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II

On hearing their fascinating track 'Winterland' on the radio just over two years ago, I immediately looked up Northwest on-line and saw it was part of their then recently-issued second album II. Unsurprisingly, that was the follow-up to a debut release called I, which had come out in 2018. Not much later I ordered both albums on CD direct from their Bandcamp page. Both discs came signed and inscribed with handwritten messages.

Northwest are a Spanish duo (Ignacio Simón & Mariuca García-Lomas) who, I gather, were based in the UK for most of the period in which these albums were made. While their first record blended electronic and acoustic instrumentation, this one uses mostly the latter, with the pair helped out my a supporting cast of eight other musicians. Strings and clarinet feature prominently, as do piano and harmonium. There are drums on some tracks, but it doesn't feel much like rock'n'roll or jazz, and it's adorned with classically-inspired flourishes: perhaps one could call it chamber pop.

There are some beautifully plaintive tracks on the record: García-Lomas is the lead singer - with a beguiling and expressive voice. The songs are captivating; the arrangements are wonderful - this was one of my favourite records of the year before last. Unluckily, it came out just as the pandemic was beginning its global spread, which must have curtailed the duo's efforts to promote it. I think it merits a much wider audience than the relative few who already know and love it. Some example tracks: 'Winterland', 'The Day', 'Before The Spell'.

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