Stream: Zach Phillips “Recorded in Heaven”

02 Jul 2013 — Andrew Wagner

Cassette fetishists rejoice: Zach Phillips, member of highly prolific Vermont outsider pop group Blanche Blanche Blanche, has a new tape out full of beautiful and brilliant melodies. With most of Recorded in Heaven’s songs clocking in at two minutes, the tape is short, sweet, and to the point. Compared to the typical chaotic antics of Blanche Blanche Blanche, Recorded in Heaven is a toned down affair, with Phillips mostly sticking to no more instrumentation than a keyboard and vocals. The move is welcome, revealing that at the core of both Phillips and Blanche Blanche Blanche’s success is an incredible knack for crafting moments of utter pop bliss. Songs like “Etiquette” are at once sweetly innocent and strangely tragic, bearing a slight resemblance to the eerily beautiful songs of one of the all-time outsider music greats, The Shaggs. With just enough odd details (occasional unidentifiable sounds and bursts of noise) to bring a delightfully off-kilter vibe to the whole cassette, Recorded in Heaven is a wonderful slice of melodic jams.

Stream Recorded In Heaven below. Recorded in Heaven can be ordered as a cassette or downloaded digitally from Lillerne Tapes.