Heavenly (British band)
Encyclopedia
Heavenly were a 1990s twee pop band, originally forming in Oxford, England in 1989. Amelia Fletcher
(vocals/guitar), Mathew Fletcher (drums; Amelia's brother), Peter Momtchiloff
(guitar) and Robert Pursey (bass) had all been members of Talulah Gosh
, a key member of the C86
scene.
. Heavenly vs. Satan
, the group's debut album, came out in 1991. At this stage in their career, Heavenly's songs were still mainly concerned with an innocent view of love, whether or not requited, and the instrumentation remained very much the same jangly guitar style used by Talulah Gosh.
Before releasing the critically acclaimed Le Jardin de Heavenly
, Cathy Rogers
(keyboard, back-up vocals) joined the band. Her harmony vocals and keyboards became an integral part of the group's sound. Another strikingly different element of the group's second album was the inclusion of the track, "C is the Heavenly Option," featuring the guest vocals of K Records
founder Calvin Johnson, who released Heavenly's records in the USA. Johnson would go on to provide additional guest vocals on each of the Heavenly albums following Le Jardin de Heavenly.
Before their next long-player, Heavenly released two non-album 7" singles, "P.U.N.K. Girl" and "Atta Girl." These signalled a growing complexity in Amelia's songwriting, particularly "Atta Girl," in which Amelia and Cathy sung in rapid-fire trade-off vocals. A broadening (and darkening) of lyrical subject matter was shown in the B-side, "Hearts and Crosses," which told the story of a date rape
, with a cheesy keyboard
riff providing an hipster counterpoint.
The band's third LP was The Decline and Fall of Heavenly
(1994). Here the group were at their most commercial and at their most attuned with the growing Britpop
movement. The arrangements expanded even more to include strings and a large amount of percussion, and the dual-vocal trick was used on several tracks. Lyrically, the old romantic view of love was largely banished, with tracks such as "Modestic" and "Three Star Compartment" portraying people trapped in loveless relationships and "Sperm Meets Egg, So What?" (the title adapted from McCarthy
's "Boy Meets Girl, So What?") being about an unwanted pregnancy. The tunes remained as jolly as ever.
In 1995, the band contributed the song "Snail Trail" to the AIDS
benefit album Red Hot + Bothered
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
The group's last album was Operation Heavenly
(1996). Sarah Records had closed while the album was being recorded, so the album came out on Wiiija
instead. Arriving in the middle of the Britpop
boom, the album contained a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg
-penned and France Gall
-performed "Nous ne sommes pas des anges," sung entirely in French by Amelia. Though it was still recognisably the Heavenly sound, and even included a second Calvin Johnson guest spot on the track "Pet Monkey." However, shortly before the release of Operation Heavenly, Mathew Fletcher, the band's drummer and Amelia's brother, committed suicide
. The remaining members announced that the band name Heavenly was to be retired, but that they would continue, using the name Marine Research
, a moniker under which they released a single album, 1999's Sounds From The Gulf Stream, on K Records (it was not released separately in Britain). Afterwards, Marine Research dissolved. The band's core members reformed in 2002 as Tender Trap
, releasing their debut album, Film Molecules, on K Records once again. 2006 saw the release of two new Tender Trap releases - two EPs, Language Lessons and ¿Como te Llamas?, and a full-length album, 6 Billion People.
sing "she said Heavenly were cool, I think they were from Oxford." The song also directly references Matthew Fletcher's suicide with the line "He wasn't just the drummer he was the singer's younger brother".
Amelia Fletcher
Amelia Fletcher is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist, and economist. She has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present...
(vocals/guitar), Mathew Fletcher (drums; Amelia's brother), Peter Momtchiloff
Peter Momtchiloff
Peter Momtchiloff is a British guitarist and bassist. He was educated at Winchester College and Worcester College, Oxford....
(guitar) and Robert Pursey (bass) had all been members of Talulah Gosh
Talulah Gosh
Talulah Gosh were a guitar-pop group from Oxford, England and one of the leading bands of the twee pop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in...
, a key member of the C86
C86 (music)
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...
scene.
History
Heavenly debuted with the 7" single "I Fell in Love Last Night", followed by another 7", "Our Love Is Heavenly", both released in 1990 on Sarah RecordsSarah Records
Sarah Records was a UK independent record label active between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop.The label was formed in Bristol in 1987 by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, and grew out of the fanzine scene at the time, Haynes having previously edited Are You Scared To Get...
. Heavenly vs. Satan
Heavenly vs. Satan
Heavenly vs. Satan is the first album by British twee pop band Heavenly. It was released by Sarah Records in January 1991, as SARAH 603...
, the group's debut album, came out in 1991. At this stage in their career, Heavenly's songs were still mainly concerned with an innocent view of love, whether or not requited, and the instrumentation remained very much the same jangly guitar style used by Talulah Gosh.
Before releasing the critically acclaimed Le Jardin de Heavenly
Le Jardin de Heavenly
Le Jardin de Heavenly is the second, and most critically acclaimed, album by twee pop band Heavenly. The album was released on Sarah Records in the United Kingdom and K Records in the United States...
, Cathy Rogers
Cathy Rogers
Cathy Rogers is a British television executive, producer and presenter, who has also had some success as a pop musician.Rogers was born in Lancashire, England. She studied medicine at Oxford University, gaining a Master's Degree in Health Policy...
(keyboard, back-up vocals) joined the band. Her harmony vocals and keyboards became an integral part of the group's sound. Another strikingly different element of the group's second album was the inclusion of the track, "C is the Heavenly Option," featuring the guest vocals of K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
founder Calvin Johnson, who released Heavenly's records in the USA. Johnson would go on to provide additional guest vocals on each of the Heavenly albums following Le Jardin de Heavenly.
Before their next long-player, Heavenly released two non-album 7" singles, "P.U.N.K. Girl" and "Atta Girl." These signalled a growing complexity in Amelia's songwriting, particularly "Atta Girl," in which Amelia and Cathy sung in rapid-fire trade-off vocals. A broadening (and darkening) of lyrical subject matter was shown in the B-side, "Hearts and Crosses," which told the story of a date rape
Date rape
"Date rape", often referred to as acquaintance rape, is an assault or attempted assault usually committed by a new acquaintance involving sexual intercourse without mutual consent....
, with a cheesy keyboard
Farfisa
Farfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...
riff providing an hipster counterpoint.
The band's third LP was The Decline and Fall of Heavenly
The Decline and Fall of Heavenly
The Decline and Fall of Heavenly is the third studio album by British indie pop band Heavenly. It was released in September 1994 by Sarah Records with the catalogue number SARAH 623...
(1994). Here the group were at their most commercial and at their most attuned with the growing Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
movement. The arrangements expanded even more to include strings and a large amount of percussion, and the dual-vocal trick was used on several tracks. Lyrically, the old romantic view of love was largely banished, with tracks such as "Modestic" and "Three Star Compartment" portraying people trapped in loveless relationships and "Sperm Meets Egg, So What?" (the title adapted from McCarthy
McCarthy (band)
McCarthy were a British indie pop band, formed in Barking, Essex, England in 1984 by schoolmates Malcolm Eden and Tim Gane with John Williamson and Gary Baker...
's "Boy Meets Girl, So What?") being about an unwanted pregnancy. The tunes remained as jolly as ever.
In 1995, the band contributed the song "Snail Trail" to the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
benefit album Red Hot + Bothered
Red Hot + Bothered
Red Hot + Bothered is an anthology of the indie rock scene from the 1990s produced by Paul Heck. It was released as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series....
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
The group's last album was Operation Heavenly
Operation Heavenly
Operation Heavenly is the fourth and final studio album by English indie pop band Heavenly. It was released by Wiiija in October 1996. In the United States it was issued by K Records, whose founder Calvin Johnson provided guest vocals on "Pet Monkey"...
(1996). Sarah Records had closed while the album was being recorded, so the album came out on Wiiija
Wiiija
Wiiija was a British independent record label. It was founded in 1988 by staff from the Rough Trade Shop in Notting Hill, London. The name Wiiija is a corruption of W11 1JA, the postcode of the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Street....
instead. Arriving in the middle of the Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
boom, the album contained a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
-penned and France Gall
France Gall
France Gall is a popular French yé-yé singer.Gall was married to, and had a successful singing career in partnership with, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger....
-performed "Nous ne sommes pas des anges," sung entirely in French by Amelia. Though it was still recognisably the Heavenly sound, and even included a second Calvin Johnson guest spot on the track "Pet Monkey." However, shortly before the release of Operation Heavenly, Mathew Fletcher, the band's drummer and Amelia's brother, committed suicide
1996 in British music
This is a summary of 1996 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.-Summary:This year saw the start of an increase in the number of number 1 singles. 24 hit the top spot this year, the highest since 1980, which had an equal number.The first number 1 single of the...
. The remaining members announced that the band name Heavenly was to be retired, but that they would continue, using the name Marine Research
Marine Research
Marine Research was an indie rock/twee pop band, based in Oxford/London , formed in 1997 by four of the five members of Heavenly , following the suicide of Heavenly drummer Mathew Fletcher...
, a moniker under which they released a single album, 1999's Sounds From The Gulf Stream, on K Records (it was not released separately in Britain). Afterwards, Marine Research dissolved. The band's core members reformed in 2002 as Tender Trap
Tender Trap
Tender Trap is an indie rock/twee pop band, based in London , formed in 2001 by three of the five members of Marine Research - Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey, and John Downfall....
, releasing their debut album, Film Molecules, on K Records once again. 2006 saw the release of two new Tender Trap releases - two EPs, Language Lessons and ¿Como te Llamas?, and a full-length album, 6 Billion People.
Contemporary usage
In the song "We Can Get Together" on the album Heaven is Whenever, The Hold SteadyThe Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
sing "she said Heavenly were cool, I think they were from Oxford." The song also directly references Matthew Fletcher's suicide with the line "He wasn't just the drummer he was the singer's younger brother".
Albums
- Heavenly vs. SatanHeavenly vs. SatanHeavenly vs. Satan is the first album by British twee pop band Heavenly. It was released by Sarah Records in January 1991, as SARAH 603...
(1991) - Le Jardin de HeavenlyLe Jardin de HeavenlyLe Jardin de Heavenly is the second, and most critically acclaimed, album by twee pop band Heavenly. The album was released on Sarah Records in the United Kingdom and K Records in the United States...
(1992) - The Decline and Fall of HeavenlyThe Decline and Fall of HeavenlyThe Decline and Fall of Heavenly is the third studio album by British indie pop band Heavenly. It was released in September 1994 by Sarah Records with the catalogue number SARAH 623...
(1994) - Operation HeavenlyOperation HeavenlyOperation Heavenly is the fourth and final studio album by English indie pop band Heavenly. It was released by Wiiija in October 1996. In the United States it was issued by K Records, whose founder Calvin Johnson provided guest vocals on "Pet Monkey"...
(1996)