“An album of such sulky charisma that Option magazine crowned the co-vocalists ‘the Glimmer Twins minus the heroin.’”
– Pitchfork (The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time)
“Pale Saints’ command of dynamics — their ability to build up layers of sound, knock them down, and put them together again in a slightly different and satisfying fashion — is all over In Ribbons.”
– Brooklyn Vegan
“Meriel Barham’s and Ian Masters’ voices complement one another beautifully, wandering in and out of the songs’ moody yet warm glow.”
– SPIN
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(Exclusive tea towel also available)
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Today, Pale Saints release the expanded reissue of their 1992 album In Ribbons, a 30th anniversary edition that features previously unreleased demos and reworks.
Missing its original release date last year due to Covid delays and production plant woes, the anniversary edition is a special double LP / CD release. The first disc features the UK version of the record, which Pitchfork named one of The Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time, and the second bonus disc features never before heard demos that include their first attempt at Slapp Happy’s ‘Blue Flower’ and Ian Masters’ rare 4 track recording of their beloved Nancy Sinatra cover ‘Kinky Love’. Additionally, the bonus disc features two brass band versions by The Tintwistle Band (previously only heard on a limited, bonus 7” with the initial UK LP pressing).
Arriving in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, the limited double LP edition is being pressed on unpigmented vinyl by The Vinyl Factory in West London. A single disc, black vinyl version is also being released, as well as a double CD edition. There will also be a limited edition In Ribbons tea towel available on album release, both individually and as part of the deluxe double LP bundle.
The 1990 debut album from Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness, is an outstanding record that owed as much to post-punk and L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene than it did to shoegaze. Shortly after its release, Lush founding member Meriel Barham joined the Leeds trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper, as a second live guitarist, bringing a new dynamic to the band.
Having previously worked on their Flesh Balloon EP (1991), producer Hugh Jones (Echo & The Bunnyman, Modern English, The Sound) did a brilliant job capturing their second album, In Ribbons (1992), despite some studio tensions.
A year after Pale Saints released In Ribbons, Ian left the band: “I had to leave the band as my arms had become too long.” Drafting in former Heart Throbs bassist Colleen Browne, Pale Saints recorded another album for 4AD (Slow Buildings, 1994), before calling it quits. Meanwhile, Ian formed a duo, Spoonfed Hybrid, with Chris Trout of A.C. Temple, releasing a self-titled album in 1993 on 4AD’s short-lived sub-label, Guernica, which is also scheduled to be re-released soon.
Pale Saints – In Ribbons Expanded 30th Anniversary Reissue
4AD0407
A1 Throwing Back The Apple
A2 Ordeal
A3 Thread of Light
A4 Shell
A5 There Is No Day
A6 Hunted
B1 Hair Shoes
B2 Babymaker
B3 Liquid
B4 Neverending Night
B5 Featherframe
B6 A Thousand Stars Burst Open
C1 Babymaker (Demo)
C2 Kinky Love (Demo)
C3 Hair Shoes (Demo)
C4 Shell (Demo)
C5 Hunted (Demo)
C6 Featherframe (Demo)
D1 Blue Flower (Demo)
D2 Throwing Back The Apple (Demo)
D3 Ordeal (Demo)
D3 Untitled Instrumental (Demo)
D4 A Thousand Stars Burst Open
(Tintwistle Band Version)
D5 A Revelation
(Tintwistle Band Version)