Pitchfork: Kevin Ayers Returns With Help From Roxy, Ladybug, Architecture

Kevin Ayers Returns With Help From Roxy, Ladybug, Architecture
"Roxy, Ladybug, Architecture" revealed to be long-lost Soft Machine song title

It's been fifteen long years since Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers last put out a new album, so you can't fault the guy for wanting a little help in returning to the limelight. So for The Unfairground, out September 3 in the UK on LO-MAX Recordings, September 7 on Tuition in Europe, and October on JVC Victor in Japan, Ayers pulled out all the stops.

Ayers co-produced the album with Peter Henderson and the Ladybug Transistor's Gary Olson, and the list of guest artists includes various other Ladybug Transistors (even the late San Fadyl), Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, members of Architecture in Helsinki, Neutral Milk Hotel/Music Tapes dude Julian Koster, former Gorky's Zygotic Mynci songwriter Euros Childs, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and Francis MacDonald, Elephant 6-affiliated cellist Heather McIntosh, Daisy Martey of the Noonday Underground, Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Joe McGinty, songwriter Candie Payne, folkie legend Bridget St. John, and enough other folks to round out a Rolodex.

There's also a mention of "the Wyattron" and Hugh Hopper on Ayers' website, which-- if "the Wyattron" is, in fact, Robert Wyatt, and not just some robot with a beard-- makes this, in some small way, a partial Soft Machine reunion. Nice!

The Unfairground:

01 Wide Awake
02 Cold Shoulder
03 Walk On Water
04 Friends & Strangers
05 Brainstorm
06 Unfairground
07 Baby Come Home
08 Shine a Light
09 Run Run Run
10 Only Heaven Knows