Red Cosmos is the work of one wonderfully named Kim Tortoise and when we received her CD, There And Back, in the post with a most engaging handwritten note it created the initial impression of a gentle soul full of whimsy with a floaty dress and an acoustic guitar.

Hmm. Not quite.

Released a month or so ago, this is an album that is overflowing with ideas and originality mixing as it does folk with pastoral psychedelia, sound samples, ambient electronics, and hazy, woozy vocals. Throughout, the record is underpinned with a nonchalant humour and sly insouciance including one song inspired by holier-than-thou TV presenter Philip Schofield’s inherent insincerity (Do Geese See God?).

Songs switch from tripped out to tripped up to just plain trippy, creating the kind of feel that you get with a Tim Burton inspired nightmarish nursery rhyme. Take England’s Glory, the tale of a mother visited in the middle of the night by the pale spectre of her son dying alone, somewhere far away on a battlefield. Elsewhere, it calls to mind such psychedelic greats as Syd Barrett as well as more contemporary MM faves such as Damon Moon, Mathew Sawyer and Benjamin Shaw.

The album has the kind of wilful, single-mindedness and surreal vision that so many strive for and yet fail to achieve, and which is so essential in creating a unique voice. By the end of the record, we are left with the suspicion Red Cosmos might be the kind of band to drown fish just for the perverse pleasure of seeing if they can.

Try a couple of standout tracks below. Grab a digital copy from the Red Cosmos Bandcamp page, but best of all, buy the limited edition CD for $10. Just click here to do either.

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