3rd studio album & one of the best records to emerge in 2002! An absolute must for fans of David Sylvian, 70's Bowie etc. Recorded with a live band over a 12 day period last autumn in Belgium & co-produced by Italian composer Marco Sabiu, the album draws comparisons with classic old Motown, using lush strings, brass & choral arrangements. Initial listening may give the impression of a more upbeat sound, but this album works in a very subtle way. Beneath the accomplished & confident surface lies the old cast of characters - the loners, the lost, the defeated lovers, who drift through the songs like actors in old monochrome movies. The 'California' of the title is not so much a place as a mood, or an emotional state, which keeps them going, keeps them dreaming. The songs are all the more affecting because the lyrics & mood often subvert the musical arrangements & production. Naive France. Digipak. 2002.
1) This Life
2) California
3) Pretty Love Songs
4) Saying Goodbye
5) The Road to Hollywood
6) How Can the Knower Be Known
7) Ordinary Day
8) A Face in the Crowd
9) Morning Song
10) Venus of the Canyon