CARDIACS - Extra Special 'Secret' Show

Following the death of Tim Smith in 2020, it fell to his brother and bandmate, Jim Smith, to decide if work would continue on the album he was finally moving home to complete. Fortunately for Cardiacs fans, he decided it absolutely should.

For many of the songs there was a ton of work to do. Craig Fortnam (NSRO) had worked closely with Smith compiling lyrics from his notebooks and writing arrangements for strings and brass under his guidance. Before his cardiac arrest in 2008, Smith had recorded some of the drums, vocals, bass and guitar parts whilst working closely with bandmate, Kavus Torabi (Gong, The Utopia Strong), but there was plenty left to do. His distinctive production imprint was evident and there was more than enough to go on so along with a tight-knit bunch of friends, Jim Smith and Torabi set about finishing the job.

LSD is the culmination of his life’s work and brings all of Smith’s faculties to bear in one place: a unified whole world of experience. Elements of more folk-horror offshoot The Sea Nymphs, his solo work OceanLandWorld and pop-flavoured Spratleys Japs flow alongside distinct references to Cardiacs’ 80s albums and on through to later work like the 1996 seminal album, Sing To God.

This album is a 17-song tour de force. Opener, Men in Bed, a hymn reminiscent of Home of Fadeless Splendour (1992) that hits full-face with the darker underbelly of A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window (1988) in the brass and string arrangements, brings the listener to attention with RoseEllen Kemp’s powerful vocal striding through then giving way to the frenetic The May where the listener hears Tim Smith’s voice anew for the first time in almost two decades. Songs like Volob and The Blue and Buff, see Smith’s playful pop sensibility given full reign while the first single, Woodeneye, featuring new Cardiacs lead singer, Mike Vennart (Biffy Clyro, Empire State Bastard, Oceansize), ripping into the vocal like a man possessed, betrays a delight in the theatre of classic metal. Perhaps Torabi’s influence is felt more here but in such perfect harmony with Smith’s own. In contrast, Skating is a Mr. Bungle-esque montage of genres, flavours and styles all resulting in a triple-distilled unmistakable Cardiacs thrill.

The album takes the band even further away from genre specifications and limitations, shedding the yoke of definition and breaking free of all expectations, especially Smith’s own. Its completion and release is an act of celebration and a gift for a dear brother and friend that stars a role call of collaborators from the wider Cardiacs scene. The final song, Pet Fezant, gives all of them leave to say goodbye in the most fitting way with a triumphant, meandering guitar solo followed by a choir singing ‘O Glory on the ground/As bright as our eyes shine/Glory lies on the ground/All pointing our beaks up into the sky’ as if watching Smith’s atoms and energy return to the universe that created him.

Mixed by Adam Noble and mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios, LSD is presented on black and two-coloured LPs in a double gatefold sleeve with slipcase, full lyric booklet and a ‘Making of LSD’ booklet featuring interviews with key personnel involved in the process. It’s double CD counterpart also comes in a slipcase with both booklets.