Cosmo Sheldrake - The Moss

In a feat of incredible timing, the day that the Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent Competition longlist was announced and our nominations were revealed, one of the artists Breaking More Waves selected to be on the list also released his new song to the internet. This is that song.

Listening to Cosmo Sheldrake is an absorbing experience and The Moss is a perfect example of that. Did you know that the perceived wisdom is that where moss grows on trees in the northern hemisphere it is likely to be thickest on the north side of the tree? If you didn’t and you listen to The Moss it’s the first thing you’ll learn. It’s something to do with moss producing spores that need a damp environment to grow and as the sun shines from the south in the northern hemisphere the northern part of a tree is likely to remain damper. There you are, it’s not everyday you get a little bit of a science lesson from a pop song or a music blog is it? And as Cosmo continues you’ll also learn that the world spins on an axis of twenty three degrees and hear references to the nonsense poems of the likes of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Cosmo isn’t a man who (thankfully) is likely to be singing about being ‘in da club’ or how ‘baby I wanna see you naked.’

It’s not just Cosmo’s quirkily unconventional lyrics that engage though. It’s his nursery rhyme melodies and his adventurous and eclectic instrumentation that he populates his songs with. On The Moss you’ll hear electronics, a woodwind instrument that we’re reliably informed is called a duduk  and strings all combining to create something utterly unique. It encapsulates all that traditional and loveable British eccentricity yet thrusts it into a very modern context. Dare we say it? Absolute genius. If this one doesn’t leave you grinning from ear to ear check your pulse because you’re probably dead.

The song is released on the 21st April through paradYse/Transgressive Records.

Cosmo Sheldrake - The Moss