Smiling C Presses a Second Edition of ‘Light Patterns,’ the 1982 Album That Defied Manchester’s Noise

A quiet collaboration between Kevin McCormick and David Horridge returns, newly remastered and repressed after the label’s sought-after 2021 reissue.

Kevin McCormick met David Horridge in 1970, both stuck behind the counter at the Labour Exchange on Aytoun Street, Manchester. They were guitar players hunting for someone who heard music the same way, and one evening at Kevin’s place their lines intertwined so seamlessly that not even they could tell who was carrying the melody. Decades later, that hush resurfaced when Smiling C reissued Light Patterns in 2021. That edition quickly became scarce, and the label’s new pressing answers the demand for a record that’s already proved how much it resonates.

Manchester got loud in the late ’70s — punk, post-punk, new wave — but McCormick and Horridge went the other way. Their compass pointed toward John Martyn, Alice Coltrane, Terry Riley, Ralph Towner. Their gear was simple: two acoustic guitars, fretless bass, a handful of battered pedals. “I used quite old analog equipment most of the time; reverb, delay, octave and chorus units building beds of sound on which to release the melody lines,” Kevin told In Sheep’s Clothing’s Phil Cho. “Most of the swells were controlled by the guitar volume knobs and not, as most people think, a volume pedal. At the time, I didn’t even know they existed.”

By 1981 they had eleven songs, which they christened Light Patterns, after one of Kevin’s poems. They played them live at Band on the Wall, the Gallery, Rotters — small amps, whisper-level volume — while the rest of the night outside thundered on. Eventually Peter Jenner, one-time Pink Floyd manager, put the record out on his new label. Strawberry Studios handled mastering; George “Porky” Peckham pressed it with “Kaftans, Candles and be Cool Man” etched into the run-out; and Barney Bubbles delivered cover art that looked like the music sounded.

We’ve written about Santa Cruz’s Smiling C before. The label, run by Henry Jones, treats archival work like storytelling, with releases including American Dream Reserve — Charles Bals’ 16-track road-trip through lo-fi drum-computer folk, disco-pop-lounge and haunting vanity-press ballads; Tunel Hacia Ti, which spotlighted Mexican experimental jazz artist Germán Bringas; Triángulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra, a Séance Center collaboration uncovering obscure Mexican electronic gems; and Black Rain, a darker, more solitary follow-up to American Dream Reserve. That same love for creating self-contained sonic worlds makes Light Patterns feel like a lost cousin in Smiling C’s vault: quiet, immersive, timeless.

This new pressing, remastered from the original tapes and dressed in fresh art, brings Light Patterns back from near-obscurity. Forty years on, it remains untouched by trends — a hushed conversation between two guitars that you can drop into and never want to leave.

Secure your copy now — this in-demand repress is available for preorder at the ISC shop. Record shops can contact us directly for distribution information.