The Sea Nymphs (album)

Members of the English rock band Cardiacs—Tim Smith, Sarah Smith and William D. Drake—formed an offshoot called Mr and Mrs Smith and Drake, releasing a cassette of the same name in 1984.[2][3] In 1991, it was announced in a Cardiacs YOUsletter that the band had changed their name to the Sea Nymphs and that another cassette album would soon be available.[3]

The album was recorded in 1992 along with the Sea Nymphs' second album, On the Dry Land (2016),[4][5][6] at Tree Tops High in Snakey Wood, Surrey and Sea Views in Anglesey. It was self-produced by the Sea Nymphs,[7] and initially took the title Tree Tops High before its release.[8][9]

The Sea Nymphs is a mixture of psychedelic pop, avant-garde folk, English Hymnal and electronic experimentation,[10] with hints of dancehall and classical influence.[4] Taking a different musical approach to the prog-punk japery of Cardiacs material, less time signature changes and more conventional song structures were used,[10] offering a gentler side of Tim Smith's creative output.[11] Music critics have compared the album to the whimsy of the Dukes of Stratosphear,[3] the psychedelic folk of the Incredible String Band and the work of classical English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams,[5][12] as well as the second side of Popol Vuh's In den Gärten Pharaos,[2]

"The Spirit Spout" has a percussive opening which settles into a sparser, hymn-like tone, and "Nil in the Nest" features oom-pah brass with an ascending guitar and church organ.[5] "Lucky Lucy" features diaphanous keyboards.[5] "Up In Annie's Room" has E-mu Proteus derived strings and a resonating church organ sound.[2] "Dog Eat Spine" is a surreal track with scampering piano mimicking the movement of small canine legs, and "Sarah on a Worm" resembles a curio music box melody.[5] The spacious composition of "Lilly White's Party" is dotted with birds twittering and a meowing cat.[5]

To promote The Sea Nymphs, the album's release was preceded by the 7-inch single "Appealing to Venus" (b/w "Tree Tops High"), which came free with the Cardiacs twelve-inch "Day Is Gone".[3] A year later, The Sea Nymphs was released as a limited edition promotional cassette by All My Eye and Betty Martin Music in 1992,[6][13][lower-alpha 1] available through the Cardiacs fan club.[14] In the autumn of 1992, the Sea Nymphs were announced to be supporting All About Eve on tour. A significant contingent of Cardiacs fans attended the first gig at Nottingham Rock City, where Tim Smith squirted the audience with water as he did with Cardiacs.[15]

After "Christ Alive" appeared on the Cardiacs anthology Sampler,[14] the Alphabet Business Concern saved the tape copies of The Sea Nymphs from disintegration by releasing it on CD in 1995,[16][17] allowing it for sale to the band's grateful fanbase.[10] The album was subsequently reissued on digipak CD and 180 gram vinyl in 2016 alongside the release of On the Dry Land,[18] and released on Apple Music and Bandcamp.[1][19] Org Records, the record label associated with the Organ fanzine,[14] reissued "Appealing to Venus" as a seven-track single in 1998, resulting in the band recording a John Peel Session.[20]

Notes

• "When all these songs have ended, listen very carefully and you can just about hear Sarah playing 'Sarah on a Worm' on a real worm."[7]
• "Gods Box" is written "God's Box" (with an apostrophe) in the lyrics insert
• ^{^[a]} On earlier releases, the lyrics of "The Psalm of Life" are uncertainly credited to William Wordsworth.[7]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Sea Nymphs.[7]

• William D. Drake – vocals, keyboards, Television Organ
• Tim Smith – vocals, keyboards, guitars
• Sarah Smith – vocals, saxes, clarinet, recorders
• all the Nymphs bang things

• Produced by The Sea Nymphs

• The Sea Nymphs at Discogs (list of releases)