We are chuffed to bring you the extraordinary recordings made by Patrick Porter (one half of the space-pop duo Phineas Gage) in 1997-98. Committed by the then teenager to a friend's basement 16-track ADAT in the early hours of the morning, the songs on "Reverb Saved My Life" have a Nick Drake-like internalisation and soul. These recordings, originally self-released on cassette under the title "Lullabies for Bleeding", have now been reengineered and expanded instrumentally to present them sonically as their scope and sweep deserves. 

Patrick says of the recording process "The main thing I remember about the sessions is that I always recorded at night, usually from 2 A.M. 'til sunup, and that awarded the songs a kind of gentle, secretive quality, as though I were recording in a womb or something; just totally alone, no engineer or band members or anything. So there was a hushed quality to the songs, and it felt very personal, which I guess is unsurprising considering the circumstances". Lyrical, lilting and rhythmic, the songs share some similarity to work by the likes of Spiritualised, Low, and Piano Magic, but seem more like floating in a zone of sleep-deprived questioning and seeking rather than in space. 

Lambent and glorious, Porter's vocal and guitar work shine throughout, but never more so than on the newly recorded "St Louis", on which the swaying melody and skipping guitar lines are tracked by a night chorus of crickets inside a vast cathedral of sound.

Other resources:

CAM034CD - Phineas Gage - "Reconsidered"

CAM071CD - Patrick Porter - "Lisha Kill"

MP3s from this release can be found here