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Delighted to announce we've managed to acquire a handful of dead stock copies of Movietone's long out of print third and fourth records. Balancing a fine line between indiepop confessionalism and post-rock's electric anti-formalism in a way not atypical of the indie underground of that era, Movietone nonetheless remain a somewhat under-appreciated presence. Were they born in the wrong place or time? Their contemporaries will have been internationally diffuse, and these final two records would have certainly stood at odds with the early noughties UK zeitgeist. All the better. The late 90s Bristol scene from which they emerged was rich with an experimental spirit, but what defines Movietone for me is their delicate sincerity. They're as smart as, say, Stereolab or Yo La Tengo, and their offshoot project Crescent displays ever-diverse outre tendencies, but it's their emotional dexterity that rings as most distinct, at the time perhaps only matched by Garbage and the Flowers. Being on Drag City in the US also ties these particular records quite clearly to the Chicago scene, and there's certainly some affinity with the complex pastoralism of John McEntire productions, Gastr del Sol, The Sea and Cake et al. These are heavy-hearted, autumnal lullabies, watercolour-like in their fragile charms, yet expertly produced, with Kate Wright's wonderful vocal guiding the ship. They might be best understood as new, distinct manifestations of British folk tradition. No overstatement, but for me some of the very best music of its era. Utterly essential in every way. Drag City tell us these are the very last copies they have... Jus' sayin'
