Fortuna POP! are delighted to announce the signing of London-based neo-psychedelic pop group The Proper Ornaments. Mining the rich territories of The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys, their debut album proper "Wooden Head" features fourteen thrillingly taut and melodic pop songs with a deep, dark undercurrent. Comprised of Argentinian Max Claps and James Hoare (also of Veronica Falls) – who both sing and write the songs – and joined by Daniel Nellis (bass) and Robert Syme (drums), the band have already shared stages with the likes of Real Estate, Woods, Crystal Stilts, Toy and Metronomy.

Maximo Claps arrived in London in 2008 on a one-way ticket from Buenos Aires, aided by former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Oldham had produced a record by Claps' Argentinian band of the time but the group had fallen apart in a mess of drugs and acrimony and Claps' family were attempting to intervene by sending him to a mental hospital. The only option seemed to be to flee the country. As Claps recalls, "The day before flying to the UK I got run over by a car and had to escape hospital in order to make it so I arrived with bandages and my head all stitched up."

A few weeks later Max walked into the vintage clothes shop where James Hoare sat behind the counter reading a book on The Velvet Underground, and attempted to cause a diversion while his kleptomaniac girlfriend stole a pair of boots. “She didn't steal them in the end,” says Max. “They weren't her size”. However, the shop assistant and the would-be accomplice bonded over a mutual love of the Velvets, Love, Felt and West Coast pop and began writing together, taking their name from a song by the pioneering soft psych band The Free Design. In 2010 they released their first single, "Recalling", following it up with a five-song EP for London label No Pain in Pop. In 2013 Lo Recordings released all their output to date on a collection titled "Waiting for the Summer", followed by the single “First Step Out” in February 2014.

Their new album was recorded at a studio in Hackney, as well as at home in their old flat in Whitechapel on a broken 8-track reel-to-reel bought off eBay from an angry guy who threatened to shoot them and chop off their balls when they attempted to return it - a terrifying experience for a pair of skinny indie boys. Taking inspiration from Berlin-era Lou Reed, Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Darklands”, The Television Personalities and West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, the songs are breezy and easy on the ear, with sublime harmonies and chiming Byrdsian guitar, but with a darker twist and a pervasive air of melancholy. Stand-out tracks include the beautiful but sad “Summer’s Gone” (about mental illness), “Magazine” (an upbeat number written from the perspective of a bullet in the barrel of a gun) and “You’ll See” (about how when you die you’ll see everyone you know, all there lined up in a row).

With "Wooden Head", The Proper Ornaments prove that it is still possible to create an album of pure pop perfection. Max's girlfriend may not have stolen the boots, but The Proper Ornaments are about to steal your heart.

“The joint project of James and Max, through romantic drama that borders on that of The Libertines. And when you hear The Proper Ornaments you’ll see why it’s all worth it. It’s like they’re meant for each other, like Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts” - Loud & Quiet

The Proper Ornaments - Summer's Gone

Feedback Over Talent

written by Christina Cuesta Loeb & Blake Straus
produced by Blake Straus
drums by Jarred Tibbetts
vocal engineering by David Dudley Corwin
mixed by Gabe Van
mastered by Paul Logus
photo by Sandrine Lee 
for booking/licensing contact: desertpalmsmusic@gmail.com

i was robbed 
in the middle of the night 
i waited for you here
to say my goodbyes 

did they come 
did you see them there
did they tell you what to do
and where to go? 

could you teach me how to climb into my mind
and make it right?
i'll make the sacrifice 
into the skies

i'm running out of time
i'm running out of time

was it hard? 
does it make sense now? 
am i talking to myself
again today

i’m not scared 
you can show me how
i’ll being waiting for that hole 
to disappear 

could you teach me how to climb into my mind
and make it right?
could you teach me how to miss you 
before i 
i have to say goodbye
i'm running out of time
i'm running out of time
you're running out of time
we've run out, out of

Out Of

Soft Blue Shimmer's debut album Nothing Happens Here out June 28th, 2019 on Disposable America.

Pre-order the album on digital and cassette @ https://disposableamerica.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-happens-here

Soft Blue Shimmer "Happier Than Mitsuru"

Pretenders

Nah... - Finger On The Map

The Death Of Pop are Angus James & Oliver James.

Drums by Thom James.

Produced by The Death Of Pop.

Artwork by George Abram.

Released 17th March 2013.

What A Day

Plant

Glow & Behold

Middle Sea (Demo)

‘It is true that Jaque M–– left Lisbon by boat in the winter of 1759, two hundred years to the day before the city opened its first metro system, and that he sailed with intentions of greatness and returned in disgrace, never speaking about why, or why he spent the rest of his life recreating scale-models of the buildings he claimed to have seen on the Arabian coast.’