southern records

ROCK naturally tends towards repetition. So, whenever it dabbles with high culture, it's usually the minimalists who get invited out to party. But Rachel's bring delicate baroque stylings and lush orchestral arrangements to a dynamic post-rock sensibility. The 17-strong line-up mixes musicians from symphony orchestras with the cream of Chicago's avant-rock scene and a creative core, lately, of the impossibly heavy and absurdly ornate Rodan. In the dreadful 1970's, Deep Purple and friends thought if they threw enough sheet music at the studio walls some of it might stick, but The Sea and the Bells, the third Rachel's album, is, thankfully, no Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Leader Jason Noble's continued fascination for all things maritime is here re-expressed through 13 elegant instrumental pieces, a dignified and unprecedentedly beautiful requiem for the days of the clipper ship, a fully fledged work of art that you are unreservedly urged to own.