Mourning Phase

Mourning Phase’s only album is rich with mystery – recorded to document a bitter relationship break-up, the album was never officially released, with only 25 test-pressing copies rumoured in existence, one of which recently sold for over $10,000. Is it worth that much? Doubtful, but thankfully the album’s been officially reissued now, so you can hear this short, spirited collection of smart, acid-folksy songs, guitars strummed with steel chipping from the strings as the Joy Crabtree and Mike Conn sing acerbic lyrics in tense duet. It’s a curio, but a good one, and while its intensity isn’t exactly apocalyptic – save that descriptor for the likes of Comus – it’s somehow no surprise to discover that Conn has been living as a hermit, in a cave in Spain, for some time now.