Pulselovers - Cotswold Stone

We urgently need to tell you about a reissue of Mat Handley's shimmeringly beautiful 'Cotswold Stone'. This debut long player from Mat's Pulselovers project was first released in 2019 and is driven by warm analogue sounds effortlessly conveying a feeling of being somewhere beautiful, out in the country. 'Cotswold Stone' presents a meditation on the passing of time and the persistence of memory and is in part a reflective work of familial dedication and reverence. The narrative is one that takes the listener on a journey through the rolling hillsides of England. The record is given extra dimensions and texture through the deployment of woodwind instruments at various points which add a real sense of pastoral energy to the work. Picking out highlights is always a tricky task when a record is so conceptually strong and consistently rewarding but let's have a go. 'In The Marsh' beautifully juxtaposes reverbed and spectral piano with bright synth arpeggios and distant woodblock percussion, whilst it's glorious counterpoint 'On The Heath' is as inquisitive and enigmatic as the first hare of spring. 'The Green Leaves of Shilden Hall' are verdant and lush, propelled by some lovely flute and clarinet accompaniment adding an ivy-covered gentility to proceedings. 'In The Grove' with it's spectral saxophone evokes images of solemn hillside sunsets and spiritual reflections on past lives. Badby '80 deploys slabs of heavy electrical sound stretching out into the middle distance, while 'Under Wychwood' is driven by a rugged bass riff that speeds along country lanes and dazzles with full headlights before skidding to a halt and depositing the listener at our journey's end of 'On The Wold'. CiS are delighted to be able to re-present this album in a new edition of 300 copies utilising the same colourway as the original LP, but pressed up on a rather beautiful cornetto variant.