A Shopkeeper Will Not Appear

'They bubble with a kind of passion most British acts struggle to recognize, let alone harness.' NME (UK) Almost 3 years in the making, 'A Shopkeeper Will Not Appear' mixes the European film-music tradition of Michel LeGrand & Francis Lai with distorted echoes of early Pink Floyd and Abba. A concept album in the tradition of English pop eccentricity, it is an inter-connected narrative of 14 songs about daydreaming (the title references the master-of-ceremonies in the 1970's children's TV program 'Mr Ben'). It is the story of a Carry On film canteen- revolutionary, whose adventures in supermarkets, offices, factories and council estates are gradually transformed by the power of a beautiful soundtrack that constantly runs in his head; a backdrop of lush strings and razor wire guitars, Miles Davis-esque trumpets and steepling violins. ‘Splendid lush cinematic pop’ Time Out (LONDON) ‘Revolutionizing pop music…an absolute treasure of an album’ LOGO ‘Gorgeous melodies’ The Guardian (UK) 'All European mysticism and dramatic noirist filmscapes…. This is why music was invented!' NME (UK) 'The best kept secret in British pop' Virgin.net ('Critic's Choice' for 'Friday Night at the Trabi Races') ‘An extraordinary album…that is moving, constantly surprising and never dull…no offshoot of the great tree of musical hand me downs, it stands aside, tall proud and quite alone.’ Pennyblackmusic for 'Friday Night at the Trabi Races' 'The melodies are exquisite, the music consistently inventive.' Amazon.co.uk ('Featured Album of the Month' for 'Friday Night at the Trabi Races') BIOGRAPHY London, England 1998: a strange collection of musical dissidents is thrown together by an advert in the back pages of the Melody Maker magazine. Glaswegian splash-kids, francophiles and classicists conspire, and as the cigarette-end of Britpop smoulders, plans are made: Plans for a new kind of pop music, part dark cabaret, part sweeping cinematic melodrama… 'Heist' is born in the autumn of that year and immediately wins the NME's new bands award. Since then, the band's unusual and sometimes shambolic live show - a kind of costumed 60's art movie tableaux with punk attitude -- has toured extensively in the UK and Europe, making many friends. Their debut 'DEFECTORS' EP was followed by the experimental film noir/dance CD 'BERLIN EXPRESS', which attracted great critical acclaim ('Bollocks Noir!' raved the Melody Maker, '…this is why music was invented' agreed the NME). January 2001 saw the UK release of their first full-length album - 'FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE TRABI RACES'. As well as getting excellent reviews in the UK press ('exquisite melodies' noted Amazon.co.uk Critics Choice), tracks from the album have been played by on BBC Radio One's Evening Session and a number of regional and European radio stations.