The last time W&H came across Poppy Gonzalez, she was working with Brighton's under-rated Dreamfield, who produced an enigmatic slice of noir-ish pop with "Christopher's Dream" back in the mists of 2003. They had a penchant for playing gigs in Estonian art galleries and other such unlikely events and looked like going far.
The ensuing silence since then suggested that wasn't to be the case after all, but in the time-honoured tradition of one door closing and another much more promising one being flung open, it seems Poppy was best out of there after all, because in harness with her two new colleague Katie Mummery and Peter Simmons as HUSH COLLECTOR she is clearly well on the road to fulfilling the promise of her previous work.
The four tracks on their debut Flowby" EP are warmer and more organic than the Dreamfield material and headily addictive. The opening title track is vibe-y and dreamy with resonant brushed drums, the guitar textures clean and noisy seemingly all at once and Poppy and Katie duetting with a supernatural intuition. "I'm shedding the coat that the world made me wear and I feel fine," smoulders Poppy at one stage, certain in the knowledge she's made the right move. And with this track reminding favourably of the hymnal delights The Cowboy Junkies and her old muckers Mojave 3 have previously thrilled us with, well it's impossible to disagree.
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It's a fine start, but magically it's dwarfed by what follows. "Mountain Song" is great again: spooked, potent and otherworldly and the kind of thing Mazzy Star did so well on "She Hangs Brightly", but with added warmth and harmony lulling and some stinging guitar stabbing you in the side. The closing "I Go Blind" is different again: built around a Bert Jansch-style acoustic guitar figure and makes for an excellent blues-y postscript.
Sandwiched between these two, though, is your reviewer's personal favourite in "It Don't Matter". After a hushed "1,2,3, 4" intro, it gradually assembles itself - via amoebic piano, tinkly toy shop cymbals and wraith-like vocals - into a thing of the most gorgeous gossamer beauty. It moves forward with a ghostly determination, cocks a snook at the Velvets and The Concretes and even finds room for the occasioanal atonal guitar scree to keep you on your toes. It's tingly and utterly delicious and makes it clear Hush Collector are a gentle presence you simply cannot ignore.
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