Songs for a Fallow Land

Remastered, 'Songs for a Fallow Land' is a product of Martin Newell collaborating with longtime friend and former Cleaner Lol Elliot. This album was originally self-released by Newell to the tune of "If people want it, they’ll find it." This is one of the many Cleaners from Venus perviously cassette-only releases Martin Newell, who formed the legendary lo-fi band Cleaners From Venus in the small town of Wivenhoe, England began work on 'Songs for a Fallow Land' in March of 1985. One of Newell’s chief problems at this time, apart from constant money shortages, was finding musical collaborators who shared his own skewed pop vision. The absolute opposite of a musical perfectionist,the founder Cleaner believed that great pop was to be had by doing things quickly, in a slapdash fashion and by "fumbling around in the dark in search of happy accidents."

Last year, Captured Tracks reissued Cleaners From Venus’ first three albums from the early 1980s, each one an accomplished masterpiece of guitar pop home recordings. Now a new vinyl/download set from the label continues the story of the English band, focusing on their work up until the middle of that decade, a time of political and social despair in the UK.