A new label called Concentric Circles, run by one of the bosses at RVNG Intl. sub-label Freedom To Spend, is launching with a focus on reissuing lost tapes and releasing previously unheard albums.
Concentric Circles is the brainchild of Jed Bindeman, who runs Freedom To Spend alongside Pete Swanson (a 2017 Playing Favourites subject) while also operating the Little Axe Records shop out of Portland. Its first release, The Story Of Valerie comes from Carola Baer, an obscure UK artist whose moody, synth-laden pop music was inspired by the likes of Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins.
Bindeman, as the story goes, was at a Portland charity shop when he found a tape of recordings Baer made in the early '90s while living in San Francisco. After tracking down Baer, who is now a school teacher back in the UK, he put material from the tape together (plus with a few other contemporaneous tracks) to form The Story Of Valerie. Coming out soon on vinyl, the album is Baer's first proper solo release.
Listen to a preview of the album.
And watch a 2017 television feature on Baer.
Tracklist
A1 Maker Of Me
A2 Golden Boy
A3 Save Me
A4 We Already Feel
A5 Springtime
A6 Doors Talk
B1 Solemn Cattle
B2 Nothing Left To Say
B3 See the Lights Again
B4 Dreams
B5 On Top of the Mountain
Concentric Circles will release The Story of Valerie
soon.