Cover art: David Huang

Eight years after their debut, 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, audio-visual enquirers John B McKenna and Richard Greenan re-appear as Devonanon, to share the findings of a decade-long sonic experiment.

Like its predecessor, 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 is a living, breathing collection of field recordings and compositions, gathered gradually from remote corners of the pair's lives. Familiar waypoints - interwoven microtonal synths, regurgitated live performances, polite whispering, and the gurgling hum of vehicles (land and sea) - all fold into the perpetual stew.

Where 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 read like a crumpled postcard account of fraternal reportage, 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 is a tone poem on something more amorphous, and out of time - a garbled history of human closeness, upheaval and mark-making, that seems to buckle and creak like a tapestry with no beginning or end.

No two spoonfuls are the same, as our story reels through kosmische library stylings ('Wilderness Engine'), to cortex-quieting free association ('Generate Countryside'), and baroque instrumentation ('Blood Laughing').

Recommended if you like CS + Kreme, Pierre Mariétan, Kirk Barley. 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 was created in conversation with the visual artist David Huang.

“Well aye, it’s that time of year again and we’re all sick of hearing the same seasonal shite, but these smudged takes on the classics are offering welcome respite.

It’s very much historic classical, not modern, as Hesitation tackle the real old skool diamonds such as ye olde favourites ’Silent Night’ and ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, or the nativity naivety of ‘Away In A Manger’ with an ambient-pop lightness of touch that doesn’t feel cloying, surely refreshing their timelessness for tired ears.

‘The Last Christmas’ makes up the duo’s 3rd LP together since 2018’s eponymous debut, and warmly speaks to their fraternal familiarity and nous, cannily mostly leaving out the more religious lyrics and themes for a lowkey secular slant that treats the melodies loosely in a way to be enjoyed by all during the season of goodwill and over-imbibing. Their reedy recorder-like instrumental rendition of ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ is a lovely highlight, and the curdled vocal in ‘Oh Little Town of Bethlehem’ should raise a wry chuckle, while ’Silent Night’ is strung out like an particularly opiated Low, and ‘Away In a Manger’ is most beautifully smudged to an ambient bliss-out, with ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ rent as a gloriously slurred drone guitar version that seals the deal with a ribbon bow.

Nyawwww, good lads.”
Boomkat, 2021

“ Sky kissing fuzzy pastoral blissouts by Hesitation, gently tilting toward kosmiche and drone rock horizons on a sweetly ambitious 2nd LP recorded with an expanded line-up.

Captured during a 3-day residency in Malmö, Sweden, ’Triple Bluff’ speaks to the warm and familial vibe between the core duo of Chris Catlin (Reckno/Yaard) and Richard Greenan (Devon Loch/Devonanon) and their newly expanded band of John B McKenna (Undermedvetenheten), Galina Juritz (Stacey Juritz Ravens Keller) and Francis P Brady (Frand) in a way primed to stroke the pleasure tentacles of VU, Spacemen 3, or Galaxie 500 fans.

Pushing off with the iridescent guitar glitter and humming synth pads of ‘Sapling’ they describe tranquil pastoral scenes in ‘Outrageous Drive’ and lure us into eerier ambient simulacra on ‘Aviary’, along with the sublime floating raga drone ‘Mantra’, and it really all comes together in a beautiful denouement ‘Martha’s Presence’ that strongly reminds us of moments from the amazing CS + Kreme album.”

Boomkat, 2020

"A sonic simulation of life adrift, encased in metal and plastic. Fans of Tangerine Dream and Aphex Twin take note."
Electronic Sound, 2020

Cover art: David Galletly

“The results are a satisfying reminder of the kinship between British wilderness, rave culture and beautiful wrongness.” The Quietus

Cover art: Max Weiland

“Unveiled today, new track Black Hole is suitably endearing and puzzling, the five-and-a-half minute psych-pop wonder unravelling, gently, across a bed of piano and extended vocal runs which come together to form a colourful patchwork of sound for the more pertinent lead vocal to beautifully fill the space between.”
Gold Flake Paint

“With Killmens it appears McKenna has hit real odyssey territory as he breaks down and blows apart basic masculinity and leaves us with an expansive psych-pop gem that we won’t stop playing for some time to come. “ Rave Child

✮✮✮✮ Norman Records

"This introspective, complex collection of psych-folk psalms and alt-pop mantras dedicated to love, and loss and awakening, seeks answers rather than offering them, and it’s all the more poignant, and precious, for it" ✮✮✮✮ The List

"A disorientating mesh of angular guitar, off-kilter beats and mood piece confessionals … that slip under the skin and stay there"
✮✮✮✮ THE SKINNY

Cover art: Jason Mowry

“The addition of a full backing band has turned John B McKenna’s project into an alt-rock marvel, The Devil’s Finger transformed into a driven opus that would bring a tear to J Mascis’ eye while Eternal See You Soon now possesses a spark of vitality that is impossible to ignore.” ✮✮✮✮ THE SKINNY