After 29 years with British indie pop collective Comet Gain, David Christian cut his losses and decided to fly solo. However, he is far from alone in this new venture as he has the backing of a carefully assembled a six person Pinecone Orchestra, two of whom (Ben Phillipson and Anne-Laure Guillain) were members of his former band.
Perhaps more significantly, Christian decided to leave behind the Brexit induced chaos of London for a new home in the South of France. The LP was made in a French barn/farm owned by Mike and Allison Targett with Mike producing and both Targetts adding vocals, pianos and more.
There’s a nostalgic thread running through the songs although there are no hint that the singer regrets making the move to Europe. The title of the record is a tribute to “half remembered and faded folks” or as he puts it in Lockets, Drop-outs and Dragnets: “we all choose who we’re haunted by.”
One track is poignantly entitled When I Called Their Names They’d Faded Away and he refers affectionately to “immaculate losers” and “diamonds in the dirt” in The Ballad for the Button-Downs.. The latter is the album’s standout track as well as being the most upbeat and rock-orientated of the 12 tunes.
Christian’s vocals are often unashamedly tone deaf to render a quasi-conversational tone to the lyrics. In consequence, the album has more charm than charisma with its merits lying primarily in the down to earth, unpretentious quality of the song-writing.