Tompot Blenny

A tompot blenny is a small intertidal fish common in the waters around Great Britain. It's also a duo from the East Midlands of England whose sparse, largely acoustic music resembles a cross between the jangled nerves of mid-period Go-Betweens and the gentle lullabies of the Softies. The duo, which formed in the mid-'90s, consists of singer and bassist Carl and guitarist Craig (in true U.K. indie pop fashion, they don't use their last names). Tompot Blenny was one of the first groups signed to Shinkansen, the label started by Matt Haynes after the dissolution of his fabled indie imprint Sarah Records. Their first EP, Thinking of Ways of Keeping You Warm, was a three-song 7" and only the second release on the label, appearing in May 1996. That November, the duo released a follow-up, Green Is the Best Colour, the CD of which included the three songs from the first vinyl-only EP. This EP also included the dreamy "The Short-Haired Girl in the Left-Legged Pineapple," a musical tribute to a sales clerk at a peculiarly named record shop in Loughborough that's among the most tongue-in-cheek appraisals of the indie-kid lifestyle this side of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Little was heard of Tompot Blenny after those two releases; the band made no recordings as the core duo experimented unsuccessfully with expanding into a proper full-sized band. Carl and Craig did eventually add drummer Alan, who made his debut on the group's first proper album, Found Under Blankets, released in November 2000. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide