Sunday 10 July 2011

Captain Wilberforce

Simon Bristoll has been quietly cranking out classic pop tunes under the flag of Captain Wilberforce for seven years. Starting off with the low key ‘Dreams of Educated Fleas’ EP, he graduated to ‘Mindfilming’ his first, frankly stunning, full length release. ‘Everybody Loves A Villain’ followed in 2009 and blew every other PowerPop release of that year right out of the water. And after a long wait, he’s just gifted us ‘Ghost Written Confessions’. You don’t have to be a genius to release that this too, is a great album.


The fact that you’re sitting there scratching your head and saying ‘Who or what is a Captain Wilberforce’ makes me a little sad, so this is your chance to atone for not knowing…. ‘Ghost Written Confessions’ is probably going to be THE album of 2011, unless something truly exceptional comes along, so get in quick for all those RockSnob bragging points. Mr Bristoll combines the pop smarts of Brendan Benson, a heavy dash of Jason Falkner with a smidge of Utopia at their poppiest. Now doesn’t that sound yummy? On this album, he’s added a darker colour or two to the palette and has broadened out the sound somewhat. It’s also the first where he’s used a band – previous releases have featured him doing a ‘Todd R + Drummer’ thing. It’s a great piece of work. You can get it here:


And here’s a little sample – the lovely (and very Todd-esque) ‘Get Hurt’. Try it…you’ll bloody love it.

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