In a thousand bedrooms in a thousand cities, the ghost of melancholy haunts a thousand musicians to such an extent that they create words and music just to exorcise all that lurks in their shadows. That exorcism takes many forms from the self-indulgence of one man, one guitar and half a beard to the technological mirror that is the laptop and all combinations inbetween.
Patchwork Guilt – the nom de guerre of Bristol’s Phoenix Mundy – follows an organic, indeed laconic, path with the three songs that make up this EP having just enough melody to maintain interest without making an actual statement. There is, however, something almost hypnotic in the laidback delivery of her vocals suggesting that the final destination for Patchwork Guilt is most likely headphone intoxication and, as if to provide psychic reinforcement, “Rays” and “Plastic Gazing Eye” are clearly lit by the sweet smelling sunset of west coast folk rock. Rather more motivationally complex is “Lizard’s Grin” which might lead the adventurous among you to conclude that this is what Caethua would sound like if she were to cover a Fleetwood Mac song.
Introspection is the name of the game here but that does not make the music of Patchwork Guilt inaccessible. Her time is that of the late evening and we all get there eventually.
Available from Bandcamp.