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Virgin Passages
Mandalay
Fire
Employing an elegant simplicity, Virgin Passages' debut Mandalay comes across as an absorbing collection of post punk chamber music. With their compositions veering from abstract indie rock ("Headstones Progress") to abstruse, almost elliptical folk ("These Concrete Tracks, I Call Them Mine") this Staffordshire trio's greatest strength is that they're in no hurry and prefer to let their instrumentation wander gloriously along before coming back and adhering to a more traditional framework of a song. That being said, Mandalay is a lustrous, albeit decidedly spare listen. Voices float from different altitudes before coming together ("Oh Commodore") while some numbers sound like the parts are being played at the same time, only in different rooms ("Like Dogs"). But as unconventional as this all may sound, Virgin Passages are nothing if not cohesive. Singer James Nicholls is as unassuming as a frontman can get, but he's also fueled by a vaguely specific charisma. Backed by Sarah Naylor, the intermingling of the two voices produces a soporific, heavenly combination. Elsewhere, "I Want To Sleep" is truly one of the greatest album closers in recent memory, while the Charles Manson cover "You're Home Is Where You're Happy" rivals the take the Lemonheads gave us years ago. It should be noted that this may be the first prequel album of all time: the band insist it's simply a collection of odds and ends and singles, meant to hold fans over as they finish recording their debut. We will eagerly wait.
—Alex Green
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