Trembling Blue Stars

2009

In October, after almost two years without news about new songs, the British group reappears on the Dandelion Radio program, which was inspired by John Peel, with independence and originality as the primary motivation and where DJ Mark Whitby plays the acoustic demos of three new songs ("Frosting", "Tropic of Capricorn" and "The Imperfection of Memory"), which will be included on the group's next disc.

They participate in the Judee Sill Tribute, “Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill”, released by the American Dust label.

2010

Trembling Blue Stars release their last album "Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires"

Tracklist:
CD1 Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires
01.My Face For The World To See 02.All Our Tomorrows 03.In Arrivals 04.Frosting 05.The Imperfection Of Memory (vocals by Cath Carroll) 06.The Dark World Of The Broken 07.Cold Colours (backing vocals by Anne Mari) 08.Half-Light 09.Tropic Of Capricorn 10.The Last Four Winters Of The War/ Grey Silk Storm 11.The Hidden Quarter

CD2 Cicely Tonight Volume One
01.The Floating World 02.The Lowest Arc (vocals by Anne Mari) 03.Radioactive Decay 04.Not For Second Prize (DREAM ACADEMY cover) 05.Outside 06.The Floating World (reprise) 07.No More Sad Songs (Hidden track)

It’s a bit curious, poetic and marvelous that the hidden track on “Cicely Tonight Volume One”, the EP that comes with TREMBLING BLUE STARS seventh disc, is that final declaration called “No More Sad Songs”. A great truth is hidden behind it, painful and chilling. After leaving the scene in 2005, Bobby Wratten’s band definitively stopped their activity, with an album that seems more like a miracle than a farewell. And that is because the songs on it melt between the fragile beauty and that magical melodic capacity belonging to the leader of unforgettable bands like THE FIELD MICE and NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY (who are more vindicated and adored every day by the new wave of indie groups all over the world, from THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART to PAPA TOPO), rebelling against the evanescence of the flame while throwing its life force into the need to see the light. The eleven songs that make up “Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires” and the seven that are included on the EP “Cicely Tonight Volume One” (hence giving this fantastic release the form of a double CD) are really one of the most incredible pieces of work published so far by Wratten and company. Marvels like “Cold Colours” (one of their best singles in many years) and “All Our Tomorrows” find TREMBLING BLUE STARS more intense, organic and spirited than we’ve heard them up to now, while songs like “Frosting” (one of the songs we can hear in advance in acoustic format through dandelionradio.com), “Half-Light” and “The Dark World of The Broken” give us the more detailed, subtle, melancholy side of the band, one of their trademarks.

After having participated on tributes to Grant McLennan and Judee Sill, Bobby Wratten found the necessary inspiration to write his last songs under the auspices of TREMBLING BLUE STARS, to call the illustrious Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE, THE SCHOOL), a name that can never fail, and get into the studio to put together this last full-length release. “Fast Trains and Telegraphs Wires” is a collection of undisputable, exciting and disturbing songs, that includes the work of Jonathan Akerman, Beth Arzy and Keris Howard again, that indie-pop super-group, as well as Cath Carroll’s (singer of MIAOW, one of the groups included on NME’s mythical tape, C86, and musical journalist) special collaboration on vocals on that gem of a song full of sweetness that is “The Imperfection of Memory”. And, the album closes with “The Hidden Quarter”, a beautiful composition dedicated to the film and video director, Derek Jarman (responsible for videos from THE SEX PISTOLS, THE SMITHS, PET SHOP BOYS and even “Losing my Religion” by REM). On the other hand, “Cicely Tonight Volume One” offers the more experimental side of Wratten, the side that gets closer by the second to big names like Brian Eno, in addition to the latest (?) vocal collaboration of Anne Mari Barker-Davies on “The Lowest Arc”, a version of THE DREAM ACADEMY, the revolutionary band of Nick Laird-Clowes, called “Not For Second Prize”.

Two complementary parts that give a panoramic view of the incomparable and unique figure that is Robert Wratten, and especially his work at the head of the Mitcham-based band, capable of light and darkness, of reflecting pain and sadness in brilliant, emotion-filled melodies. It is an epilogue that will be completed with the second part of “Cicely Tonight”, a new CD-single that will be out soon and that will bring a close to one of the most personal and unforgettable discographies that has ever been released. The music is forged somewhere between love and melancholy, the notes reflect the sincerest emotions, and it has a sensitivity and honesty that will be difficult to hear or see again. The discography ends with a masterpiece, but, we hope, that it doesn’t mean the end of an artistic career for this inimitable song-writer.

The end of TREMBLING BLUE STARS is like trying to completely forget that love that changed your life: in the end, it’s impossible that it disappears, but just the thought of it happening is an unending sadness.
 

Discography in Elefant:
ER-1039 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Her Handwriting” Double LP/CD (August 1997)
ER-1054 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Lips That Taste Of Tears” CD (March 1998)
ER-1070 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Broken By Whispers” CD (January 2000)
ER-1089 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Alive To Every Smile” CD (November 2001)
ER-1106 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “A Certain Evening Light” CD Digipak (July 2003)
ER-356 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Southern Skies Appear Brighter extended play” CD-Single Digipak (May 2004)
ER-1114 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “The Seven Autumn Flowers” Double LP/CD (October 2004)
ER-359 TREMBLING BLUE STARS “Bathed In Blue” CD-single Digipak (April 2005)
ER-1126 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "The last holy writer" Double LP/CD Digipak (May 2007)
ER-369 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "Exploring the shadows" CD-Single Digipak (September 2007)
ER-255 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "Beautiful blank" Single 7" (September 2007)
ER-1154 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires" Doble-CD [November 2010]
ER-286 TREMBLING BLUE STARS "Correspondence EP" Mini-LP 10" (Mayo 2011)

Discography in other labels:
ER-1116 “The Seven Autumn Flowers” (CD, Universal Records, Philippines, 2005)
ER-1116 “The Seven Autumn Flowers” (CD, Bar/None, USA, 2005)
ER-1116 “The Seven Autumn Flowers” (CD, Pop Fredy, Australia, 2005)
 

Singles:
“Abba on the jukebox” 7” April 1996 Shinkansen 1
“The rainbow” 7” CD-Single November 1997 Shinkansen 8
“Doo-wop music” 7” (blue vinyl) August 1998 Shinkansen 18
“Dark eyes” CD-EP October 1999 Shinkansen 20
“She just couldn’t stay” CD-Single June 2000 Shinkansen 23
PEEL SESSION (not on sale) September 14th 2000
“The ghost of an unkissed kiss” CD-Single September 2001 Shinkansen 31
“Slow soft sighs” CD-Single April 2002 Shinkansen 35

Songs in compilations:
“Letter never sent” and “For this one”, in BRIT POP (DOUBLE-CD, Arcade 2000)
“Open skies”, in MOMENTOS PERDIDOS (ER-1115 CD, 2004)