Towards the end of 2016 Simon released another collection of material, some of which stretched back as far as 1991, while opener “Teahead” was written for this album as he didn’t feel that any of the others worked as an opening cut. As with his other compilation, Simon played all the material, but this one feels far more complete, as if the songs were more complete ideas than demos. I am quite a fan of “Teahead” and it certainly doesn’t sound as if there was a lot of improvisation and stream of consciousness lyrics. I’ve never been a fan of electronic percussion, and would be interested to hear what this would sound like with a full band, as the crunching guitars of the verse and contrast of the chorus are wonderful. Contrast that with “Blood In The Milk” from 2001, which has a delicacy and fragility in both the music and vocals that is enthralling. We also have a one-man epic in “The Year”, which is more than fourteen minutes long and contains some music originally written for Tinyfish. Thoughtful and dramatic, this works incredibly well.
Although I wouldn’t recommend the first archive collection to those who haven’t come across Simon, this works well.
https://sigodfrey.bandcamp.com/album/black-bag-archive-vol-2.
