With their new album In Quiet Moments due for release 26th February via Bella Union, Lost Horizons kick off 2021 by sharing the title track of the LP which features Ural Thomas on vocals. Ural Thomas was born in Louisiana in 1939, learning to sing in church.
Listen to the track on Soundcloud HERE…
The seventh of sixteen children, his family relocated to Portland, Oregon when he was a young child. Thomas became a professional singer as a young man in the 1950s, with over forty performances at the Apollo Theatre in Manhattan, New York.
He worked with or opened for musicians such as Etta James, Otis Redding, James Brown and Stevie Wonder. Thomas moved back to Portland in 1968. After this not much is known, until the early 2010s when Scott Magee, a Portland-based soul DJ, learned via the owner of Mississippi Records that Thomas – whose early records he spun – still lived in Portland.
Despite having weekly jam sessions in his home, a tradition started in the 1970s, Thomas seldom played live shows. Together, Thomas and Magee created Ural Thomas and the Pain, an eight-piece backing band for Thomas’s vocals. The group has released two full length albums: 2016’s self-titled release and 2018’s “The Right Time”.
Of the track Ural Thomas says: “When I first heard the song, I thought it was such a wonderful thing, both open and calm, with that steady, insistent groove. The chords go from looming to embracing then back again, like a sad, friendly giant. It took a quiet moment to go over it in my mind and then we were off and running with the tune. At times I feel strong and one with the world. At other times I feel tiny and solitary. In a way they’re two parts of the same feeling. That sense of being closed in and defined by walls became more real just a short while after we worked on the song. But we’re all those other things, too—connected, hopeful, with a long arc that will go beyond this time.”
Simon Raymonde of Lost Horizons adds: “Sometimes you just have a clear vision for a song and then try as you might, it doesn’t quite hit the mark and other times, you’re not quite sure where it’s going and then all of sudden it’s like The Matrix and you’re buzzing! I’d been talking to Ural and his team since I heard about him earlier that year, and they were all working on a new Ural Thomas and The Pain album, but just as I finished the bass part on our piece, which Richie had started at a session in London, my inner voice was screaming “ASK URAL TO SING!” Scott and Brent who are his producers and write with Ural and in his band too, responded very positively to my enquiry and said Ural was into it, and it looked like they could do it all at their studio in Portland , AND film him at the same time as they were making a documentary about him! I couldn’t believe my luck. After he was done with the first half of the song i asked if he could make the ending spoken-word in the style of Gil Scott-Heron and he did something ad-libbed which I loved. I then asked Wendi Rose who sings with Spiritualized to add some of her beautiful vocals and I think this took it all to the next level. Paul Gregory and Jonathan Wilson also played some delicious guitar parts which were the fairy dust on top!”
Lost Horizons have previously shared videos for ‘I Woke Up With An Open Heart’ featuring The Hempolics, ‘Grey Tower’ featuring Tim Smith, ‘Cordelia’ featuring John Grant, ‘One For Regret’ featuring Porridge Radio and ‘Every Beat That Passed’ featuring Kavi Kwai from the album.
In Quiet Moments features a stellar array of musical guests including John Grant, C Duncan, Marissa Nadler, Penelope Isles, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Tim Smith (Midlake), Ren Harvieu and many more. The 16-track album will be released in two sections. The first half (8 tracks) was released digitally 4th December with the second half and physical release following on 26th February 2021.
In Quiet Moments has its pockets of loss but – aligned to the concept of ‘hope’ – the album is more about rebirth than death. “I think it’s more joyous than Ojalá,” says Thomas. “But both albums have a great energy about them.”
Those energy levels undulate across a dazzling array of moods and voices; as broad as the name Lost Horizons sounds. Take the first three tracks: the melting rapture of ‘Halcyon’ featuring Jack Wolter of Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, the simmering urban-soulful ‘I Woke Up With An Open Heart’ featuring Nubiya Brandon of The Hempolics and the quintessentially melancholy-delic ‘Grey Tower’ featuring a returning Tim Smith .
Also returning from Ojalá are Gemma Dunleavy, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Cameron Neal (Horse Thief) and Marissa Nadler. The last three are all Bella Union family members; likewise, John Grant (the lush, choral ‘Cordelia’, etched by David Rothon’s pedal steel and Fiona Brice’s elegant strings) and Ren Harvieu (a sultry ‘Unravelling In Slow Motion’), and new signing Laura Groves (the jazz-tinged ‘Blue Soul’), all making their Lost Horizons debuts.
Tracklisting:
Part 1:
1. Halcyon – Lost Horizons feat. Penelope Isles
2. I Woke Up With An Open Heart – Lost Horizons. feat. The Hempolics
3. Grey Tower – Lost Horizons feat. Tim Smith
4. Linger – Lost Horizons feat. Gemma Dunleavy
5. One For Regret – Lost Horizons feat. Porridge Radio
6. Every Beat That Passed – Lost Horizons feat. Kavi Kwai
7. Nobody Knows My Name – Lost Horizons feat. Cameron Neal
8. Cordelia – Lost Horizons feat. John Grant
Part 2:
9. In Quiet Moments – Lost Horizons feat. Ural Thomas
10. Circle – Lost Horizons feat. C Duncan
11. Unravelling In Slow Motion – Lost Horizons feat. Ren Harvieu
12. Blue Soul – Lost Horizons feat. Laura Groves
13. Flutter – Lost Horizons feat. Rosie Blair
14. Marie – Lost Horizons feat. Marissa Nadler
15. Heart Of A Hummingbird – Lost Horizons feat. KookieLou
16. This Is The Weather – Lost Horizons feat. Karen Peris
Watch the video here: