A bit of trebly electric adds to the sheen of the 60s, if through a cracked window to the present. Thomas’s vocal glides in, blending effortlessly with the instrumental landscape, occasional electronic FX and percussions seeping in and out, never losing or taking the focus from the rhythmic drive of the guitars and bass. Things start promisingly with Against The Tide, picked guitars against a bouncy acoustic bass, all very Pentangle, with retro electric twangs to add counterpoint. She and, apparently, the Chief Druid, another town resident. Her presence is not lost on Norris, citing her as one of the integrals that demonstrate the importance of this location to his muse. That one, Albion Country Band and solo, a doyenne of English folk. Recorded in Norris’s home studio, in the shadow of Lewes Castle’s ruins, and therefore close to fellow Lewes resident, Shirley Collins. His partners in rhyme are Rachel Thomas, with an authentically existential voice, all smoke and cobwebs, and multi-instrumentalist, Stuart Carter, who picks up most of the stringed instruments, leaving Norris to keyboards, percussion and production. Now he has taken a further step sideways, embracing just as much psychedelia, but now bolted into a folk-rock/jazz-folk sensibility. Order Of The 12 are the brainchild of Richard Norris, an early adopter of dance music in the Grid, alongside Soft Cell-er Dave Ball, and later in lysergic berserkers, Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve. Well, from Lewes actually, Islington on the Downs, that unfailing bastion of intellectual hippiedom, Brighton’s cooler hipster uncle. And all from the deep, dark depths of the countryside. And bells and whistles it is, this being prime psych-folk territory, all something wicked this way comes, with bustles in the hedgerow. So a wise decision has been made to give it another launch, with a few more bells and whistles. Blink and you missed it, but this little gem actually came out last year, if only for a moment, and it sold out even before it dropped.
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