Curious Music is pleased to announce the limited-edition vinyl and digital release of Kate St. John’s album Second Sight, remastered by Tim Story.
St. John’s second solo album, first issued in 1997 as a CD-only release on All Saints Records, offers up a rich collection of pop, classical and folk music elements addressing themes of loss, love, and (of course) lost love. St. John and co-producer Joseph Rocaille create elegant arrangements reflecting St. John’s interest in world genres, including French chanson, Tex-Mex ("A Foolish Dance"), dream-pop (“My Lonely Love”), and (in album closer “Colonel Sinnott’s Song of Love”), a kind of neo-impressionism, all drawn together by St. John’s languid, ethereal voice.
Second Sight was recorded in London and Paris and features St. John’s unique instrumentation (oboe, cor anglais, French horn, saxophone, piano, accordion) with the support of esteemed accompanists including the Paris-based Quartet Alhambra, Russian pop-star Boris Grebenshikov and his band Aquarium, English pianist Roger Eno and the lovely accordion of Sergey Schurakov.
St. John, in new liner notes, says of Second Sight:
“With these instruments we wanted to create a type of world music but not in a folk music sense. It was more about painting imaginary scenarios, a picture postcard kind of travel seen through the lens of imagination as in “Notti Senza Amore,” an homage to Nino Rota where I had a vision of a sleepy Sicilian village.”
This first-ever vinyl release comes in a high-quality limited edition of 500 x 2 180-gram LPs on clear vinyl, pressed at 45 rpm in a deluxe matte finish gatefold sleeve. Also included is a high-resolution, numbered art print. Second Sight is also available in pristine digital sound as a lossless FLAC DL.
Second Sight has been remastered by Tim Story and was pressed at Memphis Record Pressing in Memphis, Tennessee.
Praise for Kate St. John and Second Sight:
“The true qualities of Kate's character shine through the beautiful music she makes”
- Nick Laird-Clowes (The Dream Academy)
“Kate is a phenomenon: schooled in formal music and excellent at arranging and playing other kinds of music as well. Sometimes I sit at her feet.”
- Peggy Seeger
"[Kate St. John] shares [Francoise] Hardy's gift for melody, crafting songs that use a traditional pop structure but convey a much wider range of emotions than the average three-minute wonder. "
- Dawn Eden, Salon, October 1997
"This is a very singular record indeed, one that seems to exist in its own, enclosed world."
- Charlotte Grieg, MOJO, February 1998
credits
released July 22, 2018
Second Sight by Kate St. john
Produced and arranged by Kate St. John and Joseph Racaille
Recorded by Jerry Boys, John Mallison and James Thompson
Assistant engineers: Simon Burwell and Felix Hawken
Mixed by Jerry Boys
Recorded and mixed at Livingston Studios
Strings, slide and lap steel guitars and percussion
recorded in Paris by Boris Seznec at Stakato Studios
Mastered by Noel Summerville at Transfermation
2017 Remasterl by Tim Story
The Alhambra strings:
Virginie Michaud: First violin
Paul Rouger: Second violin
Nathalie Poulet: Viola
Pascale Jaupert: Cello
Genviève Cabannes: Double bass
Photography by Joe Dillworth
Layout for vinyl edition by Russ Curry and Desiree Dahl
