Tarragon here issues some superlative dream-pop from Coventry, drip fed by some of the best brass you’ll hear this year. Spice up your life or what!

RATHER LOVELY; WISTFUL & DELICATE

Well, this is both extraordinary and rather lovely, if unexpectedly so. Seldom has there seemed to be such delicacy of thought around finding the perfect arrangements for these wistful dreamy songs. So who TF Tarragon? The story is one that is becoming increasingly familiar: deeply shy lad on the spectrum struggles with the real world, finding music an easier form of communication than conversation. But, rather than maudlin and melancholy bedroom confessionals, these are rich constructs that merge and meld lush instrumentation with subtle electronica, drawing in some of the finest session players around, either side of the big pond. Warm brass sits alongside shimmering electronica, rippling guitars, lush keyboard textures and more, much more. The melodicism is intense; think Brian Wilson crossed with an early and less FX obsessed Bon Iver.

COME TO COVENTRY

Cofa’s is Cofa’s tree, something that few outside Callum Pickard’s home town of Coventry might appreciate; it gave the city its name. It is here, at home, that this, currently, postman has put this all together, funding the release through this and other front facing jobs, pushing hard at his comfort zones. Yet, clock the names involved, high vis members of bands such as the 1975, War On Drugs, Tame Impala and even Supertramp. How did they get to be involved, and the answer is that because Pickard asked them to. As in if you don’t ask and all that. Respect.

OK, this is a second release, following 2022’s I’ve just Seen A Scene, which caught many ears, particularly at the BBC, and, whilst the production, mixing and engineering is largely Pickard’s own, additional input and subsequent mastering has come from some of the USA’s finest technicians, used to working with way more established names: John Lennon, Lou Reed, Pet Shop Boys. Which surely can’t hinder.

LANGUID, WOOZY & WONKY

It is with a fluid wash of synthesised keys that the album opens, for Dice, a languid strum of acoustic bedding in the vocals, which first arise as a crooning tenor, ahead of soaring to the pitch retained for most the record. A shock, when it first happens, but soon becomes entirely appropriate, even as the track ends suddenly, without warning. Lulled, then, into a sense of disconcert, Kiss Me On The Line offers a greater semblance of structure, electronic percussion a pulse propelling the wash of keys.

Pickard’s voice is more Green Gartside adjacent here, the melody also capturing the vibe of Scritti Politti, at least until the synth drums pick up with even more resonance. The sotto voce harmonies of Shara Nova, aka My Brightest Diamond, slot in beneath and beside Pickard, and it is a woozy wonky haze of a song. It also introduces the brass, that later becomes so much of and so integral to this record.

Leaping, track by track, in confidence and calibre of the construction, Tucked In Despair is a fully formed slow banger, hewn on a framework of vocals, treated and otherwise, electronics, guitars, including pedal steel, piano, percussion, drum programming, it is lifted by the rich flugelhorn and French horns of C.J. Camerieri, who generally plays with the aforementioned Bon Iver, and the saxophone of 1975 man, John Waugh. Whilst the song is good without, with the brass it is a whole lot better, instilling an organic warmth into the mix.

MELLIFLUOUS MELODICISM

Blueprint carries forward a similar mood, a little more briskly, with additional real drums adding a bonus of ballast. from Julien Barbagallo (Tame Impala). The choral vocals tread a tight line between natural and altered, succeeding through knowledge of where one starts and the other ends. This then leads into the sonorous chapel organ of the title track. Adding his own vocal harmonies, the result is near hymnal, tempered then by the distinctive buzz of paired clarinets. Barely two minutes, it is mellifluous.

One of the clarinets is provided by John Helliwell, the erstwhile Supertramp fella, the other by Mark Dover, a US classical virtuoso, who has also collaborated with Vulfpeck, the maverick funk-soul collective. I’m boggling at the eclecticism of Pickard’s contacts.

No time for boggling, mind, as the magnificent Catching Full On looms gloriously out the speakers, the brass and percussion pairing as if designed always with this song in mind. Camerieri again, this single song is worth the price of admission. The flux of layered contributing sound is compact and concentrated, but it is the brass that shines strong and true. Marvellous, as is Reel Lives, where the horns wobble and falter as sole accompaniment for the keening vocal. Now it is a bevy of saxes and flutes, with strings bursting in at the integral point. The vocals are again awash with a hint of a full Pet Sounds ambience, flickering in and out repeatedly across these songs.

SPLENDID ON THE EAR

Cold to The Bone has a more urgent thrust, an overtly commercial mix of beats from both man and machine, the former, this time, via Dave Ormsby, an experienced session pro whose sound is better known than his name. It is another blast of Script Politti I am getting again, this time with a hint of Prefab Sprout. Plus more of that lush background brass. Strings are more to the fore for Recover Your Light, with co-producer, Juan Ariza, adding cello.

MDM, with no A, I note, ups the brass quotient once more, via Camerieri, and wouldn’t shame the Dan, were Donald Fagan to explore more his electronic side. Another very Wilson-esque melody, it is another of the many binge-worthy tracks here, with all manner of additional textures swooping and seeping in from the sides. The overall tapestry woven is splendid on the ear. I’d go as far to say that this release shows off the best use of brass this year.

DREAMY PIANO

Some dreamy electric piano informs the instrumental interlude, Small Colt Leads, ahead being enriched by more of Waugh’s moody saxophone. You know those transcendental tunes Van Morrison dabbled so much with in the 80’s, all synths and his own blown alto, that’s very much the spirit here, which, if not sought, is certainly found. It acts the introduction to Hail Hollow, a near conventional acoustic strum of a song, then gilded and lifted by yet more sterling hornwork from Jon Pudge, of Birmingham Symphonic Winds, and Camerieri.

It’s Time We Go Now (Trading Hearts) is, appropriately, the final offering, a farewell via a forlorn sounding keyboard, to which clarinets add some ceremonial pomp. There is a repeated unexpected drop of sound that keeps recurring, an old trick, maybe, but played to perfection, alerting attention every time, irrespective of quite how many listens in you are. Masterful, sir!

APPLAUD & APPLY

There are a lot of big name references littering this review, what with Brian Wilson, Steely Dan, Bon Iver and more, and not all often obvious bedmates. But Pickard is to be applauded for his imagination in seeing through the competing inspirations, spun through with, clearly, so much too of his idiosyncratic own. I think this is a major talent we are hearing here. But don’t just take my word for it, get your ears on him, over on Bandcamp. You won’t regret it.

Tarragon: Website

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