There is no notorious public backstory to Watching From A Distance, no lurid context in which it should be viewed. Its imagery unfolds with a sense of heart-rending romance, not expounding every tortured detail but largely in the abstract. The depths of anguish conjured by Essex-based frontman Patrick Walker (now of 40 Watt Sun), however, are still utterly, utterly unmatched. His music does the talking, he has previously explained, so why would he say more himself? And how it talks. Drawing from a palette of hopeless greys and washed out sepia tones, the five tracks of this 2006 masterpiece unfold at a funereal pace, all earthen riffage and hauntingly plaintive vocals, conjuring a potent, timeless atmosphere of melancholia. At reunion shows, the album was played in full, and grown men were seen openly weeping. To fully understand why, you’ll need to listen for yourself…