Ann Margaret Hogan & Regis - Reversing Into Tomorrow (2020)

Regis and Ann Margaret Hogan channel the weight of the world in a gorgeous and multi-layered salon suite made with electronics, Wurlitzer organ, shortwave radio signals, bells and Hogan’s baby grand Piano, recorded earlier this year for our Documenting Sound series.

The exquisite misery of ‘Reversing Into Tomorrow’ proceeds with quietly heart clutching keys, organ and bleary atmospheric ennui dialled in from Karl O’Connor and Annie Hogan’s respective homes in the Wirral and London. Regis, always a way with words, looks at this time period this way "I’m at my mom’s, drinking all day and on the Dole… it’s 1986 all over again”. It’s droll, but the music here is anything but - there’s an underlying hope to the wandering wistfulness and obtuse angles we're thrown into.

Worthy of both Karl and Annie's repertoire - having worked with everyone from Nick Cave and Marc Almond to Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Four, Lydia Lunch and Deux Filles over a stellar 40 year arc - ‘Reversing Into Tomorrow’ witnesses Annie's Kawai baby grand, ‘60s Wurlwitzer organ, Glockenspiel and bells coalesce with the subtle presence of Karl’s grouchy and impending atmospheres. Unfurling at a conversational pace that’s prone to erupt with strong feelings, the pair keep the vibe skilfully tempered via a timeless choice of weaponry, which places their work in a sort of perpetual interzone of sozzled melancholy with a strong sense of the unreal.