The Humble Bee - A Miscellany For The Quiet Hours

Essential item coming up... First time vinyl press of the debut CDr release from Craig Tattersall's Humble Bee project, originally released through his now somewhat mythologised Cotton Goods' imprint. Tattersall's been at work in the British underground for decades, and most will know him for his contributions to Hood, though outside of the usual in-the-know circles, his Humble Bee output has remained frustratingly obscured. It's strange, too, as what he was doing with the much celebrated Hood does have relevance here - minimal glitch-based electronica constructed from tape loops that affords it that same bucolic, distinctly British pastoralism, albeit free of the horror of the countryside creepiness that defined Cold House. In its place is a gentle wholesomeness, frayed at the edges with that decayed sound of Mille Plateaux before it, Caretaker, and now, West Mineral, yet soporific and unashamedly lovely in a way that's all its own. Like a humble bee, i suppose. I'm a little disappointed to not see this reissued with the original artwork, which seemed to be a perfect presentation for the homespun, fractured electronics within, but it's a small gripe when the music itself is getting the wider platform it demands. Do not sleep.