At Swim Two Birds - Before You Left

Before You Left underlines Roger Quigley's credentials as an expert purveyor of slowly unraveling melancholic pop. Over more than a decade, both on his own and as leader of Manchester's Montgolfier Brothers, Quigley has developed a distinctive style of composition and delivery. The voice, increasingly rich and sonorous, presides over a backdrop of delicate, repetitive guitar arpeggios and sweeping cello. The mood - soporific, hypnotic - recalls Spiritualized's woozy refrains as well as the likes of Bill Callahan and Leonard Cohen, with whom Quigley has been compared in the past.