friends Everywhere, the addition of French Horn and vibes are particular masterstrokes. Vini Reilly leaves the finishing off to someone else, but Renascent is amongst other things evidence that his recent coming into vogue amongst the pop fraternity is well deserved.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 