He told Rutherford his story, then disappeared again. Conway had amnesia, but recovered his memory. Rutherford tells the narrator later that evening that he met Conway in a French mission hospital in Chung-Kiang (probably Chongqing), China. He was a British consul in Afghanistan, who disappeared mysteriously. The topic of Hugh Conway comes up in conversation. This neurologist friend named Rutherford were eating dinner at Tempelhof, Berlin with their old school-friend Wyland. The origin of the eleven numbered chapters of the novel is explained in two opening and closing sections. He is strongly attracted to life at Shangri-La because the monks understood him. He was exhausted and felt older than he really was. That was the real purpose of the city.Ĭonway survived the trench warfare of WWI. Maybe Shangri-la would protect these important things for later when the world was tired of war. Life and all special things could be lost, even history. The book describes how war on the ground would move into the air. The Muli town of Zhongdian has its name to Shangri La (Chinese: Xianggelila). The remote communities he visited, such as Muli are similar to Hilton's fictional Shangri-La. The story is similar to travel stories in the Tibetan borderlands by Joseph Rock in the National Geographic magazine. One theme of the book is the possibility of another world war and war preparations. He finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La. Hugh Conway is a member of the British diplomatic service. This perfect place was called Shangri-La. It was a utopian city where people could live to be hundreds of years old. In this book, Hilton imagined a special place high in the mountains of Tibet. A richer and more varied cast list would be very hard to find.Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. Also present are Lily Wolter (of Penelope Isles) under her solo pseudonym KookieLou, and C Duncan. Deploying his A&R acumen, Raymonde called on new Swedish discovery Kavi Kwai for the Cocteaus-evoking ‘Every Beat That Passed’ (“You can’t make music for as long as I have and drop all your influences and habits overnight,” says Raymonde). The last three are all Bella Union family members likewise, John Grant (the lush, choral ‘Cordelia’, etched by David Rothon’s pedal steel and Fiona Brice’s elegant strings) and Ren Harvieu (a sultry ‘Unravelling In Slow Motion’), and new signing Laura Groves (the jazz-tinged ‘Blue Soul’), all making their Lost Horizons debuts.ĭana Margolin of the hugely acclaimed Porridge Radio lends the rampant ‘One For Regret’’ her trademark bristling energy at the other end of the spectrum, ‘Flutter’ features Rosie Blair (of former Bella Union signing Ballet School) adding exquisite blue notes to a stark palate of Thomas’ piano and Fiona Brice’s strings. Īlso returning from Ojalá are Gemma Dunleavy, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Cameron Neal (Horse Thief) and Marissa Nadler. Take the first three tracks: the melting rapture of ‘Halcyon’ featuring Jack Wolter of Bella Union signings Penelope Isles, the simmering urban-soulful ‘I Woke Up With An Open Heart’ featuring Nubiya Brandon of The Hempolics and the quintessentially melancholy-delic ‘Grey Tower’ featuring a returning Tim Smith. Those energy levels undulate across a dazzling array of moods and voices as broad as the name Lost Horizons sounds. “But both albums have a great energy about them.” “I think it’s more joyous than Ojalá,” says Thomas. In Quiet Moments has its pockets of loss but – aligned to the concept of ‘hope’ – the album is more about rebirth than death. “The way improvisation works,” he says, “it’s just what’s going on with your body at the time, to let it out.” At least Raymonde had a way to channel his grief. Then, to make matters worse, as Raymonde and Thomas buckled down to create the improvised bedrock that Lost Horizons is built on, the former’s mother died. On the minus side, any hope for a better world, as Earth continues to freefall toward political and social meltdown. On the plus side, the new Lost Horizons album In Quiet Moments is an even stronger successor to Ojalá with another distinguished cast of guest singers and a handful of supporting instrumentalists embellishing the core duo’s gorgeously free-flowing and loose-limbed blueprint that one writer astutely labelled, “melancholy-delia.” And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!” “And this album has given me a lot of hope. “These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world.” Thomas said at the time. In 2017, Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas had both abstained from making music for 20 years until they united as Lost Horizons and released a stunning debut album, Ojalá – the Spanish word for “hopefully” or “God willing.”
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