Weald is the first LP by Rob St. John, released last week on gatefold 12” vinyl by Song, by Toad Records – we’ve posted about him before and it is great to see he has now got a full length album out.

Even better that he should have delivered a record of such outstanding quality that puts many of the so called bigger names in the alt-folk and singer songwriter arenas to shame. From the catchy, but fragile opener The Phantom Limb to the raw textures of The Acid Test and the spine tingling despair of Vanishing Points there isn’t a wasted note or moment on the whole record, and listening to it is a powerful and mesmerising experience.

And then there is the taster track Sargasso Sea – a simply stunning excursion into a shifting, twilight world that slowly builds on the back of a sparse, plucked guitar and almost spoken vocals into a swirling, epic peak of rhythmic guitars and cracked vocal harmonies – superb.

Apparently, The Sargasso Sea is a still, eerie region of the Western Atlantic Ocean, a dead eddy held by curling oceanic currents. If so, it now has the perfect soundtrack.

Buy the vinyl from Song By Toad here, or download via Amazon here.

Download Rob St. John – Sargasso Sea mp3 (from Weald)

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