Paul Simpson, Will Sergeant - Toy Piano Mantra / Ghosts of the Karelia Forest [TRANSPARENT]

11.10.24 - LTD. TRANSPARENT SPLIT 45 7" VINYL

Feral Child reissues an earlier 45 that allegedly “came and went in a day” on first release: a coruscating pair of instrumental folk gems from Will Sergeant and Paul Simpson. Each artist sharing one side respectively, ‘Toy Piano Mantra / Ghosts Of The Karelia Forest’ was only released last year in 2023, and indeed became little less than an insta-cop; original pressings still go for hundreds. Sergeant’s ‘Toy Piano Mantra’ is culled from the English’s guitarist and Echo & The Bunnymen songwriter’s 2020 album Things Inside, and is a wilful exercise in acoustic guitar and harmonium composition, where the artist avows his own aversion to acoustic instruments in usual favour of the electric guitar. Paul’s side features the formerly unreleased ‘Ghosts Of The Karelia Forest’, a complementarily slow-building and haunting solo piano piece from the Wild Swans and Teardrop Explodes keyboardist. Now reissued on transparent vinyl 7”, you can be certain this one will fly like the first editions.