Originally known as The Living Room, The Loft – Pete Astor, Dave Morgan, Bill Prince and Andy Strickland released just a handful of singles and a couple of compilations. Yet their influence, or at least peoples memory of the band, remains strong. Listening to Up the Hill and Down the Slope again, as it’s re-release date on the brilliant Optic Sevens 2.0 reissue series approaches (April 10th), it’s easy to hear why.
The track, out originally in 1985 on Creation Records, is melodic and charming. Lyrically interesting and wry, but it also twist and turns in it’s own jangly indie pop way, taking these little unexpected musical diversions that keep your interest but with tunes that make you remember it.
As usual with the Optic Nerve Releases, it comes beautifully packaged with coloured vinyl, plus a postcard and a poster and is limited to a run of just 800 copies.
The band broke up in 1985 after playing London Palladium, with the band members moving on to form their own bands – Astor with The Weather Prophets, Strickland starting The Caretaker Race and Prince The Wishing Stones, all of which are worthy of further investigation. For the time being, here’s the loft back together and playing Up the hill and down the slope in session for Gideon Coe on 6Music.
www.opticnerverecodings.com
