Name: The Decline And Fall of Heavenly
Brand: Heavenly

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SKEPWAX019

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2024-02-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

5055869550031

Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Heavenly

Genre GB

Indie Pop / Shoegaze

Label GB

Skep Wax Records

Restored classics, rare finds, and sought-after releases. Whether you're a vinyl enthusiast or a tape collector, we have something for everyone.

Reissues

Jangly indie-pop group from Oxford (UK) who evolved from a previous band. Their songs were written by lead singer Amelia Fletcher; the rest of the group comprised Peter Momtchiloff on guitar, Cathy Rogers on keyboards and vocals, Rob Pursey on bass, and Mathew Fletcher on drums. The group was active from 1989 until the death of Mathew Fletcher in 1996. Afterward, the remaining members formed another group.
Heavenly is known for their catchy melodies and upbeat sound that defined the indie-pop genre during their active years. Lead singer Amelia Fletcher's songwriting skills brought a unique charm to their music.
Their discography includes several albums and singles that gained popularity among fans of indie-pop music. Despite facing tragedy with the loss of Mathew Fletcher, Heavenly's legacy lives on through their memorable tunes and influential contributions to the genre.

The Atta Girl and P.U.N.K. Girl singles were released in 1993; album The Decline and Fall of Heavenly came soon after in 1994: collectively they show a band that is rapidly expanding its scope. The album veers confidently from high speed indiepunk (Me And My Madness) to cool surf instrumental (Sacramento) and back again to the sweetest indiepop (Itchy Chin).&nbsp; Meanwhile, the singles, which include the band’s most celebrated tune - P.U.N.K Girl – demonstrates how much confidence Heavenly were deriving from their involvement in the nascent Riot Grrrl scene.&nbsp; All the anger is there, the politics are direct and crystal clear – yet the whole thing is still delivered with the sweetest pop melodies.&nbsp; It’s like being punched and kissed at the same time.

The three releases also show how Heavenly had come to feel equally at home in the UK and in the US.&nbsp; The album maybe feels more British, as demonstrated by the Old World irony of the ‘Decline and Fall’ title.&nbsp; At Heavenly gigs in the UK, often playing with other bands on the increasingly influential Sarah Records, audiences were getting bigger, while the bands were finding a sweet spot where anti-corporate understatement and a dismissive attitude to an increasingly misogynist UK Press was no barrier to success.&nbsp; P.U.N.K Girl and Atta Girl on the other hand, are more gleeful, more headlong, and somehow feel more American: they are&nbsp; carried along by the excitement and adrenaline of having found another spiritual home - the indiepunk Riot Grrrl scene that was focussed on Olympia, WA, the HQ of Heavenly’s US label K Records. (K released P.U.N.K Girl and Atta Girl together on one 10” EP.)

Amelia Fletcher and Cathy Rogers were now confidently sharing vocals, sometimes harmonising, sometimes taking it in turns, sometimes singing over each other.&nbsp; Peter (guitar) Mathew (drums) and Rob (bass) had become adept at changing gear from ornate pop to full-on punk, unafraid of genre rules and increasingly happy to make up their own version of what pop music should sound like.

The more delicate, more decorative arrangements of Heavenly’s first two albums had been left behind.&nbsp;&nbsp; The band – or more accurately, the women in the band – were still dogged by accusations of being too fey, too ‘twee’: not Rock enough.&nbsp; But, as the chorus of Atta Girl makes clear, any attempts to define Heavenly by their ‘cuteness’ now received an unambiguous response: ‘Fuck you, no way!’

The Decline And Fall of Heavenly    

Music GB

Discover The Decline And Fall of Heavenly by Heavenly. Re-released by Skep Wax Records, this album includes all five tracks from the Atta Girl and P.U.N.K Girl 7” singles. Available in LP format.