Pale Saints 'Porpoise' (Live at Brixton Academy, 1991)

Pale Saints are one of my favourite bands - the first two albums and attendant EPs, anyway. They perfectly captured a balance between exquisite melody, skysoaring wonder and fragile, passionate beauty. A mighty meeting between shoegazing and progressive rock.

'Porpoise' was originally on the 'Flesh Balloon' EP (4AD) which came as a precursor to their 'In Ribbons' album, an opus which proved to effectively be their swansong, Ian Masters leaving the band to pursue his own vision and leaving the rest of the band to pursue a much more linear exposition of their art.

Sadly, I never got to see them live but there's a whole set from Brixton Academy (from when they supported Pixies in 1991) knocking around the Youtube on video that captures the heads-down focus on a Pale Saints gig. No gaps between songs, the usual space for applause and tuning replaced by little link pieces. Yes, that's very prog but it works.

'Porpoise' itself is a supple strident thing, by turns stalking the deep, then thrashing into life. Love it.

Download Pale Saints 'Porpoise (Live at Brixton Academy, 1991)' (mp3)