Patchwork Guilt
Liverpool, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF
Music
Press
Gentle in its melodic trickling as it may be, “Gold Books” has a powerful ethereal quality that will sound somewhat familiar to fans of Kate Bush, forcefully infectious but never departing a sort of purple-tinged enthusiasm – with playful ’80s-inspired synth tones and all. The gentle bass, sporadic percussion, and synth-tinged tone not too distant from the hook in “Running Up That Hill“. Patchwork Guilt retains her pop sensibilities in a similar fashion, while showing no fear of traversing soundscapes that are nostalgic and a bit idiosyncratic. Her voice isn’t as commanding, but the nonchalance lends well to the springtime-y feel of the track, the melody relaying a touch of melancholy. - Obscure Sound
Bristol’s Phoenix Mundy aka Patchwork Guilt impresses once more with her stunning new song, Lizards’ Grin. An utterly melodic shuttered pop that grows a fragile dream pop side to make your hurt bleed, with Mundy’s vocals entering forcely your private box and throning in its center! The lo-fi guitars emit a sadcore feeling, rooted in a post-folk universe that makes you wish to find its existence! Heartbreaking….. - Sound Injections
A year on from the release of her second full-length ‘Dreaming On The Internet’ LP, and six months since the release of the ‘Gold Books’ EP, Patchwork Guilt today unveils new track “Get To Rest” and it sits as something as a marker-point for the Liverpool-based songwriter, because tying in with the release of the track will be her first ever band performance (streamed online), having never performed her “bedroom tinkerings” in a live space before.
Instantly evocative, from those subtle run of chords that open the track, “Get To Rest” is a soft-centred pop song, Phoenix Mundy’s alluring voice quietly draping itself across the playful instrumental backing that unrolls itself subtly behind the whole thing. The first of a new set of singles to be released with Bristol’s Chiverin (Tamu Massif, Rhain) the new track is a charming proposition; a glowing pop song to light up the much darker months ahead. Stream it below. - Gold Flake Paint
UK artist Patchwork Guilt managed to catch my attention with an unsuspecting track. There are very few bells and whistles here; rather, an wonderful sound pulled off without a hitch.
I know you might be saying, "Hey Jason, this genre's pretty standard. Don't you tend to shun that type of thing?" And you'd be spot on if you were. But hey, I don't care: sometimes music just hits the right notes, and in this case "Until When" caught my attention.
Feel free to listen to her full Gold Books EP here. - Indie Shuffle
It’s that time of the month again when our friends at Richer Unsigned invite in a guest curator to put together a playlist of the best of the new talent current post music to the site. For November 2015 the friend of all unsigned acts online Bandcamp have cast their eye over the fresh talent around and you can listen to their selections now. - Q Magazine
Bristol based promoter, blogger, label owner, manager and all round good egg Aled Chivers put together a special compilation for Record Store Day 2015 featuring some of the artists he’s worked with recently. It perfectly illustrates why he’s earned a reputation as one of the go to people for new music in the area and we totally recommend you stream it as soon as possible, especially if you have a bent for beautiful, tender, winsome, adventurous modern folk music such as the likes of Rosi Plain, Rachel Dadd and Oliver Wilde might make.
The compilation was originally made available as an “Art Print & Compilation Download” and is still available in ever decreasing and limited numbers from Rise Bristol & Bridport Music for a bargain price of £5. Alternatively you can buy it online via Bandcamp.
I asked Aled to put together a few words about each of the artists on the compilation, and to preface it with a few other words explaining how Chiverin came about, how it got where it is today and why he decided to put this compilation together now.
So over to you, Aled…
“Somehow, in the last year, Chiverin has turned into a bit of a family of musicians in Bristol. It’s hard to put a start date on it, but it’s gradually gained momentum since we began putting on some parties last year at The Louisiana. I booked a few of my favourite emerging bands around the country and gave the support slots to those I loved locally.
“The intention was always that Chiverin would help to develop the acts we were working with and create an identity for a sound that was prevalent but under-represented in Bristol. A release seemed like the next logical step and Record Store Day as good an opportunity as any.”
~
Walking With Thieves
TAMU MASSIF is bizarrely both the earliest and the latest act to join. He played our first ever showcase as a last minute fill in and we fell totally in love with his music. Equal doses of beautiful songwriting and weird noises make for a perfect combination in my book. We can’t wait to put out his debut EP in June.
FENNE LILY writes songs with a wisdom that belie her 18 years and performs with such placid ease; still and cooing softly from her perch. In between songs Fenne speaks calmly, with such dark wit that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
PATCHWORK GUILT is the most elusive of the bunch. Booking for venues in Bristol I’m usually pretty aware of who’s about, but I first heard her on BBC Introducing and couldn’t believe I’d missed it! I found out later the reason is because Phoenix Mundy doesn’t perform live, instead she records prolifically in her makeshift home studio. She’s a fine purveyor of rich harmonies & reversed instruments.
EMA SIERRA totally caught me off guard when I first heard ‘Opening Hours’. Angular, jangling guitar riffs and profound, unapologetic songwriting in dulcet northern tones, I needed to know more… since then the band has taken a firmer shape and they’ve been having a really productive year creatively, ‘Hexy Go Mouse’ is testament to this.
NEW PALACE TALKIES is the brainchild of Tom Stevens… and what a brain it is. Rarely do you meet someone so in touch with the way his mind works. He winds this into layers of music that hit harder by their simple sincerity and takes this live with 6 of his mates, horns and all; it’s quite a spectacle. I actually met Tom because he used to live with George Ezra, who I helped out a bit during his early career.
LITTLE DUSTY make simple but effective music. Nylon and steel string guitars intertwine with subtle percussion and Nicola’s unique vocal dancing beautifully over the top. ‘Wasted Hours’ reminds me of visiting the band when they lived together in a tumble down house on the outskirts of Bristol, rehearsing out of a disheveled garage with the sun streaming through the open door.
RHAIN is our secret weapon and has the biggest voice of the lot. She’s been turning a lot of heads live and is working on some new recordings at the moment. They’re sounding amazing so far, but for now we thought we’d let you in on an old demo of hers, and one of the first I stumbled upon.
‘Walking With Thieves’ was made available to download on Record Store Day and is accompanied by limited release prints of the painting by Phoenix Mundy. You can find out how to get hold of it here: chiverin.com/wwt. - Louder than War
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
As with an increasing number of modern artists, Patchwork Guilt began in a bedroom in Bristol in early 2014, the self-described ‘bedroom tinkerings’ of songwriter/producer Phoenix Mundy. The technology was initially primitive; mouse-drawn drum patterns and computer-mic vocals formed a lo-fi feel which nonetheless quickly became popular on Soundcloud. After acquiring better equipment her music soon flourished into a diverse mix which has been described as ‘utterly melodic shuttered pop that grows a fragile dream pop side’. The name quite aptly describes the songs which are themselves almost a patchwork of genres, never quite anywhere; sometimes nearly pop, or nearly psychedelia, or jazz-tinged, but never conclusively anything. What connects them all however is the ‘powerful ethereal quality’, the delicate production and subtle layering of sounds. Influences include Devendra Banhart, Patrick Watson and the woozy psychedelia of Connan Mockasin. Lyrically, it is what you may expect to hear from an introvert plugging away at their laptop without an audience - personal themes of fears, wishes, losses and anxieties, often half-shrouded by both reverb and metaphor.
Heads quickly began to turn; within a year her music had been featured in BBC Introducing, Bristol Live magazine and Bandcamp Weekly. From the beginning, the rate of output has been rapid. In September 2014 her debut album ‘Punch Bowl’ was released on Bandcamp, meeting considerable success considering its lack of promotion. A year later a second album, ‘Dreaming on the Internet’, was released, with an EP named ‘Gold Books’ coming only months later. Within weeks of the distribution of her catalogue to Spotify, one track found itself in Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds’ playlist, quickly generating over 150,000 streams. These achievements are all the more poignant considering Patchwork Guilt has never once played live. To change this she recently formed a gigging band, with plans to perform by 2017. Their only semi-live performance to date has been a live stream which coincided with the release of her latest single, ‘Get to Rest’, which incidentally is also the only track not to have been self-released thus far (instead being released in collaboration with the Bristol-based Chiverin label). These transitions mark a bright new chapter in the Patchwork Guilt story as the music leaves the realm of the bedroom and the internet. The rate of musical output will not slow (a third album is currently underway with plans for a mid-2017 release), but a newfound focus shall be gigging and establishing herself in a more real sense.Band Members
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