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Fifth Daughter — Stellar Season
(Fruits de Mer winkle 47, 2025, LP)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2025-03-22

Stellar Season Cover art

There is a new band on the Fruits de Mer label, Fifth Daughter, the duo of Nicholas Whittaker (Diagonal) and James Howarth (Running Dogs, The KLF, and Martin “Youth” Glover). Whittaker and Howarth conceived their debut album, Stellar Season, as a loose concept album about a rural society far from Earth, obsessed with summer that leads to an endless day that they eventually regret. Whittaker began sketching the songs during the Covid lockdown and enlisted bassist Howarth to collaborate and flesh things out. In addition to Whittaker (guitars, hulusi, kalimba. percussion, recorder, saxophone, clarinet, organ, synths, and vocals) and Howarth (bass guitar, sitar, electric guitar, percussion, synths, and vocals), they enlisted guest musicians Luke Foster (congas and drums), Will Howes (electric guitar), and David Wileman (acoustic guitar and electric 12-string guitar) to round out the compositions. The LP is pressed on this garish murky green vinyl and comes with a foldout poster that is the inverse color of the cover art, along with the lyrics to the album closer “Even Winter.” The album contains an incredible eclectic mix of prog, psych, and acid folk running the gamut from the tender to euphoric. As you can tell from the list of instruments, the album is adventurous featuring exotic percussion, sitar, and synths alongside acoustic guitar, woodwinds, and vocals. In keeping with the album’s concept, the tracks are a mixture of trippy shamanistic chants, raga rock, nature worship, drones, and studio trickery. I enjoy Stellar Season, except for its nadir “Forever Knowing.” Whittaker and Howarth appear to have lost focus on this track, which seems out of place on the album. Regardless, Fifth Daughter and Stellar Season are wonderful additions to the Fruits der Mer musical family.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Fifth Daughter

More info
http://fifthdaughter.bandcamp.com/album/stellar-season

 

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