Thirteen Senses

The Cornwall band brought South together with Tom Welham, Adam Wilson and Brendon James. The Invitation appeared in 2004 through Mercury, with Danton Supple producing. Into the Fire, Thru the Glass and Do No Wrong supplied distinct points of entry, placing direct melodic writing inside arrangements with enough room for a note or chord to linger.

The singing was often most effective when it stayed close to the instrumental texture rather than trying to dominate it. A phrase could rise above the band, then settle back into the surrounding sound, making the production feel like part of the emotional expression. The songs relied on that changing perspective as much as on a sudden increase in volume.

Contact followed in 2007, including All the Love in Your Hands. The second album preserved the recognisable voice and piano while giving the arrangements a different degree of rhythmic and instrumental pressure. It continued the earlier sound without making every song follow the exact build that had first brought attention.

Crystal Sounds arrived in 2011, with Home among its principal tracks, and later albums extended the band's more atmospheric interests. The sequence gives the first singles a useful context: melodic guitar music was the entrance, but the records were also concerned with what happens between the obvious hooks. A sustained chord, a delayed vocal entrance or an instrumental passage could carry a feeling that the lyric had deliberately left open.