Psychedelia, folk, Beatle influences and a generous dash of humour . It’s all here on Wonderland, the new mini-album from Matt Webster and his Signia Alpha ensemble

Release Date:  21st February 2025

Label: Mutiny 2000 Records

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

EP? MINI ALBUM? WHO CARES?

Should we call it an EP or a mini-album?  Who cares, when the music’s this good.

The project known as Signia Alpha arose initially from a 2019 collaboration between poet Nick Toczek and his fellow Bradfordian, multi-instrumentalist Matt Webster.  Matt would provide the music, often a heady amalgam of indie, jazz and funk. Nick chipped in with his signature left-field and surreal lyrics.  It was in this form that the duo released a pair of albums, kicking off in 2020 with their debut, Shooting the Messenger.

Matt Webster remains the axis of the Signia Alpha enterprise and Wonderland – let’s call it a mini-album and be done – is the follow-up to the 2023 album, Entropy. That album we described as: “…a glorious cacophony of psychedelia.”  Signia Alpha-watchers will already be aware that, when Matt gets the urge to create, he’s able to call on the instrumental services of some pretty heavyweight mates. As was the case with Entropy, so it is with Wonderland. Indeed, many of the same chaps that helped to make Entropy such a rewarding listening experience are back again.

A FEW POWERFUL FRIENDS

Ex Damned and Eddie & The Hotrods bassist, Paul Gray is here again to lay down more of his clangy Rickenbacker bass foundations. So are guitarist/vocalist Simon ‘Nogsy’ Nolan, vocalist Harris, guitarist Wulf Ingham, jazz saxophonist Keith Jafrate and flautist Chris Walsh.  Also along this time to add a few extra sprinkles of magic powder are singer and co-writer Paul Tunnicliffe and bassist Mark Cranmer.

Wonderland is a short collection – just seven tracks – but it packs quite a punch, covering all bases. Bases that range from Matt’s signature left-field psychedelia, through Woodstock-era bluesy folk and Beatle-influenced instrumental experimentation to hilarious campfire comedy-folk.  Along the way, Matt and his cohort tackle such thorny issues as free market economics, the plight of the homeless, wild nights on absinthe and being tormented by flies.

WONDERLAND

It’s the album’s title track that gets Wonderland up and running.  The subject matter is “…being sold the impossible dream,” in which a perfect world seems almost within reach, as long as we play by the rules that we’ve had set for us.  A repetitive, choppy, Beefheart-ian guitar figure provides the backing for Matt’s dreamy, otherworldly vocals. They carry thesong’s key messages – “Do what you’re told – and I want your soul” and “We don’t need to phone you – we already own you, in this Wonderland.”  It’s all a scary reminder of where we all sit in this current society…

There’s bitterness and huge cynicism in Harris’s tone as he narrates a monologue that swipes – variously – at slavery, foxhunting, power economics and the spacebound exclusivism of the likes of Elon Musk in the fascinating A Slave to Enterprise.  The soaring guitars reflect the space references, the percussion is tight and funky and the playout is suitably weird. 

BOND MEETS THE BEATLES

Matt’s description of the instrumental For Your Ears Only as “Bond meets The Beatles” is right on the nail.  It captures the vibe of Rain-era experimentation and it’s my favourite track on the album. One of the best tunes I’ve heard this year.  And if you’ve ever wondered what a space-age Hank Marvin would sound like…you’ll find the answer here, in this 4¾-minute burst of 21^st century psychedelic bliss. 

“They stay where they’ve no place to stay and go where they’ve no place to go,” sings guest vocalist and co-writer Paul Tunnicliffe, as he turns the band’s attention to homelessness for the gritty, folky Anyway.  It’s a song that could easily be mistaken for something from the catalogue of Tim Hardin, Bert Sommer or a host of other Woodstock-generation writers. Paul’s gruff vocal tones are the perfect fit for the song’s raw lyrics. The picture is completed by some equally raw howls of harmonica and a dash of tasty slide guitar.

ENTICING ESCAPISM

Tunnicliffe sticks around for the psychedelic funk of Starlight, and he’s joined by Keith and Chris, whose sax and flute add some nice melodic flourishes.  The Rickenbacker bass sound is up front and vivid. Keith’s sax is stunning and the lyrics – “Untie the tethers so we can drift away – on an ocean of starlight” – are classic, and thoroughly enticing, escapism.

Matt recalls an absinthe-soaked trip to Prague that he undertook with Harris, and evokes images of a party in hell, in lyrics like: “Embrace the darkness, welcome the night – drink my health with absinthe in the moonlight” in the folky Moonlight.  Paul G’s basslines chug, wind and twang, the harmony vocals herald the rising of the moon and Keith’s sax and the soaring guitars replicate the beams of moonlight on another of the album’s standout tracks.

AN EXCELLENT SHORT COLLECTION

If you think that things might be taking on a heavy, serious tone, relief is at hand with Killin’ Flies, Wonderland’s hilarious closing track.  I’m reminded of Half Man Half Biscuit as Matt sings: “F*ckin’ flies!  Little bastards buzzin’ ‘round my head all night,” reflecting on a situation that, surely, we’ve all suffered at some time or another.

Wonderland is an excellent short collection; is there more in the pipeline from Matt Webster and Signia Alpha?  I, for one, sincerely hope so.

Listen to For Your Ears Only – a standout track from the album – here:

Signia Alpha online: Bandcamp / Facebook

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