Melody Maker, June 1996 - Interview to Everrett True

From heartbreak and memories comes TREMBLING BLUE STARS' magical songs. Play when alone.

Obsession and heartache can sometimes make for the most affecting of music.

Throughout his sorjourn as singer / songwriter in Sarah Records' wonderfully romantic The Field Mice, Bob Wratten was obsessed with discovering the perfect love, wracked by self-doubt. Through four albums and six singles, that quest never faltered. And, somewhere along the line, he met her... Annemari. She joined the band as a singer, The Field Mice recorded a couple of sumptuous, almost ambient dance-pop records (the final one described by our own Taylor Parkes as like "running breathless and barefoot through moonlit meadows"... nice one, TP) - along the way predating the emergence of both St Etienne and Portishead by a good few years - and split among a flurry of fists on a Glasgow stage. An illicit video of their final London show captures a tear-streaked Tim Orlando at the front.

So Annemari and Bob went off to form Northern Picture Library (Annemari refusing to sing live due to overwhelming stage fright) and... live happily ever after, Bob secure in his perfect love. Isn't life sweet?

Well, almost. One listen to the first single from Bob's new band, the mournful, exquisite Trembling Blue Stars, and it quickly becomes apparent something has gone terribly wrong. "Abba On The Jukebox" (produced by St Etienne's background mainman, Ian Catt) is a list of remembered moments from a doomed relationship, Bob's voice all fragile and yearning.

Bob himself takes up the story.

"Northern Picture Library fell apart because Annemari and I fell apart - hence this new record. It was really difficult to carry on. There was talk of us maybe doing some instrumental stuff, so she wouldn't have to sing my lyrics, but..."

The singer trails off forlornly.

"So I asked Matt and Clare" (formerly of Sarah Records, now of Shinkansen, their previous label having been terminated with their 100th release) if they'd be interested in another record from me," he continues. "I was writing so many songs and throwing them away - the songs were so personal, i was checking with everybody as to whether they thought it was a good idea for me to record them. On the third attempt, I finally managed to make the record - this all sounds pretty melodramatic now, but I was pretty messed up."

Bob's loss is our gain. "Her Handwriting", Trembling Blue Stars' debut album, is simply magical (the title is taken from a particularly appropriate line in The Go-Betweens' "Part Company"). One long litany of beauty and despair: from the opening, number calm of "A Single Kiss", through such heartrending songs as "What Can I Say To Change Your Heart?" and "Last Summertime's Obsession", to the rousing almost Neil Young-esque (circa "Harvest") finale, "To Keep Your Heart Whole".

If you need reference points try New Order circa "Bizarre Love Triangle", the aforementioned Go-Betweens or Spacemen 3, even, when they were being all warm and gentle and hypnotic. But, really, Bob Wratten's new project sounds like... Bob Wratten.

And, as such, it's perfect rainy Sunday afternoon music. Be warned, however. It's not an album to play when in company.