Heavenly – A Bout de Heavenly

Still some late year necessities rolling in before 2020 officially tosses itself into the burn bin. The crew over at Damaged Goods fill in an indie-pop drought of Heavenly releases with this essential singles compilation. The band, which sprang out of the highly revered Tallulah Gosh, wound up making their own stake in indie-pop that was just as significant. The compilation rounds up the band’s singles, which were spread primarily over Sarah in the early ‘90s but also found their way stateside to K Records, with one popping up on Rough Trade’s Wiiija Records as well. The set nabs highlights from the singles as well as their four albums, similarly spread across Sarah and Wiiija.

Heavenly, as much has the Gosh before them found their charms spreading their sound between guitars that jangle n’ twang. Add to that the saccharine n’ tart vocals of Amelia Fletcher and Cathy Rogers and its easy to see why they’ve long been a fan favorite. While Fletcher’s heartbroken lament and pogo-pop delivery were the hallmark, post Le Jardin de Heavenly the band featured harmonies from Rogers and their back ’n forth became a bit of an expected feature, not to mention a blueprint for twee poppers following in their footsteps from Belle and Sebastian to The Vivian Girls. The band’s catalog has, as I mentioned, seen a bit of a lapse in the last few years. Aside from the digital availability of the LPs, the last round up of the band’s work round its way out around ’95. Indie pop fans should have this one high on their list even as the end of year onslaught threatens to bury it.