Nick Nicely - Space Of A Second (2014)

‘Legendary’ is the kind of description that gets slapped on artists far too often these days but in the case of Nick Nicely it, for once, feels justified. Bursting onto the UK’s music scene at the start of the ‘80s nick’s debut single ‘DCT Dreams’ was a remarkable slice of ‘synth-pop on acid’ (FACT Magazine) perfectly fusing the electronic sounds of Neu and Kraftwerk with the psychedelic lyricism of Sgt Pepper-era Beatles and Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd. Soon signed to EMI, nick’s second single, 1982’s ‘Hilly Fields’, took us even further down the rabbit hole with a heady mix of synthesizers, cello and the first recorded use of ‘scratching’ in a non-Hip-Hop record. Hailed by the NME as "the best psychedelic record made since the '60s” it set nick up to be a star and to this day remains one of the most collectable records from the period. Sadly though, as is all too often the case, it wasn’t to be and despite the critical plaudits heaped upon nicely’s head and the interest of various labels, and even legendary producer Trevor Horn, nick’s debut album wouldn’t make it to the shops until 2004 when Tenth Planet Records finally released ‘Psychotropia’, a collection of recordings from 1978 to 2004. Since then though nick’s reputation has continued to grow with critically acclaimed releases on US labels Burger Records and Captured Tracks, contemporary psychedelic acts like Bevis Frond and Amorphous Androgynous citing him as a key influence and following his live debut in 2008 appearances on bills alongside artists such as Ariel Pink and John Maus. As a fresh wave of psychedelic sounds spreads across the globe nick’s music is more relevant today than ever before and now we have ‘Space of a Second’, 14 songs that range from the “prime shoegaze bliss” (Pitchfork) of ‘Wrottersley Road’ and ‘HeadwindAheadwind’ through to a brand new imagining of ‘Hilly Road’ that reveals nicely to be once again at his bewilderingly creative best. Bringing to the fore nick’s unique take on lo-fi baroque psychedelia, Space Of A Second bends influences from across time and space into an exhilarating construction that evades easy definition, indeed perhaps in the end the best description comes from The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis who simply hailed nick as “Unique, almost inexplicable”.