Words by Holly Warren. @hollylikesmusic
‘Hot Air Balloons’ is a track we imagine being discovered over the car radio while driving down an unlit road in the winter of 1992. It has a cutesy Nineties air – “A thousand hot air balloons are drifting down to meet you”, but somehow sounds like those nights it’s so cold you can see your breath against the black sky. It’s actually a new release by jangle-pop duo Blue House (comprised of James Howard, previously of Fiction, and Ursula Russell, ex-Drop Out Venus), who we learnt aren’t necessarily tuned in to current affairs in the world of popular music. They stir an almost Krautrock beat and high-altitude synths into the gentle broth of acoustic guitar and dreamy vocals. Blue House say their listening habits while writing the song was mainly listening to the same stuff over and over again, and we’re guessing that was a stew made of something like Joy Division, Parachutes-era Coldplay and Brain Eno.
'Hot Air Balloons' is out on 11 December on Vaguely Pagan