Hello, friends! This month’s show comes with a little bonus: an interview with Alex Pester, a young UK artist whose song “The Things I See” from his recent album Devotion is among this episode’s highlights. More on that below. (And if you’re just discovering Gray Days and Gold, here’s an introduction that explains the show’s raison d’être.)

But now, let’s get straight into it: the soundtrack for a strange and solitary spring on Gray Days and Gold.

You can listen via the embedded player just below in this post—if you don’t see it, try turning off your ad-blocker then reloading the page—or on the Mixcloud website, via the Mixcloud mobile app, on your Sonos system, etc.

For those who prefer Spotify, there’s also a more bare-bones iteration of this episode’s playlist here (minus my commentary, as well as any songs that are missing from Spotify’s library).

Gray Days and Gold, April 2020

1. Labi Siffre, “Cannock Chase” (1972) • BUY
2. Adrian Younge, “First Step on the Moon” (2012) • BUY
3. Lavinia Blackwall, “John’s Gone” (2020) • BUY
4. June Christy, “I’ll Remember April” (1958) • BUY
5. Alex Pester, “The Things I See” (2019) • BUY
6. Jake Thackray, “Country Girl” (1969) • BUY
7. Louis Philippe and Danny Manners, “Mouvement perpétuel No. 3” (1998) • BUY
8. Scott Hardware, “Joy” (2020) • BUY
9. Laura Marling, “Strange Girl” (2020) • BUY
10. Marie-Pierre Arthur, “La guerre” (2020) • BUY
11. Testbild!, “Inside Raindrops” (2006) • BUY
12. Ivy, “Let’s Stay Inside” (2001) • BUY
13. Roger O’Donnell feat. Jennifer Pague, “An Old Train” (2020) • BUY
14. John Southworth, “Second Childhood” (2015) • BUY
15. Ryan Riveros, “Aurora” (2020) • BUY
16. Thundercat feat. Louis Cole, “I Love Louis Cole” (2020) • BUY

Appendix

Alex Pester’s Devotion

While browsing Bandcamp, I stumbled across the new album Devotion by Alex Pester and felt like I’d seen a unicorn. This young man hardly looked old enough to shave and yet his self-recorded album exhibited sophistication and maturity beyond his years. His songwriting was confident and unique, and his sonic palette included orchestral arrangements of a quality that I’d only expect from seasoned professionals.

I was so intrigued that I decided to reach out to him to learn more, and I hope you’ll agree that Alex is an artist worth paying attention to. Click here to read the interview.

That’s all for this month. Thanks, as always, for listening and I hope to be diddling your eardrum set again soon. If you’d like to receive these posts via email, you can sign up below.