Continued from page 16 bigger than me ,” he sings . “ Save My Life ” starts with echoed piano and Hutchence ’ s restrained whisper before climbing toward an emotional chorus . The cinematic song becomes a sweeping electropop-andorchestral anthem with stirring choral accompaniment . Hutchence pleads in his rich baritone to an unnamed partner or savior . “ Save my life again ,” he sings . The songs are a reminder of Hutchence ’ s titanic talent as both a rock belter and sensitive interpreter . Saber secured top talent for the arrangements , with contributions from Rolling Stones singer Bernard Fowler and The Verve guitarist Nick McCabe . “ One Way ” and “ Save My Life ” are available as a 10 ” vinyl record picture disc . Versions include a black-and-white standard edition and a red-and-black limited edition .
– Jeff Elbel
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SONIC45 SuperSonic
( Pravda )
Celebrity bands can be a red flag , but longtime Cubs and current White Sox broadcaster Len Kasper skillfully threads the needle with his band Sonic45 on their sophomore album SuperSonic . With an allstar backing band including guitarist Dag Juhlin ( Poi Dog Pondering , Expo 76 ) and vocalist Matt Spiegel ( Tributosaurus , 670
The Score afternoon host ), plus heavy hitters Liam Davis ( guitar / synth ) and Kasper on bass - the band gels even further on their second record . Billing themselves as “ New Wave ,” Kasper , the songwriter , wears his 1980s British post-wave influences on his sleeve ( Echo and The Bunnymen , The Wild Swans , The Teardrop Explodes ) on SuperSonic . Blasting out of the gate on album opener “ Flying Away ,” featuring Kate Tucker on backing vocals , Juhlin and Davis recall the guitar pyrotechnics of Will Sergeant . At the same time , Spiegel ' s reserved vocals show further comfort in Kasper ’ s material . Where their debut ( Time And Space ) was a bit nosier as an album , Kasper and Company have stripped things down with a bit more jangle on “ SuperSonic ” and “ When The Night Is Gone .” Fans of early 120 Minuteera bands will certainly dig Sonic45 .
– John Vernon
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Continued from page 10 expensive thing , but I intend to do it eventually , because I think it ’ s a very fascinating substance . IE : Who are you addressing in “ Where Are You ?” MB : It ’ s a search for Ione ’ s twin flame , a soulmate , a search for the perfect partner .
IE : So you ’ re still searching for yours ?
I ’ d idealized in my mind — she ticked all t boxes , and “ Where Are You ?”, it came from th struggle .
IE : Do you still feel like you ’ re stuck going “ U the Down Escalator ”? MB : That song was a reflection of the times I w living in , in the midst of Thatcherism and all th
18 illinoisentertainer . com september 2024
MB : No , actually I ’ m not . And that ’ s been over the last year , because before that , I ’ d just lost faith in the idea that this person was out there somewhere . And I ’ d been making music in the hope that this person would hear it and connect , which is exactly what happened , essentially . IE : Where and how did this happen ? MB : Well , it ’ s funny . We actually crossed paths a while back , but we never made the connection then . She was co-promoting a show that we did in Berlin , but then during the pandemic she contacted me again , but actually wasn ’ t really open to anything at the time . But then she contacted me again about a year ago , and we finally started talking , because I was on my way to do a festival in Leipzig , so I arranged to meet her in Berlin . Then she ended up driving me to Leipzig for our performance , and during that time , that ’ s when it happened . As I got to know , and we started exploring on deeper and deeper levels , I came to believe that this was the very person that
And that also cam from Reg — I had nothing do with it . It was actually one of Reg ’ s sugg tions for the name of the band , because he wa ed to call us Up the Down Escalator at the beg ning . And we obviously didn ’ t use it , but I lik it , so I made a mental note that we use it in som capacitysomeday . Sowhenitcametodoingth song , I thought it was a perfect title .
IE : What ’ s your take on mortality now ? MB : Hey — it could be coming ! But my take i exist in the moment anyway , so I don ’ t rea waste my time thinking or worrying about t future because it doesn ’ t exist yet , and the p only exists in the subjective memory of tho who have experienced it . So I don ’ t think abo thepassageoftimethatmuch , andItakeea day as a whole new thing .
Tom Lanham