Simply Saucer legend Edgar Breau has been making great music of his own, since Canadian Primitive in 2004 and this, his third longplayer, is his most accomplished set yet. ‘He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead’, a Yeats inspired murder ballad, makes for a spellbinding opener, Breau marrying the haunted lyric to some equally evocative spectral guitar

Simply Saucer legend Edgar Breau has been making great music of his own, since Canadian Primitive in 2004 and this, his third longplayer, is his most accomplished set yet. ‘He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead’, a Yeats inspired murder ballad, makes for a spellbinding opener, Breau marrying the haunted lyric to some equally evocative spectral guitar shapes in a widescreen textured arrangement. Elsewhere he curates a glorious cornucopia of pop and folk musics, effortlessly amalgamating Faheyesque picking, raga-influenced psychedelia (‘A Penny Fare To Babylon’), CSN-style West Coast harmonising (‘Martha’s Back’) and avant-garde guitar experiments with fluid cosmic country and pastoral Anglo-pop reminiscent of Michael Head and The Lilac Time. Yet, the ghosts of Syd and Skip remain, Breau’s formative influences still quietly at work beneath the luxurious veneer. And it’s very eclecticism should more than compensate those disappointed by the absence of SImply Saucer’s proto-punk disorder. One to treasure. Review by Johnnie Johnstone in Shindig U.K. magazine