For their "difficult second album", HR approached power pop producer Michael Carpenter with the idea that the mixture of his pop sensibilities and the band's melancholia could cook up a wondrous musical stew. Thankfully, they were right.

13 MP3 Songs
POP: Beatles-pop, ROCK: Psychedelic



Details:
After the critical acclaim of their debut album Regretfulness, Hitchcock's Regret (Mark Moldre: Vocals & Guitars, Shane Pex: Drums, Paul Grant: Keyboards and David Pex: Bass) returned to the studio in March 2002 to start work on their 'difficult' follow-up album. This time they approached power pop producer Michael Carpenter with the idea that the mixture of his pop sensibilities and the band's melancholia could cook up a wondrous musical stew. Thankfully, this approach paid off and the 'difficult' follow-up album was in fact quite easy and, more importantly, fun to produce.

Her Life In Reverse proves to be a collection of bright, stabbing pop melodies, memorable hooks and 60's style psychedelia. From track one, the hushed intimacy of singer/principal songwriter Mark Moldre's voice draws you in. The songs and lyrics are full of breadth and emotion. Instruments other than guitars, bass and drums are spread across the album but HR always manage to sound like one band.

Here's what producer Michael Carpenter had to say about the new album: 'Well.. this album is an amazing statement. Bold, yet melodic, and very deep in scope. Sounds heavy, but it has fun, depth, fury and some of the most beautiful moments I've had a chance to work on. It's one of the broadest pop albums I've worked on, and I think it's the stuff of genius.'

Tracks "How I Wish You Were Her" and "She's Looking Through Me" contain catchy choruses mixed with Beatlesque/Finn style melodies. "She's All That I Think About" is a wonderful Beach Boys/Ben Folds inspired gem. The album rocks out in spots on "Tripping On a Wire" and "Bitter". "Don't Wait" is a Brit pop style epic about the fears of life passing by too swiftly (and features Michael Carpenter on slide guitar). "Space & Time" is, strangely enough, spacey and psychedelic. "Salisbury" is a modern ode to Simon and Garfunkel, with some amazingly dark production from Carpenter. "In The Summer" is lyrically nostalgic and musically wistful. "The Girl Who Came In From The Cold" is a melancholic ballad that fans of Regretfulness will particularly enjoy. "Milkwood Moon" which features special guest Jamie Hutchings from Bluebottle Kiss on slide guitar is an affecting ballad and has been described by some listeners as the sweetest song they have ever heard. Also, you can still expect some quirky instrumental tracks hidden in between songs!

Her Life In Reverse features horn sections, string sections, vocal harmonies, jangly guitars, melodic bass lines, vintage keyboards, rollicking drums, special guests and special songs. It weaves a rich tapestry of texture, lyrical depth and melody.

Press:

"The first thing that caught my attention about this album was the line 'Recorded and produced by Michael Carpenter and Hitchcock's Regret' in the credits. Whenever Carpenter's name is on an album these days, as a performer or producer, you can be sure that the music on the CD is going to be worth more than a casual listen. And this second album from Australia's Hitchcock's Regret is another success Carpenter can add to his ever-growing list of achievements.

There is a lot of music produced these days that is labelled as psychedelic. It's one of those things that really bugs me. Although only just out of short trousers in those musically glorious days of the 60s I spent all my spare time listening to these new 'psychedelic' sounds so I get bitterly disappointed when I hear a new band described as psychedelic as more often than not the sounds they make bear no resemblance to either the heavier sounds our American cousins were making in the mid 60's or the more toytown strain we produced in the U.K. I mention this because with 'Her Life In Revenge' Hitchcock's Regret has made what can only be described as a psychedelic pop album. And it's the first album by a contemporary band that I can honestly say that about.

Most albums that recall the 60's do so as the songs are little more than rewrites (good rewrites in the main though) of the classic sounds of that era. Hitchcock's Regret have done what I thought was impossible and actually made an album which is drenched in the psychedelic sounds of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and even Hendrix (check out the intro to 'Tripping On A Wire') but which still sounds contemporary. It's an album I feel I've been waiting for a long time. It's all the sounds I loved from the 60's brought bang up to date.

Every song here is different. One thing they all have in common is wonderful melodies and choruses so catchy that you'll be singing along after just a couple of plays. And it's not just the melodies which warrant the "psych" tag; with lyrics like "Cherry flavoured wine drips from the windowsill out onto the grass that grew like strawberry coloured hair" from the second track' 'She's Looking Through Me' the band capture the often obscure musings of the greats of the era perfectly.

The third track, 'She's All That I Think About' starts off with some perfect Beach Boys inspired harmonies before the song develops into a bright, summery song full of brass at the end and another of the infectious choruses which the band excels at.

The backwards guitar and dreamy atmosphere the band create on the following track, 'Space In Time', shows how easily the band can shift from the brightness of the previous track to more introspective sounds with ease. This is what keeps the listener interested. Although the next track 'Tripping On A Wire' is held together by the Hendrix inspired riff, there is a lot more going on in this song; barely half a minute into the track and we are treated to another of those unforgettable choruses followed by some strangely treated vocals.

There are traces of Squeeze on 'Don't Wait', which is no bad, thing but maybe what makes the track so special is the slide guitar by Carpenter here.

Some of the tracks need a few plays to really get under your skin. 'Bitter' was not one of my favourites the first 3 or 4 times I listened to the album but now it ranks as one of the best. It's hard to tell from the first few seconds of guitar that the track is going to progress through some jangly guitar, passionate vocals about reclaiming a lost love (perhaps) before recalling the guitar at the end of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' for some reason I can't work out.

Both Carpenter and Jamie Hutchings from label mates Bluebottle Kiss add slide guitar to 'Milkwood Moon' which must be a contender for the best track on the album. It's a ballad with vocalist Mark Moldre's aching voice really touching the heartstrings.

After the following 'JozyBeck Blues', one of a few strange instrumental passages which link some of the songs we are treated to another acoustic ballad, 'Salisbury', kind of like a Simon and Garfunkel song soundtracking a David Lynch film.

This album is not what I expected from the band after their debut from last year, 'Regretfulness'. it's taken another direction and they've produced something of a minor classic in doing so. It's an album which will be returned to time and time again simply because there is so much to be discovered each time it is played. Anyone with a liking for the best of the psychedelic sounds of the 60's will find much to enjoy here. A final mention must go to the excellent notes by Michael Carpenter on the CD sleeve but it does make one long for the days of the 12" album. I wouldn't need a magnifying glass to read them then!" - Pennyblack Website

"In a new rock world, where the press kit matters more than extraneous stuff like songwriting, Hitchcock's Regret's follow-up to their debut LP 'Regretfulness' comes as a pleasant surprise. There's no smoke, mirrors, tantrums or kicked-in kick drums here, just 13 songs where craft and a penchant for experimentalism are the governing values.

For much of 'Her Life In Reverse', solid pop virtues prevail, 'Don't Wait' and 'She's All I Think About' bouncing over guitar and piano chords like a pair of long-lost McCartney tunes, while 'Tripping On A Wire' shifts into full-throttle rock gear. It's a strong progression from 'Regretfulness', and head songwriter Mark Moldre is rewarded for taking an off-centre approach to these songs with 'She's Looking Through Me' and 'Milkwood Moon' crowning the solid material around them; the former whirling with guitars and keyboards, the departed lover of the title driving the moody arrangement on, allowing mind and matter to collide, bringing the poignance of memory to immanence. The latter ripples over plucked guitar and Moldre's breathy vocal, hushed, contemplative and evocative, a vanishing point in every impressionistic stroke.

'Her Life In Reverse' is the kind of record easily passed over in the present musical climate. In fairness, much of this record is short of exhilarating, instead focusing of strong, resolutely adult songwriting. But when it pays off it pays off handsomely, achieving depth and emotional resonance. It may feel as though punk might not have happened, but the ability of 20-year-old white kids whose idea of the sum of Western culture runs about as far as 'Catcher in the Rye', Albert Camus and the Buzzcock's first LP to produce things of lasting quality is rather overstated. Mark Moldre is a growing, intelligent songwriter, happy to play to his own rhythms and not the thrash and crash of all around him. The current music climate will be the better for the direction he appears to be taking Hitchcock's Regret in." - ozmusicproject Website

"One of the latest batch of album releases from surprisingly prolific Australian imprint Laughing Outlaw, the second long-player from Hitchcock's Regret is several streets ahead of their pedestrian debut Regretfulness. Echoes of Neil Finn and Elliott Smith abound, and if the Sydney quartet never quite find their own voice, then at least they've borrowed well. Produced by Michael Carpenter, as is the case with most half-decent Australian albums these days." - Wiseacre Reviews

"Elsewhere on these pages, I've already stated that the name of Michael Carpenter (here in the producer's role) could be enough a reason for an album to be way above the average and as he puts it himself in the liner notes, this time around, it's really about the band. Not that he hasn't done a great job, but it seems that Hitchcock's Regret would've done their thing with or without him and that would be an incredible amalgamation of everything you've ever loved about music.

Besides the heavy Beatles presence, hanging all over the album, on offer are also some Neil Finn-gerprints on the coulda-been-hits How I Wish You Were Her, She's Looking Through Me and the one called Don't Wait, which I'm sure, would've increased the Gallaghers' fortune by a coupla millions.

Adding to the "variety show", there's also a kind of a BIG Jellyfishin' production of the Wilson-ian-as-if-done-by-Squeeze tune She's All That I Think About, a fuzzy Hendrix riffage, against the (John) Power-full chorus of Tripping On The Wire, an imaginary outtake from David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name called In The Summer, a piece of "magical mystery" psych, Space And Time, that special brand of Gene Clark-like popsike-country with a Blue Nile-ish soft touch in Milkwood Moon and Salisbury is an eclectic kind of harmonious folk, in the way it was done by Simon & Garfunkel.

Though it should be about Hitchcock, there's a hidden track on the end of the album, sounding more like Woody Allen's jazz band ..... just another proof of the band's wittiness." Torpedo.com

"The Sydney Quartet follow up their debut Regretfulness with an album that proves that 'they do make 'em like that anymore'.
You get the idea from titles such as: Milkwood Moon, Salisbury, The Girl Who Came In From The Cold, Tripping On A Wire, Space and Time, In The Summer and Alfred's Delight, etc... It would seem that everyone from Macca to Syd Barrett, by way of Ray Davies to Arthur Lee, will get their deserved nod and genuflected bow in. Not to be missed is one of the highlights: She's All That I Think About." - LAM (UK)

"The first album from this New South Wales four-piece, Regretfulness, was an appealing, melodic and atmospheric slice of post-psychedelic Britpop that impressed me quite a lot this time last year. The follow-up, produced by Michael Carpenter, sounds as though it was fun to make and in many ways builds on the virtues of that début, but I'm not quite so convinced overall this time round. On occasions there's more of a deliberate feeling of conscious homage-paying and, less satisfyingly, even unconscious self-parody; to carry the filmic metaphor further, I sense a preponderance of musical MacGuffins. Take the over-obvious harmony opening to She's All That I Think About, which takes the Beach Boys/Good Vibrations-outtake ploy to a ridiculous extreme. But when this album's good, as on the multi-layered Space Is Time or the rockin' psych-Pretty Things-style Trippin' On A Wire, where the influences and inspirations are less self-consciously applied and better integrated into the musical vision, then it's every bit as good as this kind of stuff gets. And the slightly country, more delicate ballad Milkwood Moon is affecting and wistful, rather in the manner of, say, Pink Floyd's Fat Old Sun. So, with just a little more self-control, Hitchcock's Regret is going to be a force to be reckoned with; they've plenty of aces, not the least Mark Moldre's individual, intimate, pained vocal style that stamps his songs with real authority whatever the mood." - NetRhythms Website

"Some albums, like Radiohead's Kid A, are meant to be listened to through crappy computer speakers, the crunchier and dehumanising the better. Others like Her Life in Reverse, Hitchcock's Regrets second, are headphone numbers where every inch of homosapien involvement can be heard within the drenching guitars, twinkling keyboards, and searching harmonic vocals. Michael Carpenter handles production duties, and you can tell by that hallmark sense of instrumental space given over to each player, somehow melding or is welded together by Carpenter's touch.

The songs themselves are sweet pop rock, but not the aspartame make of commercial radio that poisons even the fruit flies. There are moments, as on "Space and Time," where the band drift into psychedelic snowstorms, only to hurl themselves out with Mark Moldre's cutting ache of "love is all that's saving you through space and time." "Don't Wait" is also a nice piece of work, "and all the friends you thought you knew have all melted to a single saddened face" the centre point of a lyric made on broken dreams and life's regrets.

In short, Her Life in Reverse is an album that requires repeated listenings or the pop sheen can distract you from the substance buried beneath the layered love. I'd like to believe there's room and time for us all to let something like this come live in our ears and minds for a while." - Delusions of Adequacy Website

"Put the words 'power' and 'pop' together and images of Big Star, Beatles and Cheap Trick wannabes spring unbidden to the mind. However, Sydney quartet Hitchcock's Regret proffer a brand of open-minded psych-pop power that is closer in outlook to the Elephant 6 collective and the Anglican lyricism of Costello and Tilbrook. Regret lynchpin Mark Moldre's compositions surge with an adrenalised energy that recalls a muscular David Gilmour, while the off-kilter lyrics are closer to Gary Gilmour. There's little truly profound about 'Her Life In Reverse', but classic pop has rarely sounded so kinetic." - Logo Magazine

"Yes, yet another Australian power pop band on Laughing Outlaw and yes it is produced by Michael Carpenter. Yes it's full of lovely harmonies, "She's Looking Through Me," yes it's full of ringing guitars, yes it's chock full of Beatles like moments, and yes I'm going to mention Crowded House. Yes it's lazy of me but at least now you know where this record is coming from and at least I didn't mention the Beach Boys (She's All That I Think About) with its muted horns and angular (well ok twisting guitar lines) is a shoo-in for that comparison. Things get interesting on "Space & Time" where the melodic progression is interrupted by a guitar spazz out before returning to the gentle beauty of the main body of the song only to be turned once again on its head with the introduction of some passionate strings. The good thing about this record is that it doesn't layer on the sweetness but allows a little space for melancholy and reflection. Any record that can simultaneously remind you of The Pale Fountains and The Green Pyjamas can't be bad, can it? Even though I don't listen to much power pop I can see the charm and appeal of this record - Mark Moldre can get his tongue around any phrase and make it fly. "Milkwood Moon" slows things down with finger picked and slide guitars and country sadness 'I am lost cause I am lost'. It's finished off with a ballad from the bassist David Pex that is like those songs on Buffalo Tom records that Bill Janovitz didn't write, a little different with slightly strange phrasing. A definite cut above all the usual generic power pop records." - 3.5 / 5 - Americana UK Website

"This nifty little Oz label - not so little, actually, as it has a massive roster - has produced some gems so far this year: The Hired Guns, Karl Broadie and The Long Weekend to name but three - but this has got to be the best so far. HR's debut album, Regretfulness, was an excellent debut but suffered from comparisons with Sting's work. Now this might be a good thing or not, depending on your feelings towards Mr Sumner - but it did tend to detract from HR's work. Happily, such is the power and finesse of this follow-up that the group have now firmly fixed their identity; that of melodic, compassionate, intricate, intelligent rock with a decided Antipodean edge. Without falling into the trap of other reviewers (namely the Sting reference), Hitchcock's Regret do nod towards The Beatles and Crowded House, but that's a good thing. If you must have reference points, why not choose the (arguably) greatest pop group in the world and certainly the best thing to come out of New Zealand since Richard Hadlee? Her Life In Reverse is a beautiful album - full of great tunes, lovely orchestration, top-notch production and excellent cover artwork. Indeed, I wish my CD copy was a full-size LP.

The paintings featured within the sleeve take me back to the good old days when LP covers were very much works of art. Make no mistake, Hitchcock's Regret are a major group in the making. No doubt they would be delighted to be big hits in their home country but they deserve wider recognition - and Her Life In Reverse should bring it. Nice one, lads." - NetRhythms Website

"On How I wish you were her, Mark Moldre's voice whispers in your ear, enticing you to take a journey with him down the path of lost love and rebounding into anyone, behind the sideshow alley of a warped circus in a parallel dimension.

The suspicion of shadows stays with me for the whole album, taking the edge of the catchy pop and vice versa.
Then, take a trip back to the days when pop was innocent, when the Beatles wanted to hold your hand and the streets are filled with flowers and puppies. The upbeat sweetness of She's all that I think about proudly wears its influences, from the aforementioned Beatles to Ben Folds.

Tripping on a wire is a heavier, distorted offering, after the mellow Space & Time, but still with a chorus you will sing along to.

Alfred's Delight etc is a fleeting instrumental that reminds me of Drop City's The girl with the sun in her eyes. While In the summer doesn't fall into this category, it's a brief lilting interlude, filled with the melancholy of days passing. JozyBeck Blues is a psychedelic excursion that ends as abruptly as it begins.

Jamie Hutchings of Bluebottle Kiss lends a hand on slide guitar for Milkwood Moon (a reference perhaps, to Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood?). With cello and violin, it's haunting and beautiful.

Salisbury combines the harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel with a darkness lurking behind the drum kit. This is not the album to psyche you up for a big night. Tears mix with alcohol as you remember past lovers and nurse a freshly broken heart.

The right amount of pop prevents this album from drowning in sadness, giving it a touch of hope. You need to listen to Her Life In Reverse a few times.

At first, it's mentally filed in the indie pop category. Further listenings reveal the nuances that make it a much more interesting CD." - redbackrock.com
"The latest release from Sydney four-piece, Hitchcock's Regret, 'Her Life In Reverse,' is a captivating pop album. 'Space & Time' has a psychedelic undercurrent, powered by the analogue ancestor of the modern sampler, the Mellotron. A rare treat, this dreamy love song exhibits an endearing vulnerability. Disappointingly, 'Sailsbury' and 'Bitter' pale in comparison. 'Tripping On a Wire', returns to the hazy feel with distorted guitar and vocal effects, only to take a u-turn to pop sensibilities with sweet harmonies and acoustic guitar. The soft strumming of an the acoustic guitar of the saddening and strangely soothing 'In the Summer' rests delicately over lamenting violin and cello, perfectly accompanying the feathery, high pitched vocals. The slide guitar and picking style playing (care of Bluebottle Kiss's Jamie Hutchings) of the beseeching 'Milkwood Moon' provides a folky-country quality that sits beautifully with fragile, breezy vocals and achingly sad lyrics. The only regret you'll have is not experiencing this delightful album sooner." - Media Search
"I don't want to call this album a pop album because it kind of cheapens it. Here are honest natural sounds with real unaffected instrumentation. I will use a comparison because I think it may help them sell discs - if you like Crowded House, you'll like these guys. Mark Moldre as chief songwriter and lyricist has a literary descriptive flair with gorgeous melodies and touching imagery. Nice arrangements with a mature layering of instruments and harmonies. You can tell they poured their hearts and souls into this one, and they can rest assured it is something they can be proud of forever." - Mixdown Magazine
"I wish I had Mark Moldre's gift for melodies. He's got this pop thing completely sussed, and in a more equal world that put him at the top of a heap that starts with Lennon/McCartney (and Harrison, let's not diminish the intelligence of his work either) and takes you through Brian Wilson to Elvis Costello and Difford/Tilbrook, the geniuses behind Squeeze, with a nod to Peter Gabriel. That last reference might seem odd but there's a hint of it in the verse melody of She's Looking Through Me, particularly in the vocal delivery. Or the vision of Milkwood Moon. And Gabriel writes some pretty impressive if quirky pop melodies.

That said, Moldre isn't merely a sum of his influences, nor are Hitchcock's Regret merely a vehicle for his muse, though they're more than happy in joining in the fun, like the collaborative She's All That I Think About. Sheer pop delight, with everything from Harrison to The Turtles in there. There are reflective moments too, amidst all the bounce and brightness, with In The Summer and Space And Time beginning all subdued and evocative before it's short burst of garish musical ebullience, just to keep the listener alert before the classic orchestral build up of the outro.

And like the albums of old - and their heroes - while Her Life In Reverse is a totally pop album, no two songs are the same, in mood, in tempo, in its vocabulary. So there's a healthy dose of fuzz guitars and psychedelia hinting at Hendrix teasing you along to the pure pop chorus on Tripping On A Wire. Sort of like The Beatles White Album without the trite moments. Moldre's lyrics can be beautifully poetic too, with lines like "The laughing water, the crying windstorm, the sifting sand, the dust that settles ..." (She's Looking Through You), or "for all my fragile fits and starts you're turning over Queen of Hearts" (Salisbury) - simple things but deeply evocative. Musically, the boys in the band can more than match that supple lyricism, creating some superb textures for Moldre's often touching vocal quality." - Drum Media
"With a handle implying artful imagination and introspection, this Sydney quartet's sophomore effort is, at times, an intoxicating affair. While not all tracks have equal strength, when Hitchcock's Regret move beyond their comfort zone, the results border on extraordinary. The fragile beauty of Space and Time takes a sudden left-turn into a Hendrix haze, before returning to the soothing pop, only to come to a wall-of-sound crescendo. Tracks like Salisbury are ordinary in comparison, yet the darkish chamber of pop of In The Summer and the mildly psychedelic Don't Wait more than make up for it. Heavily Beatles influenced - with a dash of Hendrix, the Beach Boys and assorted '60s sonics to boot - there are few regrets here." - 7 / 10 - Juice Magazine
Any album that sounds slightly Beatles-ish and emanates from Australia and/or New Zealand is ultimately doomed to comparisons with Neil Finn and Crowded House. There's folk out there under the impression a gaping hole has been left after the demise of the abovementioned popsters, but let me tell ya that it just ain't the case, especially after hearing this album by Sydney band Hitchcock's Regret.

Ahhh, now that I've got that off my chest let's just say that this is the most impressive local pop album I've heard in quite a long time. It has all the great ingredients - harmonies, a rich layering and depth of instrumentation, an unhurried approach in the construction of each track - that it continues to overwhelm with repeated spins.

Beach Boys-style rattling percussion and vocals usher in "She's All That I Think About", before a bouncy romp through the lyric capturing the descent into an all-consuming relationship. A daydream mood runs through the whole set, with "Space & Time", the gorgeous "Milkwood Moon" and the disjointed vocals on "Tripping On a Wire" giving the impression the 'Regret have grabbed these tunes from thin air.

Michael Carpenter, an outstanding artist in his own right and general gun for hire in Sydney's pop n' country scene, lends production and instrumentation (guitar, mellotron and harmonium) that adds depth to an already accomplished band. The full, rich layered sound here is handled expertly, in a situation where lesser bands would most probably have stumbled and come on all heavy-handed. Carpenter has excelled in producing an album that continues to reveal itself after many listens.

In these times of post-post-rock and b-grade Led Zep prog fuzz, it is heartening to hear a band willing to adhere to certain traditions whilst cooking up some richly-layered and intricately constructed pop. Her Life in Reverse should allow them to enter the big stage with pop's other major league players (ie. Wilco, Coldplay, Doves etc.). On the evidence of what they have laid down here, Hitchcock's Regret deserve to enter that major arena." - Luna Kafe Website
The latest album from Sydney four piece, Hitchcock's Regret is an almost perfectly crafted piece of pop perfection. After the fine reviews they received for Regretfulness, their debut, Hitchcock's Regret has struck back with Her Life In Reverse, an album of strong tunes. Where Regretfulness was melancholic and meandering, Her Life In Reverse is focused, upbeat and almost optimistic.

The two opening tracks "How I Wish You Were Her" and "She's Looking Through Me" are strongly reminiscent of Crowded House - could this finally be the band to fill the void that Crowded House left open? The first song of the two contains a Paul McCartney influenced bass line countered by mellotron and a haunting vocal. "She's Looking Through.." has an unforgettable and hooky chorus, here Mark Moldre's song writing abilities really shine with lines like "Seven years of dust has settled in my mind".

"She's All That I Think About" is a summery Beach Boys inspired tune containing a fun, up tempo piano part and jaunty horns on the fade out. "Space & Time" reminds me of Neil Finn's more recent outings; this is an ambient sounding piece that builds into a psychedelic epic. Backwards guitars (and cymbals too I think) add to the songs wonderful strangeness. This time around the band have enlisted the help of producer Michael Carpenter and on tracks like these it really shows - the production is lush and experimental at the same time.

Tripping On A Wire" would not sound out of place on JJJ's play list, effected vocals, distorted guitars and bass, a Hendrix sounding riff-all opens into a truly melodic chorus. "In The Summer" is more McCartney than McCartney - this song wouldn't sound out of place on any number of Beatle records, think "Mother Nature's Son", doubled vocals and strings held together by acoustic guitar. "Don't Wait" starts with a strong downbeat, jangly guitars and swirly organ, this sounds like pure Britpop. "Bitter" opens with a fast guitar riff and a brilliant drum part, the middle eight is purely 60's retro, big harmonies and all. The ending collapses in a heap!

"Milkwood Moon" is a highlight on this CD, it's almost countryish. Finger picked acoustic guitar and an achingly sad vocal that rises up with the entry of strings in the middle as Mark sings "I am lost". Other moments of lyrical beauty are "I always seem to be an afterthought" and "And as she left she waved goodbye, her hand it seemed to move in time with the music in my mind." "Salisbury" is a dark folk tune - low rumbling organ and softly sung vocals - a little Elliot Smith perhaps? Finally, the album finishes on "The Girl Who Came In From The Cold" a soothing, gentle ballad that is a perfect finish to a fantastic second album from Hitchcock's Regret. Hopefully this album will receive the attention and radio play that it deserves. They have thrown themselves well and truly into the international market with an album that rises above the average Australian indie offering." - Ozmusic Central Website