Under The Bridge
A compilation album
A name synonymous with 1990s indie pop, Sarah Records, is celebrated on this exquisite collection. The album features new tracks from bands who orginally formed part of the label's roster, alongside other bands featuring members of original Sarah bands, The result is an quintessential collection for any Sarah fans and collectors. More than that, it is an eminently listenable collection of great songs for the unacquanted from Stockport to Stornaway.
- Louder Than War
Click here for short interviews with the bands by Jane Duffus, or on a band below.
The Catenary Wires | Jetstream Pony | Useless Users | Tufthunter | St Christopher | Boyracer | The Wake | Leaf Mosaic | Sepiasound | Even As We Speak | Soundwire |Secret Shine | The Orchids | The Luxembourg Signal
A compilation of new songs. An essential album for all fans of Sarah Records.
Bristol’s Sarah Records was a defiantly independent, seminal label which, during its short lifetime in the 1990s, created a whole scene around itself. While the label has long since closed its doors, and eschews re-releases, the bands on Sarah – or at least their members – have kept on creating perfect pop music.
Under The Bridge is an extraordinary reunion, showcasing new material by fourteen of them. Many are British, but others hail from as far afield as Sydney, Victoria, California and Arizona. There are some names you’ll recognise: The Orchids, The Wake, Even As We Speak, Secret Shine, Boyracer, St Christopher. In many cases, their line-ups are relatively unchanged.
Then, there are newer groups, where different line-ups have evolved: Jetstream Pony and The Luxembourg Signal (both ex-Aberdeen), The Catenary Wires and Tufthunter (both ex-Heavenly), Soundwire (ex-The Sweetest Ache), Leaf Mosaic (ex-Sugargliders), Sepiasound (ex-Blueboy) and Useless Users (ex-Action Painting/Secret Shine).
Time has moved on, but this coterie of ex-labelmates is making music that is as pure and as idealistic as ever. Every track on Under The Bridge is a pop gem. Some are punk rock, some are indiepop, others are dreamy swirls of fuzz. Some are gentle, some are some are full of rage, but all of them are defiantly sensitive, literate and full of DIY spirit. The bands on this compilation are flattered, maybe, that people spend serious money bidding for 7” singles of their old songs. But they are far more excited about the music they are creating today.
All the tracks on Under The Bridge are new, and most of them are previously unreleased.
TRACKLIST (Previous incarnations in brackets)
01. THE LUXEMBOURG SIGNAL Travel Through Midnight (Aberdeen)
02. EVEN AS WE SPEAK Begins Goodbye
03. LEAF MOSAIC Bullet Train (The Sugargliders)
04. THE ORCHIDS I Don’t Mean to Stare
05. TUFTHUNTER Monsieur Jadis (Heavenly)
06. USELESS USERS Wish You Well (Secret Shine, Action Painting!)
07. ST CHRISTOPHER Stornaway
08. SECRET SHINE Lost In The Middle
09. BOYRACER Larkin
10. JETSTREAM PONY Strood McD F.C. (Aberdeen)
11. SOUNDWIRE Another Sun (The Sweetest Ache)
12. SEPIASOUND Arcadian (Blueboy)
13. THE CATENARY WIRES Wall of Sound (Heavenly)
14. THE WAKE Stockport
Under The Bridge is released as a CD album, digital download and will be available in July as a limited edition vinyl LP. CDs and LPs include a 16-page colour booklet.
A series of new interviews with the bands has been conducted by author Jane Duffus. Her book These Things Happen: The Sarah Records Story will be published by Tangent Books in 2023.