Little information can be found of the mysterious UK singer Jeanette Dwyer, labeled by a small number of passionate fans as “one of the great forgotten artists of the 1980s.” Besides the couple records she released, the only other sign of the singer was her haunting vocal performance behind This Mortal Coil’s cover of the Van Morrison classic – “Come Here, My Love.” Prefab in the Sun is Jeanette’s beautiful 1988 sophomore and final LP before she completely disappeared. With ghostly vocals and subtle, gothic jazzy rhythms, the album is evenly split with bouncy proto electro-pop and ominous, sentimental love songs. The backing band features members of UK cult act Furniture (see 1985’s I Can’t Crack or Emotional Rescue’s reissue On Broken Glass), a new wave band that employed a broad scope of musical styles, synthetic textures, and eastern scales that would later dive into free-jazz experiments. “Prefab” is jazzy in nature, with Jeannette emulating a sort of synth-pop Billie Holiday, but is essentially an emotional and haunting English new wave record; a sort of synthetic urban blues, in the vein of Hats era The Blue Nile. Highly recommended to fans of This Mortal Coil, Kate Bush, and Young Marble Giants.
-DM
Recommended – B1 Leo, A3 Swallow Flight
A1 Ships In Harbour
A2 Dear Daddy
A3 Swallow Flight
A4 Woman’s Love
A5 Keen Heart
B1 Leo
B2 Oil
B3 Prefab In The Sun
B4 Snake Eyes
B5 Sense Of 6
Bass Guitar – Tim Beaton
Chanter, Bagpipes – Eon
Double Bass – Steve Berry
Guitar, Performer [Oudh], Piano – Tim Whelan
Percussion, Drums [Kit Drums] – Hamilton Lee
Producer – Tim Whelan
Trumpet, Flugelhorn [Flugel Horn] – Avelia Moyse
Written-By [All Compositions] – J. Dwyer