Cheval Sombre ‎– Time Waits For No One (LP White Vinyl)

The third album from singer/songwriter Christopher Porpora (aka Cheval Sombre), 2021's Time Waits for No One is a slow-burn production that finds him further exploring his folky, psychedelic pop. As with his past work, Time Waits for No One reunites Sombre with longtime producer Spacemen 3's Peter Kember (aka Sonic Boom). The album also follows his equally hypnotic 2018 collaboration Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre, which found him singing psych-country anthems alongside the Luna frontman.

Using that album as a jumping-off point, Time Waits includes a languid and echoey cover of Townes Van Zandt's "No Place to Fall." Van Zandt's songs always seem to evoke a lonely cowboy vibe and it's one Sombre continues to embrace throughout Time Waits for No One. With his hushed, dusky vocals, Sombre crafts an astral folk atmosphere, accented throughout by Sonic Boom's dewy orchestral synths, as well as Gillian Rivers' and Yuiko Kamakari's shimmering string parts. Elsewhere, there are equally twangy, stardust-laden tracks, including the far-eyed "California Lament," the easy-grooving "Hitch a Ride," and the dreamy "Curtain Grove." The latter track nicely encapsulates the gently ruminative vibe of the album as Sombre sings, "Time goes by in a curtain grove/And time it will stand still/Remember the time of your first love/Looking out of the windowsill." Darker tones pop up, too, as on Pink Floyd-sounding "Had Enough Blues," which ends poignantly with a news report about the 2017 terrorist attack in Paris on the Champs-Elysee. With Time Waits for No One, Sombre has crafted an evocative album that moves at the loping pace of a space cowboy caravan crossing the dunes of Mars.

Label: Sonic Cathedral Recordings

Country: UK

Media Condition: Mint (M)
Sleeve Condition: Mint (M)