TOM NEWMAN

A Faerie Symphony II TIGERMOTH

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TTubular Bells producer follows up his 1977 concept set in startlingly strange style.

his album is not intended to be comfortable, predictable or commercial,” Tom Newman says of this belated sequel to his 1977 curio Faerie Symphony. He can say that again. Celtic folk textures are again interwoven with curious electronic sounds, but often it’s wilfully peculiar fare. On The Orchid People’s Dilemma a Jew’s harp introduces a cod-reggae passage accompanied by squelching swamp creature noises and people talking in Newman’s own version of Faerie. The seven-minute suite The Rebellion takes in looped samples of old Irish folk song, radio crackle, despondent snatches of piano and free-form guitar shards as an unsettling dreamscape unfolds. More accessible is Theena Shee 2021, a follow-up to the original album’s track on which Mike Oldfield played uncredited guitar (Magenta mainman Robert Reed does the honours here). Throughout, there’s a surreal atmosphere, as on Faerie Waltz, wherein Newman’s daydreaming ‘do-de-do’s map out the central melodic figure for ramshackle folk, tuba and rattly percussion to meander across. It’s not for everyone, but fans of true musical mavericks may yet embrace it in all its unhinged glory.