My discovery of Rachel had a bit of a detour, to be honest. Having been a huge Birdie fan – the super retropop duo consisting of Debsey Wykes and Paul Kelly (ex-East Village), who met during their Saint Etienne contributions – I knew of the existence of Debsey Wykes former legendary Twee/C86 project Dolly Mixture … of course. But I can’t say that I was a fan around the time they were active. Not because I am not of that age group, but simply because I was listening to other music at the age of 15. I even discovered Birdie way too late, and this was simply because they were supporting act of a The Clientele show, somewhere in 2013. I guess I started being cool after the fact.
But I am probably the biggest fan of Birdie in existence. So much so, that we (Nah…) even recorded a cover of “Linus“. It was lovely to dig a bit deeper into Debsey‘s past and see all the old pics and clips from her Dolly Mixture days. The group Dolly Mixture were signed to Paul Wellers‘ Respond label and championed by the likes of The Undertones and not the least John Peel. I suppose right now, there is more of an interest than ever in these legendary bands (Slumberland even re-issued East Village ‘s: a Hotrod Hotel collection of all the band’s early singles).
But Debsey and Paul were not the only talents of the bunch! In comes Rachel Love, the other member of Dolly Mixture. Totally out of the blue to me. But my co-admin and Swedish radio 88 DJ Calle Falksten on the Sophistipop Lounge has eyes and ears everywhere and shared the first single “Primrose Hill“to all of us music nerds and aficionados. The response was more than enthusiastic. It’s like we’ve all been waiting for more of this sound, which, similarly to last year’s A Girl Called Eddy release, has that same blend of nostalgia and clever orchestral musicianship embedded. This time with a a bit of retro/twee innocence and “Britishness” added. Could it be more perfect?
Rachel is also is the singer in the band Spelt and released her first solo single Primrose Hill around a month ago (see https://www.fadeawayradiate.com/2021/01/fadeawayradiate-update-3/). Today she reveals her second single Down The Line which was previously recorded by Dolly Mixture and can be found on their triple CD ‘Everything And More’ Boxset and their Rough Trade ‘Other Music’ album .‘Primrose Hill’ album will be released in May 2021. We are all looking forward to it. It’s what we need!
