From a solo project Mach Band: Tor Maries had no desire for lone fighter. After two albums, the musician from Bristol, “Metalhorse”, decided to record her third album as Billy Nomates together with a band with which she also tours. It should all sound fat, full of. And the band also did this together, and also retained their striking popharmonies and cinematic soil experiments, which make almost a cinema experience out of Billy nomates albums.
We hear slot machines, an accelerating motorcycle, an alarm clock, maybe a carousel. A kind of optimism flows through the album, it was born out of grief: Marie’s father died shortly before the start of the recordings, bassist Mandy Clarke had a mourning case herself and then Maries was also diagnosed with MS himself. And then there would be the general state of the world in general and that of the music industry.
But Billy Nomates create a little bright from these shards. With corners and edges, but still – or precisely because of it – basically life -affirming. Nowhere is that obvious than on “Dark Horse Friend” with ex-stranger’s singer Hugh Cornwell, on which Maries almost sounds like a preacher on the pulpit. The message is clear: life continues. Somehow.
You can find out which albums were still published in May 2025 via our monthly publication list.