Janet Sherbourne & Mark Lockett – Walks Abroad

Janet Sherbourne & Mark Lockett
Walks Abroad
All Night Flight/Conatala
UK/Japan, 1987/2022
Cassette (2026 repress)

This work will be 40 years old next year and is still somehow so refreshing. Janet Sherbourne was a true original, occupying a cheery spot on the Venn diagram of art music, ‘80s ambient, daffy exotica, and the kind of keyboard-preset bedroom jazz that would soon come to be associated with Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti. 

The concepts on Walks Abroad—a 1987 collaboration with pianist and composer Mark Lockett—are as varied as the execution, from the swelling accordion beauty of opener “Lazy Haze,” to the ragtime/Casio/Pet Sounds sway of “Mythical Stomp,” to the perky Latin jazz of “El Cubana de Rondo,” to the the dusky torch song “Blue Grey Blues,” to the piano minimalism of “French Film Piece,” to the New Wave/experimental vocal music of “Cat’s Paw”—and the list goes on and on.

Whereas some records age well in the sense that they don’t age at all, others form a lovely patina that only deepens as their origins recede further into the past. From the music, to the performances, to the format, this reissue feels every inch like a quirky underground cassette from 1987—a little stranger and a little finer with every passing year.