Blue Orchids created a singular sound of intellectualised psychedelia on their first 7″ singles, The Flood and Work, and despite their historically infrequent outings – the band has released more new music in the last six years than in the whole of the thirty-five years prior to it – the subtle originality of their sound permeates each of their releases, down primarily to original member Martin Bramah’s singular vision. Yet each new release presents subtly directed changes to their work. Once at the brink of possible pop stardom that Bramah tossed aside by refusing to move down south to London – which he did a few months later anyhow! – his music has always had a rather perverse commerciality. Relative to the size of their respective catalogues, Bramah’s songs have been covered by credible artists roughly as often as those by his first band, The Fall. The hazy oddness and off-kilter sound of Blue Orchids’ debut LP, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain), did not offset its popularity of the cognoscenti. It sold over 15,000 copies and saw its songs covered by the likes of Aztec Camera and pioneering American indie bands such as Slovenly, Dustdevils and Fish & Roses, and it’s still a cult classic today – soon to be released as a double album, with unheard songs. The album recalls Blue Orchids’ classic debut more than any other chapter of Bramah’s catalogue – just take a look at the song titles! The lyrics were written in a freer verse than typical song lyrics allow, the music written later. John Paul Moran – Bramah’s longest-serving musical partner – evokes the same eerie atmosphere from his keyboards as Una Baines did from her’s years before, with new member Tansy McNally (ukulele) and rhythm section Vincent Hunt (bass) and Howard Jones (drums) holding it all together. Angus Tempus Memoir is Bramah’s most beguiling work in decades and will be supported by numerous UK dates throughout the year, in tandem with a host of special projects. Forty years on, Martin Bramah’s Blue Orchids revisit the darker side of The Money Mountain in their most captivating work since their 1982 debut album.