*Yellow Sands; Or, Eight Tales of Pixie Mischief* (2024)

Cries for Colour is the recording alias of Canadian drummer, producer, and historian Quinn Downton. The project’s sophomore album, Yellow Sands; Or, Eight Tales of Pixie Mischief, will release on October 25th. It reflects a difficult last few years; an ongoing health crisis, becoming a caregiver, and experiences with mental illness shape the album’s concept about disease, madness, and fairies.

Yellow Sands first began as a companion piece to Quinn’s research into the life of Richard Dadd (1817–1886), a British painter whose descent into madness and obsessively detailed images of fairies captured the imaginations of the Victorian press and its readership. As an academically trained cultural and gender historian, Quinn’s research during his master’s degree examined the role of Victorian ideas of manliness in Dadd’s treatment as an asylum patient. Copies of the album are accompanied by a newly written essay on this subject, entitled Masculinity and the Mad Artist.

Yellow Sands was significantly informed by the impact of disease in Quinn’s personal life. His partner fell ill and was diagnosed with advanced stage throat and lung cancer in June 2023, which significantly shaped the rest of the album’s development and lyrics. Her embroidery adorns the album cover.

The dramatic and intense concept resulted in something genre-bending and eclectic—the album’s eight pieces veer from hazy and ethereal psychedelic pop to fragile indie folk and cosmic post-rock. Instruments and voices from the early twentieth century are subtly woven into the production—remnants of lives long past. File under self-indulgent and unapologetically odd.
Although Yellow Sands was written and produced by Quinn, it was brought to life with the help of over twenty session musicians and friends. Notably, Colin Edwin, fretless bassist and sub-frequency guru best known for his nearly twenty years of work in UK cult rock band Porcupine Tree, lends his silky bass playing to every song on the album.

Yellow Sands was mastered by Noah Mintz, whose previous work includes albums by Metric, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Broken Social Scene, and The National.

Tracklist:

01. Yellow Sands - 6:03
02. Spellbound - 4:25
03. Heavenly Bodies - 6:23
04. Lovelace - 6:11
05. Dust Eater - 5:49
06. What You Sound Like in Gold - 3:09
07. Sleeper - 11:51
08. Water Lilies - 7:54

The album can be streamed or downloaded in its entirety here. Since release, the album has also been available for free on Bandcamp.

“Yellow Sands; Or, Eight Tales of Pixie Mischief is an album worth diving into for anyone who enjoys music that pushes boundaries and explores the edges of genre. It’s an album born of history, but infused with the personal struggles and triumphs of its creator.”

”Themes of illness, madness, and coping with personal turmoil permeate the songs. They create a work that is as much about the fragility of life as it is about historical narratives. This is reflected in the album’s sound, which shifts between ethereal and fragile melodies and moments of cosmic post-rock grandeur.”

- Shelia Taylor, Amplify the Noise