Thought Leadership - III Of Pentacles

Limited to 300 copies

Thought Leadership's self-released debut from 2024 makes the upgrade from cassette to vinyl courtesy of Be With. Clearly big fans, the label have provided an especially gushing press release that says a fair bit about the music but very little of its players (it wouldn't be unfair to assume there's just a single person involved), aside from their residence in Stockport. I shouldn't imagine it's too difficult to locate who's at the wheel here, though the choice to remain hidden at this stage is well in-keeping with the abstracted dreamworld the music inhabits. Music is from everywhere now, but there is a particular appeal to the idea of certain sounds being tied to a specific locale. Thought Leadership's position in the North West allies them with a lineage that's instantly identifiable on first listen - you can't hear those opening guitar chimes and not think instantly of Vini Reilly and Factory Records. Those are somewhat eternal footnotes, and who can deny such geographical impulses, but I'd suggest it's on the flip side where III of Pentacles really spreads its wing, venturing into the shadowlands of 80s ethereality, adding a little of the blue hour ambiance of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and Maurice Deebank's Inner Thought Zone into the mix. It might well be a narrow lane Thought Leadership plough, but it's amongst the richest soil to dig. Since there's a second collection also already online (appearing just two months after the first tape appeared) suggests the inspiration remains undimmed.
 
FFO: Durutti Column, Sensations Fix, Maurice Deebank, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance