Light In the Attic Shares Debut Album from Arthur

Like all of the label’s releases, Light in the Attic’s newest release has an incredible story. Dreams and Images, the debut album from an unassuming artist called Arthur, was released by Lee Hazelwood’s LHI label in 1968, one of the most monolithically vital years in all of music’s history (Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat, The Zombies’ Odyssey and Oracle, The Beatles’ white album, The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, to name a few). The songs are gentle and friendly, full of watery organ, muted brass, and soft strings. After only one more album, the project’s central force Arthur Lee Harper retired from music completely and turned to a life ruled by Christianity, family, and a steady job. In 2002, his wife Lora was killed in a tragic car accident. In a surreal coincidence, Harper died that same night of a heart attack. Arthur is an unlikely candidate to be counted as a hero of late-sixties psych folk, but just the sort of artist that Light in the Attic has been so adept at giving new life even after death. Stream “Sunshine Soldier” from Dreams and Images below, and order the album from Light in the Attic right here.