Observations: Psychedelia and some heavy lifting: what Noel Gallagher did next
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Your support makes all the difference.After Noel Gallagher's seemingly irrevocable split from Oasis, fans have searched recent interviews with the benefit of hindsight to seek hints about his dramatic move. One area that deserves closer inspection, though, is the star's extra-curricular activities. For while his main band limped to its ignominious end, the elder Gallagher has been dallying with the psychedelic collective Amorphous Androgynous (AA).
Last year, on his now even wider-read blog, Oasis's main songwriter praised to the hilt AA's freakbeat compilation A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding in Your Mind. Now the group led by Garry Cobain, formerly of house outfit Future Sound Of London, have put together a second volume, set to launch at a night that features live sets from his group and rock veterans Hawkwind.
Gallagher himself is set to guest on AA's cover of his tune "Falling Down", from the last Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul, almost unrecognisable to the original thanks to its winsome female vocal and liberal use of that psych standby, the sitar. AA took on the track at Noel's own request, Cobain explains. "He asked us to make it worthy to be on [Monstrous...], so we went to town on it and delivered a 22-minute epic mix, adding flutes, orchestration, all sorts of sonic trickery – the full Amorphous Androgynous psychedelic palette." Nor is it the first time Gallagher has worked with them, even lugging guitars as a roadie. "I think secretly he is nostalgic for those early days when he was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets.
"One day Alisha Sufit, who sings 'Falling Down' live, lost her voice just before a gig and we reluctantly turned to Noel and asked him if he could fill in. He jumped at the chance and actually he's not bad on vocals, so we've kept him for special occasions like this; but we do miss him as a roadie because he was the best we've ever had."
Amorphous Androgynous play Matter at the O2 arena in London on 17 September
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