Witness reissue Before The Calm on vinyl with Bristol and Wigan reunion shows

Witness's album Before The Calm has been pressed onto vinyl for the first time, in a limited run of 250 copies on Lupine Records. The LP and download version was released on 31 October, and the band are marking it with two reunion shows: The Louisiana in Bristol on 8 November, and The Snug in Atherton on 13 November, which has already sold out.

Witness are a Wigan band who were signed to Island Records. Reviewer Dan O'Farrell describes them as "the little brother band to The Verve". The reissue follows O'Farrell's earlier review of Gerald Starkie's solo revisiting of the same songs, which stripped them back to Starkie's voice and writing.

The album

Phil Vinall produced Before The Calm. O'Farrell calls the production widescreen and says it keeps the songwriting and Starkie's country-tinged vocals at the front while giving the band room to explore grooves and space. Opener 'Second Life' begins with a hushed, glockenspiel-led passage and builds into folky country rock, while 'Cause And Effect' uses electronic bloops and feedback behind the vocal.

The lineup he describes is Ray Chan on guitar, Dylan Keeton on bass and John Langley on drums. Chan's guitar is singled out for the insistent, near-discordant line on 'Scars' and for the feedback and harmonics on 'Freezing Over Morning'. Keeton's bass carries much of the melody on 'Heirloom', and Langley, formerly of Blue Aeroplane and Strangelove, drives 'Scars' and 'Audition' with lurching break-beats. O'Farrell hears late-1980s REM in the melodies, alongside 1960s touchstones that fed into early Americana.

He also reports that the vinyl pressing is weighty and sounds warmer than his old CD copy.

Live dates

- 8 November: The Louisiana, Bristol - 13 November: The Snug, Atherton (sold out)

O'Farrell's review for Louder Than War rates the record 4.5 out of 5.