Private View

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In the edit page, go to the 'Metadata' tab and add your Juno artist, label or release page for listeners to purchase your release / releases. All image and audio content is used by permission of the copyright holders or their agents, and/or according to fair dealing as per the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. How Stephen, faced with spiralling health issues, was unable to join the subsequent tour but gave his blessing for Neil to continue without him.

Continuing FADER partner Benge as producer who worked on the recent BLANCMANGE albums ‘Unfurnished Rooms’, ‘Wanderlust’, ‘Mindset’ and ‘Commercial Break’, ‘Private View’ presents a striking opener in ‘What’s Your Name’; not a cover of the 1981 DEPECHE MODE tune, despite a sparse vibey start, it strums and crashes into action while Arthur uses a manipulated voice treatment to give a sense of other worldly alienation away from the indie rock track that this could easily be. We discuss the fortunes of his beloved Blackburn Rovers, his fascination with white plastic chairs, his current favourite album (“ Waves by Low Altitude – absolutely bloody gorgeous”) and the cover art of Private View – a pixelated photo of his art student daughter, Eleanor.All the sounds and feels you'd want if you love Stephen's previous bands, but with some new twists and ideas keeping it fresh. When not immersed in music, Aaron enjoys spending time with the loves of his life -- his wife Andrea, and daughters Emily and Linda (all of whom have an intense love of music too).

Happy showers come and go / Migrating birds have my view / Have a pleasant trip…’ I’m sorry about this, it’s very embarrassing. A couple of weeks prior to our meeting, Neil had tweeted a picture of himself wearing the Indian-style linen tunic he’d first sported 38 years earlier, in the video for ‘The Day Before You Came’ – an Abba cover flavoured with the santoor and tabla of regular collaborators Deepak Khazanchi and Pandit Dinesh. The de facto “other half” of 21st century Blancmange, and also Neil’s musical partner in Fader, the duo’s experimental side project. Private View captures an artist who is potently in the moment while also being able to draw on 40 years’ worth of knowledge, experience and built-in intuition.In 2021, Blancmange released the wonderful Commercial Break, and it seemed that Arthur rediscovered the guitar. Nobody goes through a very close relationship with a partner without making some mistakes, and it’s a case of… how many times will that person put up with it? The references in that song are about painting a picture, and one of those references is Donald Campbell. years on from BLANCMANGE’s debut album on London Records, ‘Private View’ shows Neil Arthur can still spring some surprises. Private View is a record that manages to capture an artist who is potently in the moment when it comes to creating new work, while also being able to draw on 40 years’ worth of knowledge, experience, and built-in intuition.

Conceived in the wake of the pandemic, the album looks beyond the trials of the past two years and strives to find answers and, moreover, solutions to the situation we’ve arrived at, with Neil insisting the desire to keep moving forward underpins the set. We were in the dressing room, and they all said ‘Right, we’re going on…’ so we did the secret ritual, then they left me alone to gargle because I’d been ill. She was climbing up the PA, changing costumes, balancing along a bar between the audience and the orchestra pit in high heels and this fantastic blue suit.Long-standing admirers include Moby, John Grant and Honey Dijon, who states that “British synth pop was hugely influential in the burgeoning house music scene and Blancmange was a big part of that. For a while I was making music, and if you’re successful there’s a tag that comes with that: ‘Pop Star’.

With plans to take it across the UK, we caught up with Neil to discuss how touring life has changed over the past four decades. Originally a duo comprising of Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, the pair released a further two albums ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’ before going on a lengthy hiatus. And that made me think about the miner’s strike, and all kinds of other stuff from the late 1970s and early ‘80s. Blancmange is also reflected in the ongoing influence the music has on younger generations of artists and fans over the years. One of my regular walks when I lived in South London was to get off at Charing Cross and walk across Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery.In June 2022, the modern-day Blancmange performed at the Meltdown Festival curated by the lady herself, at the aforementioned Southbank Centre. He’d walked across the stage, tripped over his monitor, and knocked both his keyboards off their stand.