Praise for BIG SEA

The early, local press and blog responses to BIG SEA are starting to roll in, and we are delighted it is full of praise:

“Big sea [is a] collection of bristling anthems, flinty, chiselled from the same block that gave us Captain Beefheart and The Fall…Each song, in its own way, burns with the same fire. The furnace is stoked with emotional fuel mined many miles underground, compressed over many centuries, crushed shiny black with rage and ignited by Rev Simpkins to burn fiercely in an outburst of musical radiance” Anthony Roberts, Essex County Standard

“musically and visually a thing of sheer beauty…absolutely stunning…one of the most impressive releases to come my way in 40-plus years in the radio industry” Stephen Foster, East Anglian Daily Times

“”Big Sea” resonates to the sound of redemption…Rev Simpkins and his Phantom Notes cohorts are indeed on a journey to the light but it is a journey powered by poetic poise and psychedelic folk influences and, while the emotions expressed creak and sway like a sailing ship in a storm, there is always, and I mean always, light on the horizon.” BluesBunny
Full review HERE.

“A mix of the Kinks, Captain Beefheart and Pavement with some added church choirs and pipe organs thrown in for good measure” Harwich and Manningtree Standard (Essex, UK)

“hopeful and joyous” Colchester Gazette

“a meditation on hope during dark times – particularly relevant during the Corona Virus pandemic” Chelmsford Weekly News

“incredible” BBC Suffolk

“Conceived in soul-searching, during life-threatening illness and recently released amid a global pandemic, Matty’s redemptive lyrics are matched by glorious music…[Matty]rivets attention. His instrumental playing, from strings to organ, is always superb, his voice is ethereal. I cannot tire of its range and timbre. Sing Your Life is the title of the final track and he does.” Halstead Gazette (Essex, UK)

Listen to the BBC Suffolk/BBC Sounds interview here: