10.05.24
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Welcome back to Selections, a series of artist-curated playlists from those in the know.

A. G. Cook first started thinking about his new concept album, ‘Britpop’, during lockdown. After finding himself the only British person living locally whilst isolating in a small town in Montana, the artist was inspired to delve into ideas of ‘Britishness’, its distant history and its enduring eccentricity, constructing a new world of lore for the album to sit within. Out today via New Alias, formed after last year’s announcement that PC Music will no longer release new music, it’s Cook’s first full-length release on the label.

Opening a new chapter carrying forward his distinguishing flair for detail, the ‘Britpop’ world is vividly sprawling, living through three 8-disc projects (Past, Present and Future), as well as its own characters, videos, and irreverant websites Witchfork, Wandcamp and Wheatport.

Having just taken the album to LA, London and New York on the ‘Britpop Roadshow’, Cook’s Selections collate music he listened to whilst extending the ‘Britpop’ lore to a live space. A disparate mix of pop, guitar and electronic music with sounds ranging from unsettling to saccharine, its tracks are tied together by his album references and a wish to push boundaries bringing ‘Britpop’ to the stage.

“The Britpop Roadshow was all about extreme dynamics. Pitting heartfelt songs against heartfelt electronics and stretching the limit of what a live show is supposed to be,” he explains. “These are all songs that I was listening to while putting the set together, and a lot of them have ambiguous guitar sounds, or slightly unnerving combinations of instruments. There are also some lyrical themes that became strong references for me, like the cyclical imagery of ‘Windmills of Your Mind’, the neat fiction of ‘Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)’ and the strange directness of ‘I’m Not Lisa’.”