Album Of The Month - "Beautiful Broken World" by The Pull of Autumn

The Pull of Autumn are an art-rock, space-rock, ethereal rock, post-punk, new wave, neo-classical collective, whose multi-faceted music stretches across the spectrum of alternative rock. They are a collective that has comprised of British new wave band Fashion, Rhode Island’s Johanna’s House of Glamour, and Fred Abong, founding member of Belly with Tanya Donelly and early member of Throwing Muses with Kristin Hersh and Donelly. They are an interesting and intriguing act whose music time-travels, reinvents and redefines the many boundaries of Indie-rock. They are a collective whose music is an infinite burst of standalone sounds that celebrate the innovation of music and reunites to consolidate its power. Versatile and visceral, The Pull Of Autumn debuted their eponymous album in 2018, followed by “Afterglow” in 2019 and “Small Colors” in 2020, and whose latest album “Beautiful Broken World” has been selected as the Manc Review’s “Album of the Month”

Beautiful Broken World by The Pull of Autumn is an epic album. It’s a grandiose work of art that journeys through a mystical world of emotional escapades. Through the orchestral compositions and melodramatic motif, Beautiful Broken World captures the haunting soundscape of neo-classicism, that drifts towards a baroque-rock shore. Through the high calibre of artists featured, Beautiful Broken World creates a collage of supergroups, a poetic psyche of folktronica that shares a campsite collective of crepuscular tracks. It’s also an album that takes a mild excursion into the dark matter of Prog-rock, revisiting the space dystopia of experimental rock. Theatrical and pensive, stripped down and textured, melancholic and uplifting, Beautiful Broken World is a dichotomy of art, a polarised glimpse into the fragility of life. Featuring the vocals of an array of talented singer-songwriters, Beautiful Broken World is an album that Scott Walker, Nick Cave, Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny and Brian Eno would be proud of and sets the bar high for music that explores the darkest depths of its soul.

It’s an immaculate album whose opening track Beautiful Broken World (with Daniel Darrow) awakens the senses like the break of dawn, pounding from its primordial state and evolving into an orchestral wave of cinematic wonder. Majestic and magical, Beautiful Broken World peers down from the ethereal heights of neo-classicism with a panoramic view of stellar symphonics.

Along with the orchestral glides, translucent tinkles and velvet vocals, She Writes The Words (with Leigh Gregory) wavers on the wings of ethereal rock, whilst navigating through the nocturnal caves of folktronica. It’s a sublime track, that evokes a dark romanticism that provokes a sense of sorrow and seduction, stone-graved in the passage of time. Through the eerie echolocating and spectral sonics, She Writes The Words (with Leigh Gregory trails a ghostly presence that candle-lights through the darkness and rekindles the sepulchral sonics of goth-rock.

Come Winter (with Stuart Moxham) is a beguiling beauty, a track that opens up the timelines of folk and saunters through the seasonal shifts of orchestral–pop. Through the gentle tinkles, and xylophonic droplets, Come Winter (with Stuart Moxham) lazes in the lucid lounge of delirious dreams and is fuelled by the fuzzy warmth of neo-folk. Along with the rich vocals and wistful lyrics, Come Winter (with Stuart Moxham), emits a poetic charm that glows from the embers of chamber-pop. It’s a hypnotic haze, that floats through the eerie mist of melancholy, whilst peering through the candy floss clouds of ethereal rock,

Moonbeams (with Family Band) shines from the shadows of baroque-rock and glows from the lunar light of ethereal-rock. It’s an exquisite track that floats with the debris of art-rock and staggers and swirls amidst the stardust of symphonic-pop. Through the crestfallen vocals and orchestral flow of spurts and splatters, Moonbeams (with Family Band) surges in the black matter of neo-psychedelica, whilst illuminating quietly a billion lights away.

Lost Guitar(with Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James) jangles from the heart of neo-blues and tinkles from the woods of neo-folk. It’s a space cowboy, side-saddling through the dark debris of prog-rock, whilst levitating in the barren deserts of experimental rock. Along with the stellar strums, quivering stylophones, and farfisa fog, Lost Guitars swirls in the vortex of neo-psychedelica, whilst space-hopping into the fuzzy frontiers of 60s Krautrock.

John Clare (with Philip Parffitt) jangles in an oceanic wave of dreampop, that ebbs and flows in a cavernous collision of shoegaze. It’s a sublime track, that submerges itself in the subconscious realms of ambient-pop, whilst illuminating from the shadows of neo-blues. Along with the captivating vocals, John Clare drifts into the aloof shores of neo-folk, whilst day tripping in the moonlight of neo-psychedelia.

Outlaw Empire (with Mark Stewart, Doug Wimbish & Adrian Stewart) is a subliminal improvisation of electronica, which drifts onto its sonic soapbox and forms a peaceful protest. It’s a mega-mix of ambient-pop, that drifts between the dimensions of dream-pop and neo-psychedelia in a foggy awakening of dub-dance. Like time-travelling back in time to the heyday of Acid-House, Outlaw Empire emits a sense of late 80s and 90s nostalgia, whilst floating down the contemporary corridors of clubland dance. A hypnotic track, Outlaw Empire trip-hops into the sax streams of sophisti-pop, whilst raving aside the horned synths of trance-dance. Just listening to the pulsating beats, chimed synths and fuzzy ambience makes you feel strangely elated and sedated, that lifts you on a higher plane of euphoric escapism. It’s timeless music, that hijacks your senses, holding you hostage in the basement of youthful hedonism.

Little Hands-(with Bruce Macleod) is a mesmerising track, whose delirius daze of dream-pop, floats with the effervescent bubbles of neo-psychedelica. Along with the calming vocals, stripped down acoustics and tambourine tinkles. Little Hands emits a child-like wonder, that peers through the telescopic lens of neo-folk.

Never Swayed (with Julius Manning) is an exquisite track, whose pristine vocals, ponders through the sentimental lens of neo-folk and spins from the speckled spectrum of neo-psych. Along with the celestial cello, back track of trumpets and stripped down strums, Never Swayed evokes a sense of melodramatics, that revives the eclectic experimentalism of 60s art-rock.

Moukie (with Mina Norouzi) is a sublime track whose bilingual vocals relay between English and German, whilst adopting a troubadour narrative of neo-folk. Along with the atmospheric backdrop of dreamy synths, Moukie drifts between the realms of ethereal-pop, whilst remaining true to its earthbound roots.

Images of Light (with Matthew Darrow) is a chimerical daze of celestial synths and overlapping currents of translucent tones, that create an ethereal wave of dreampop. Through the plucky synths and hallucinogenic horns, Images of Light astral travels to the heights of neo-classicism, whilst cascading a stream of ambient pop. It’s a transcendental track, that soothes the senses and mediates the mind.

Funhouse (with Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James) is inflamed folk poetry that strums in the shimmery shadows of neo-classicism. It’s a raw catharsis that leans over the balcony of baroque-rock and peers down at sullen shores of post-punk.

You Will Live Again (with Julius Manning) sings from the heart strings of neo-folk and strums from the Spanish-esque wonder of dreamy escapism. It’s an emotive track, that illuminates from the glowsticks of ethereal-rock and ponders from the backyard of hope and humanity.

Live Today (featuring One Grace Forever) is an awakening of the senses, a sublime soundscape of delirious dreampop and neo-psychedelia. It’s a calming of the mind, that meditates between the conscious and subconscious, whilst offering an escape route to the unknown. Through the soothing vocals, holistic harmonies, gentle strums, and celestial synths, Live Today (featuring One Grace Forever) tinkles in the twilight of neo-folk, whilst floating towards the euphoric heights of ethereal–pop.

In Silence (with Rick Humphrey) back tracks in the basement of trip-hop and spins from the side-lines of neo-psychedelia. It’s sun-drenched melancholy that burns and from the embers of acid-jazz, that tilts towards the avant-garde improvisation of free-funk.

‘Beautiful Broken World’ is out now, available across online stores and streaming platforms including Apple Music and Spotify, as well as Bandcamp, where it can be obtained directly from the artist.

CREDITS
Album produced by Daniel Darrow
Mastered by Bruce Macleod
Album cover art by Joyce Raskin White
‘Funhouse’ video by Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James
‘Outlaw Empire’ video by Rick Humphrey (That Twisted Wreckage)
‘Live Today’ video created by Rosie Varela (EEP)

TRACK LIST
01. Beautiful Broken World (with Daniel Darrow)
02. She Writes The Words (with Leigh Gregory)
03. Come Winter (with Stuart Moxham)
04. Moonbeams (with Family Band)
05. Lost Guitar (with Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James)
06. John Clare (with Philip Parffitt)
07. Outlaw Empire (with Mark Stewart, Doug Wimbish & Adrian Stewart)
08. Little Hands (with Bruce Macleod)
09. Never Swayed (with Julius Manning)
10. Moukie (with Mina Norouzi)
11. Images of Light (with Matthew Darrow)
12. Funhouse (with Luke ‘Skyscraper’ James)
13. You Will Live Again (with Julius Manning)
14. Live Today (with Once Grace Forever)
15. In Silence (with Rick Humphrey)