What a month it's been!
'Broken Heart Surgery' was released on July 7th and has met with a very positive reaction - here is a quick(ish) summary of our reviews
The Guardian called it "a gently melancholic album that's really rather lovely" whilst Q magazine described it as "a sparse, rather lovely album. Bickers' playing is a masterclass,
while Fij's voice has the fragile, worldly wise tenor of Richard Hawley or Ian
McCulloch" and Mojo had it down as a "gorgeous set of bruised mid-life ballads."
On-line 'Broken Heart Surgery' has already made an all time top 12 line-up courtesy of this Brandish list of All-Time Top 12 Break Up Albums, nestling alongside the likes of Adele, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, Lykke Li & Fleetwood Mac "...a decade in the making and the finished result is a work of exquisitely
melancholic, stripped-down songwriting". Backseat Mafia has the album down as an 8.9/10 (so close to a 9 damn it!), describing it as "funny, poignant, clever and, frankly, beautiful"; Jon Robb writing in Louderthanwar said that 'Broken Heart Surgery' was "One of the most captivating albums of the year...a back from the dead triumph", Pennyblack thought " Pete Fij has a great vocal talent, which recalls in it's cheeriness Damon Albarn of Blur...while Bickers' guitar work shines like rough diamonds in the Brighton sunshine". Isolation Records said of the album "There are no weak moments here - this is about as a complete a collection as you would ever want to hear", Say It With Flowers has it down as "One of the best albums of 2014, ... With nods to Johnny Cash, Spiritualized and John Barry it’s raw, deeply personal, melancholy and cinematic, but also has plenty of gallows humour and deadpan wit." whilst A Musical Prioirty also marks it out as a contender for album of the year describing it as "A Masterpiece".
On radio messers Bickers & Fij won the Roundtable Review Show 'Single of the Week' for Out Of Time, getting both the nods from the panel and the listners alike; the listeners of BB6Music also voted overwhelmingly for Out Of Time to win the Rebel Playlist, ensuring daytime plays on Shaun Keavney, Lauren Lavern, Radcliffe Maconie and Steve Lamacq, as well as plays on Gideon Coe, Janice Long (Radio 2) and Huey Morgan (Radio2). Our two downbeat mariachi's were guests on Radio 4's 'Loose Ends', and on TV the video for Out Of Time was shown on Channel Four's 'Sunday Brunch'.
The Bickers & Fij tour bus did a quick trip round 5 dates, playing to sell out shows and a great review in louderthanwar - "Reminiscent of the Bad Seeds at their most gentle and remorseful. It sounds like the Velvets brought up on the streets of a seventies British town. The sound of the Beach Boys lost at sea... Broken Heart Surgery is a gentle maudelin classic in the making", whilst brumlive said "It's easy to see why they are so successful", whilst highlighting a third member of the duo who stole the limelight.
The album is available as a CD or download from Pete & Terry's bandcamp page (and you get the envelope hand-addressed by Pete!), you can also purchase from i-tunes, amazon,
as well as a whole host of online stores. It is distributed in UK by Republic Of Music, who supply independent and national record stores.
More UK dates are planned for the Autumn and will be announced shortly.
Thank you for all your help and support in helping us get this far. Keep track of what is going on in Pete Fij / Terry Bickers' world by liking the Facebook page or following Pete on Twitter
