Owl

Gliding on soft wings
Sharp eyes spot a twitching tail
Captured by cruel claws

Back to Mystery City by Hanoi Rocks

80’s hair metal was a short lived but tremendously enjoyable genre with impressive guitars and even more impressive hair styles. They probably got through enough hairspray to put a sizeable dent in the ozone layer.

This album is a lot of fun and not quite as over the top as some later examples of the genre. There are solid drums and guitars, and the vocals are pitched at a level audible to the human ear.

Hanoi Rocks from Finland were pioneers, and could possibly have hit the big time if not for the tragic death of their drummer Razzle in a car crash in 1984, caused by Mötley Crüe’s singer Vince Neil driving drunk. The band broke up not long after.

Fifth Dimension by The Byrds

This is an interesting crossover between folk music and psychedelia, especially on the title track which genuinely sounds like Bob Dylan floating through the universe on a particularly freaky acid trip. This is followed by an oddly out of place cover of a traditional Scottish folk song - I’m guessing that they don’t have much purple heather in San Francisco, but then we are back to the weirdness with a song about ufos and little green men.

The highlight is probably the best known track here, the soaring Eight Miles High which has echos of some of the Beatles experiments with Eastern mysticism that were in the zeitgeist at the time. Apparently many radio stations refused to play it as they thought it was a drugs reference. Wonder where they got that idea from?

Parched, Grass

The lawn's turning brown
Meanwhile data centres churn
As the ocean boils

Maxinquaye by Tricky

Bristol has always been a city of contrasts. Leafy suburbs sit alongside sink estates. Grand civic buildings (which even a cursory glance at a history book will tell you were paid for by the slave trade) were of little comfort to a generation of young people with no jobs and no prospects. It’s hardly a surprise that the 80s saw riots born of despair and hopelessness, but from the literal ashes a new musical genre appeared that reflected something of the mood of the time.
Tricky was part of the Massive Attack project, but was understandably frustrated to be seen as just a vocalist (albeit a damn good one). This is first solo album and it is noticeably darker and more introspective. It’s a musical evolution of the trip-hop sound rather than a revolution, but the real revelation on this album is the discovery of Martina Topley-Bird who Tricky found sitting a wall near his flat, singing to herself after finishing her college exams. Her voice perfectly complements the music here.

Moominpappa at Sea

Tove Jansson's "Moominpappa at Sea" is a profound departure from the cozy, idyllic Moominvalley. Here, Moominpappa, feeling restless and yearning for a new purpose, uproots his family to a desolate island with a derelict lighthouse. The result is a distinctly melancholic and introspective tale.

Moominpappa grapples with an existential crisis, obsessed with providing for his family and taking on a new role of lighthouse keeper. Moominmamma struggles with homesickness - she tries (and fails) to plant a rose garden, so instead paints a garden on the walls of the lighthouse that she can escape to. Moomintroll experiences profound loneliness, rebuffed by the haughty sea horses and instead drawn to the enigmatic Groke, while Little My remains characteristically unfazed. 

The island and the surrounding sea are characters in their own right, with mysterious pools, flotsam washed up on the shore and wild storms to contend with. A particularly stark image is of the trees on the island uprooting themselves in fear and clustering around the lighthouse to escape from the threat of being frozen by the Groke.

Jansson masterfully explores themes of identity, purpose, the complexities of family relationships under strain, and the quiet struggle to adapt to change. The atmosphere is stark, beautiful, and hauntingly melancholy, and it's easy to see the links to the more autobiographical Summer Book that she wrote in 1972, looking at her own life on a small island through the eyes of a small child and her elderly grandmother.

Sand, plover

Today I learned that
Siberian sand plovers
Are chunky wee birds