Das schottische Label Night School, das in den vergangenen Jahren bereits einige Klassiker von Strawberry Switchblade, Sorrow und Rose McDowalls Soloaufnahmen neu herausbrachte, veröffentlicht zum diesjährigen Record Store Day am 20. April das 1999 erschienene Sorrow-Album “Sleep Now Forever” in einer remasterten 2LP-Edition, für deren visuelle Seite Holly Allan und Musheto Fernandez verantwortlich zeichnen. Das damals beim eigenen Label Piski Disk auf CD erschienene Werk war nach “Under the Yew Possessed” das zweite Fullength-Album der Band um McDowall und wurde mit einem soliden Ensemble eingespielt, das die Sängerin und Gitarristin an zahlreichen folkigen und klassischen Instrumenten begleitete.
“Originally released in 1999 and long since deleted it is a cornucopia of pastoral, elegiac folk music, swirling atmospherics, hymnal compositions and above it all the alternating towering and fragile vocal performances of McDowall. Recorded in the late 90s with fellow band member and co-songwriter Robert Lee, Sleep Now Forever is the definitive statement by the now defunct group and Rose McDowall’s most complete long-form work to date. [...] Despite its rarity, Sleep Now Forever enjoys a firm cult following. The album’s textures are expansive, lush, deliciously detailed and celestial. Recorded in home study Velvet Hole by Rose McDowall and then-husband Robert Lee, the album enlists an array of players from the underground Neo-folk / industrial scene: Nigel McKernaghan (Uilleann pipes, Whistles), Susan Franknel (Bassoon), John Contreras (Cello) and Lawrence Frankel (Oboe, Cor Anglais). The eleven songs here revolve around McDowall’s instantly recognisable voice. Brought up singing in the Catholic Church, McDowall’s vocals are impeccable and angelic, particularly on tracks like Turn Off The Light where her experiences with religion are canted over soaring oboe and guitar backing. By far the most evolved and realised version of Sorrow’s vision, it feels somewhat criminal that music this beautiful could be lost to time until now”. (Night School)