Space Elevator - 'Persona Non Grata'

The title track comes in two parts, the first of which is more of an intro, before the band hit their stride on the slightly avant-garde but hard driving Part Two. There is some lovely guitar playing on this from the main man, David Young, who has a strong pedigree, including a lengthy stint in the ‘We Will Rock You’ house band. Rockfiend readers might remember him sporting a retro Scotland football when the band supported Cats in Space top in his native Glasgow in 2016, although the blokes might be more inclined to remember his singing and song-writing partner, The Duchess, who rather stole the show that night in a very tight tartan leotard!

The flamboyant Duchess also has a profile in musical theatre and some may also know her as one of Thunder’s ‘Thunderbirds’ backing vocalists. She introduces herself in fine style on ‘Duchess of This Town’, before channelling her inner Kate Bush in the ethereal and splendid ‘First Girl on the Moon’. She’s definitely a shining star and a very engaging performer.

 

The most commercial of the tunes may be ‘Passive Aggression’ which is a huge semi-ballad, reminiscent of Heart in their chart-topping pomp, but the most attention-grabbing song must be the sultry ‘Stevie Nicks Smile’ which is every bit as seductive as the title subject. I’ve not seen a lyric sheet but it definitely sounds to me like it contains namechecks for Marti Pellow, Rickey Lee (Jones) and Alice (Cooper) – although I might have misheard or misinterpreted that! It is top quality stuff; The Duchess’ phrasing and vocal delivery are sublime, David’s brief guitar solo is totally TDF and there’s even a children’s choir at one point.

‘Cheerful Frank’ is another signature piece and apparently the ‘Frank’ in question is Egremont’s finest son, Francis Dunnery. It’s a jaunty and summery number, referencing some It Bites melodies and song titles. It’s definitely a WTF moment but very enjoyable none-the-less. How do you follow that? Well, how about some funky disco-lite night fly sounds on ‘Love You Better’ – another excellent song that benefits from some spoken word role-play.

The duo fully embrace their musical theatre roots on the final two songs. David apes Dr Brian May with some positively astro-physical licks on ‘I Will Hold onto You’ and The Duchess really hits the heights on that and the show-stopping closer ‘Reverie and Souvenirs’.

This is a quite unique collection from a band that seem to have really hit their stride as story tellers and song-writers. There’s plenty formulaic soft rock around but this collection really breaks the mould and brings something a bit different to the table. Give it a listen – go on, you know you want to. It’s absolutely fabulous darling.