Gate away – Evening Colours (1975, LP, France)

Laurence Vanay is the pseudonym for Jacqueline Thibault, wife of music producer and musician Laurent Thibault (Magma). The first ever reissue of her second album, originally released twice in 1975: a version on Galloway credited to fictitious English band Gateway, and once as a CAM label library LP—and incredibly rare in both incarnations. Pure genius: almost all instrumental, with gorgeous keyboards of many types (Hammond, Fender Rhodes, etc.), acoustic/electric guitar, even a little Zeuhl bass. Shimmering, dewy, mysterious, deeply emotional examples of melancholic musical beguilement; anyone with an affinity for golden age 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance will find much to love here, not to mention devotees of trip-hop pioneers like Portishead. A devastating high-fashion follow-up to the legendary "Galaxies".