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According to the sleeve notes of Kevin Kane's How
To Build A Lighthouse (in more than one place), the
seventh track is See Emily Play. It's not: it's Arnold
Layne. Search all you like for some clue as to why
this has happened, but you won't find one. The credits
(rightly) accredit all songs to 'Kevin Kane except
track five by Kane/Neudorf and track seven by Syd
Barrett' but that doesn't help. It's not See Emily
Play. It's definitely Arnold Layne.
This sets off a fabulously trippy stream of thought
that turns out to the perfect accompaniment to this
lovely little gem of an album. First conspiracy theory
for consideration: this is a wonderfully clever
in-joke designed to sort the real lovers of dreamy,
psych-drenched, innocent/twee pop from the chaff. If
you don't know your Syd Barrett songs apart, sod off
and listen to someone who doesn't owe such a debt to
him instead.
Then comes the second paranoid schizophrenic muse:
a terrible realisation that maybe Kevin Kane doesn't
know the difference himself. Maybe he really thinks
track seven is See Emily Play. His website, the press
release nor anything else gives and glimmer of
explanation. But there it is - tucked away amidst
gentle sixties melodies that were born from the loins
of The Byrds, The Kinks and The
Beatles, reached puberty in the hands of
Blur and live on today through Jim Noir
- a song that's not what it appears to be.
And yet to mis-identify a song by such a pop genius
as Syd Barrett and to not even notice, instead to
simply lie back and let it all wash over you, is a
perfect metaphor of the mood this album instils. It's
innocent, slightly off kilter, fragile and fractured
all at once, a beautiful package of beautiful songs
that soak though the summer air on harmonies carried
by the breeze and the waves of your very life essence.
Mixed by Steven Drake (late of the Tragically
Hip) and never betraying Kane's roots in late '80s
swoonsters the Grapes of Wrath, the collection
of songs brings together the best elements of the
summer of love and the revivals it has had since,
drenched in Baggy homages and today's return to nu
gaze. There's a touch of insanity lurking beneath the
surface but we all like that, don't we, indie kids?
In other words, this is a great album. Initially
intriguing because it includes a Pink Floyd
cover, even more intriguing when you realise it does
but not in the way you thought, it gradually wins you
over by sounding like something Syd Barrett might have
written anyway. All in all, what more can you ask for?
If you know the story behind it, answers on a
postcard would be appreciated.
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