Description

This is an examination of madness and loss, says Brian Christinzio, the inimitable force behind BC Camplight. I hope it starts a long overdue conversation.

Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final and finest chapter of what Christinzio calls his Manchester Trilogy, following 2015s How To Die In The North and 2018s Deportation Blues. All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester.

Like Deportation Blues, Shortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and 50s rocknroll, with Christinzios similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication. Its important to stress that this isnt a redemption story, he says. Im a guy who maybe lives a little hard and Im in the thick of some heavy stuff. But as a result, I think Ive made my best record.

The heavy stuff has come thick and fast for Christinzio. Just days before How To Die In The North was released, he was deported and banned from the UK because of visa issues. Estranged from his new home, his girlfriend and his dog, unable to promote his album and back home with his parents, Christinzio sunk deep into the dark. An Italian passport, care of his grandparents, eventually allowed him to re-settle in Manchester but then just days before Deportation Blues was released, his father Angelo unexpectedly died.

I went into a spiral that was worse than any time since my twenties, he recalls. Hence the title Shortly After Takeoff: the feeling of being suddenly thwarted by what life throws at you. Making matters worse was a neurological disorder that returned after years in remission: I see TV static, and it messes with how my brain interprets everything from sound to my own feelings.

One way to process tragedy is comedy, which elevates Shortly After Takeoff to a heightened plateau, from grief-stricken vulnerability to armoured bravado, from the black dog of depression to gallows humour. None more so than Ghosthunting, which opens with an extraordinary (fabricated) passage of Christinzio doing a stand-up routine, centring on the memory of hallucinating his fathers ghost. I want to drag the listener into this world and hopefully they question why they feel uneasy, he explains.

Bleak comedy is evident from the albums first song. I Only Drink When Im Drunk features Christinzios trademark keep you on your toes style. He describes it as Hank Williams on cough medicine being awoken by ferocious guitars. Ghosthunting similarly changes tack, between serene melody, classical harps and pounding passages: Cemetery Lifestyle appears to feed on The Four Seasons and crunchy new wave. Though the Nilsson-esque I Want To Be In The Mafia (Christinzios favourite lyric on the album) and the elegantly sombre Arms Around Your Sadness are less changeable, the way Back To Work trades dreamy AOR and robotic funk, sums up this record perfectly, Christinzio feels. The verse seems to make sense, then out of nowhere, boom boom just when you think you have it figured out Its the never-ending cycle of mental illness.

Christinzio says his love of stylistic shifts is also linked to a, pretty low attention span. Im always stirring the pot, I never let it settle. His personal life is similarly restless. Few might risk everything and abscond from the safety of home in Philadelphia, where he had released two albums, occasionally played live with local faves The War On Drugs whose current members Dave Hartley and Robbie Bennett were part of the original BC Camplight live band and guested on Sharon van Ettens Epic album. If Id stayed, Id be dead. Period. he once mused and what was Phillys loss became Manchesters gain.

There, Christinzio has his friends and his band. On record, Shortly After Takeoff is 95 percent Christinzio, plus Adam Dawson (drums) and Francesca Pidgeon (backing vocals, sax, clarinet) and guests on cello and violin. Dawson and Pidgeon are also members of the current live BC Camplight, alongside Tom Bellini (guitar), Stephen Mutch (bass) and Luke Barton (synths, acoustic guitar).

LP pressed on clear vinyl with digital download.