An inspired album built upon the near wreckage of a severe medical condition. Out on Asthmatic Kitty on April 24th.
It is incredibly apt that this fifth album by Californian Angelo De Augustine is being put out on mercurial genius Sufjan Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label. Firstly, there is a fragile beauty and high-level quality here that you could imagine Stevens himself creating. Secondly, there are some odd parallels between these artists recent health. Stevens was badly hit by a mystery virus around 2009 and 2010 that affected his nervous system. More recently he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome and had to relearn to walk after a month or so in hospital. De Augustine was hospitalised with an unknown illness in 2022 that was genuinely life threatening. His fourth album Toil and Trouble was rushed to completion during this time as he believed he might die. Whilst that didn’t happen there was a long period of recovery where he had to relearn skills that were badly impaired during the illness, including walking, seeing and hearing. That he has come back to full health and produced an album of this quality is something of a minor miracle.
Angel in Plainclothes wastes no time in tackling this recent trauma head on in opening track ‘Empty Shell’:
“Where do you run when your life’s on the line?
Nowhere to cling to to focus your mind
Noise in your brain
Words on the page
Bury the needle past marrow and bone
Relax into meadows neath stars dead and gone
To cope with your loss
And pay off the cost”
Set against the gentle strumming of acoustic guitar, strings swirl in the background and De Augustine’s gently sung, almost whispered vocal is incredible. Huge depths of experience and emotion are found within. You are immediately on notice that is going to be something special.
The next track, ‘Pet Cemetery,’ contains much of the same palette but puts it together in different ways. Death continues to haunt the mood on this one in a Los Angeles pet cemetery where the rich and wealthy bury their beloved companions. De Augustine’s final remark of “Only in Los Angeles” feels apt. There are not many places where so many could afford such a grand end for a canine (or otherwise) companion. ‘Spirit of the Unknown’ is even more haunting and beautiful. De Augustine takes his voice up several octaves towards a falsetto and continues to dispense immense poetry. Still believing he is about to face the “commander and chief From the world we cannot see.”
It starts to change up on ‘The Cure,’ a little more hope creeping into the music from the start. The chorus is like a sudden angelic intervention, perhaps the angel in plainclothes of the album title. Likely a doctor or a nurse involved in the recovery process. It is an incredible track. ‘Mirror Mirror’ carries it on, the chorus sounding like the amazing soundtrack of a lost classic seventies TV series.
The incredible, meditative and reverential tracks keep on coming. There are some really interesting sounds in the instrumentation, De Augustine brought in a range of unusual items. These included a Marxophone (a fretless zither played with metal hammers), and a bowed Aquarion (a marimba-esque instrument equipped with glass keys).
The quality of the strings across the album deserves real credit. There were a few collaborators across the album and Oliver Hill, the string arranger, deserves top mention. Leng Bian brings her amazing harp skills to ‘The Universe Was Our Mother.’ ‘The Cure’ is co-produced by Father John Misty collaborator Jonathan Wilson.
Despite the links to some difficult moments the album overall is an instantly easy listen. It draws you in from the first spin yet is clever enough to reveal more on multiple listens. It is a real joy that De Augustine did not lose his voice to the illness as his skill throughout the album is a genuine triumph. This is a quiet, thoughtful low-key modern classic.
Essential Tracks: It is difficult to pick a few out – this deserves to be listened to as a complete album in order.
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