The Borderland was a large music review website administered by British music journalist John M Peters and featuring music that was generally produced by underground artists and small independent labels. The site closed in 2018, and I guess that all of the reviews were then lost as I can't find any on the ephemeral internet. The Borderland reviewed many of my early albums in the 2000-2010 decade, and when I asked about these in 2018, John sent me copies of his reviews, so for reasons of information preservation I've decided reproduce them here verbatim for posterity, one post at a time.
Mark Sheeky - The End And The Beginning [with Tor James Faulkner]
The End And The Beginning is a departure from Mark Sheeky's usual music - it is a vocal album and a concept album about life and death, in particular about the crash and resultant coma of a motorcyclist and the death of his girlfriend in the same accident. Not fun stuff, to be sure, but a story which obviously resonates with the musician and will do so with the listener - and, of course, anyone who rides motorbikes. Musically, we aren't too removed from Mark's usual style, electro-pop but with more reflective, almost ambient sections, complimented by [Tor James Faulkner]'s voice on most songs and even Mark's voice on a couple of tracks. This is quite an adventurous album and a big stretch in both technique and style. It will be interesting to see how Mark Sheeky's music will progress from here.
- John M Peters/The Borderland
