Welcome to AromaZone A1 A1. On this page you will find the full length film to accompany the song Dying Flame, the first track on AromaTape 001 album by M.J. McCarthy Jnr, plus links to extracts from the novel Still Life, associated with the song and the landscape of the film and an album review by Andy Ashley-Smith. If you have your special edition of the album with the missing objects from Still Life all be be unveiled as each serialised section is revealed as the AromaZones open. Locate yourself in space… Using what 3 words navigation, you can enter the flaming car scene from the Still Life novel, zoom out on the satellite setting and you’ll see the scorch mark of the burnt out car in the Dying Flame film. You can visit the LOCATION HERE… https://w3w.co/unity.manage.radio (NOTE: if you click the circle in the bottom right when you land on the what 3 words screen, you can drag the yellow phantom figure to the location to see a view such as this, look around and you will see the lightning tree which fell victim to the 2017 storm. This is looking towards Dellsome Lane where the pivotal scene takes place).
The Lightning Tree
SELECT YOUR THREAD CHOICE by clicking on a song or chapter title in the AromaZones as they open, or view the album review below.
You are about to enter AromaZone A1 A1. At any point you can move on to the next album song ONLY MEANT FOR YOU in AromaZone A1 A2 or back to NOW SHOWING
Should you wish to trace the serialisation of the Still Life novel in its intended sequence, you may follow the suggested THREAD titles, for example the chapter called VERONICA SWAN A1 A1 leads on to TARKOVSKY A1 A1. The first A1 symbolises that this chapter is linked to the album AromaTape 001, the second A1 stands for Side A Track 1, the song DYING FLAME. The chapters associated with the second song on the album ONLY MEANT FOR YOU have the code A1 A2 and so on. You can return here to enter any of the ten AromaZone A1 A1 chapters below. If you wish to flow with the novel you will meet Veronica Swan after a brief INTRODUCTION….
Album Review
M.J. McCarthy Jnr – AromaTape001
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle” – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Inhale
The debut solo album from former Blab Happy & Perfume singer/guitarist Mick McCarthy, now going under the moniker M.J.McCarthy Jnr, opens with the pretty ‘Dying Flame’. The song recalls a happening the teenage McCarthy experienced at a place in his hometown of Hatfield, that saw him return years later and write the very song we are now listening to. Significantly, here was a burnt out car, a comet in the sky and a reloading of the Star Rover, which hints at something almost transcendental. A lovely circling acoustic riff and building strings provide an uplifting backdrop to a place “where we came, to watch the dying flame of burnt out stars”. As an opening track ‘Dying Flame’ more than sets the tone for the record, you dive in at the deep end, there are themes & sub-themes that weave their way through the album. Strap yourselves in! ‘Dying Flame’ leads straight to ‘Only Meant for You’ which begins like the whistling cousin of Joy Division’s ‘Atmosphere’, synths & McCarthy’s vocals come in and we are off somewhere else. Specifically, Mercury, a place which had aligned with the strings of his guitar in ‘Dying Flame’ and now delivers code ”through the radio, to get the message through, only meant for you”. This inter-planetry signal has spawned a song which could have only been written when you’ve been somewhere else before, as the very first line of the song suggests. Heady stuff! Mercury will appear in a number of songs on the album, its alignment with the other 6 planets earlier this year for the first time in decades, seems more than just a happy coincidence. Early stand out track is ‘Return to the Oak’, a slow simple bass and drum lead into some deeply heartfelt vocals from McCarthy about an old oak tree that became something of a landmark in Hatfield (the town is all over the album!). It’s the starkness of the spaces within the song that resonate, reflecting perhaps the echoes in the secret passages and tunnels that are known to exist beneath the aged tree. The oak has lived through the lives of the many and the return feels like a homecoming for those that seek answers to their meaning, as McCarthy ponders “what will reverse, the chain of the curse?” Beneath the oak lies a well, which is the subject of the exceptional ‘Well of Scented Tears’, in my mind the most accessible tune on the record. More upbeat than its predecessor, a jaunty guitar is joined by a chorus of voices with McCarthy in fine warbling form. The song relates back to the caverns & passages that exist beneath the oak and traverse the town of Hatfield secretly winding their way and then reappearing where only they see fit. The hook of the song is such that it takes you down the well and then literally fires you back out again. Joyful. Closing the first side of the album (remember when albums had sides?) is the three-segued piece ‘Cherry Way’. M.J.McCarthy Jnr dips into the well of his musical influences whilst reminising about a road on which he would have no doubt listened to them for the first time. This is a genuine call back, who can’t fail to remember the first time? The opening synth like segment swirls around a Siouxsie & The Banshee’s guitar as we again link back to our landmark tree, “turning soil beneath the shoe, from the acorn an oak tree grew”. A Cocteau Twins-esque riff begins the second section of the song before we head almost into ‘80s elctro-pop land in the third, the pay off at the end of the song being when the drums kick in and the “light unfurls on Cherry Way”. Brilliant.
Exhale
Side two of the album begins with the shimmering ‘Cherish Forays’, a cheerful riff from co-collaborator Alex Wicks sets the tone for a song that contemplates the abscission. Specifically, the Cherry Tree (okay, linking back to the previous, I think we can finally call this a concept album!) “Countless cherry blossom, falling from the tree, count the endless blossom, cherish all of these, before they leave” goes a chorus that recognises the seasonal eruption of beauty that perhaps is oft ignored as we navigate through life. Particularly, as a life that will only exist for a finite period of time, yet the cherry blossom will seasonally return, down Cherry Way. This is a cheer worm and it has stalks. ‘Willow Way’ starts with a sparse electro drum beat before a spagettti western reverb guitar riff acts as a backdrop to reminicences of “climbing trees through the broken windows”. The track feels like a microcosm of the whole album in its description a time that was a lot more simple, nature-ral, and in reality, more beautiful to those who lived it. Minor chords dominate throughout, giving a reflective feel to the song, particularly with its line on lost souls, out on patrol down Willow Way, where the cold wild wind blows. This is the sort of song some would some find rather sad, but to these old wizened ears, is genuinely the opposite. Similarly, “Not Over Now”, has a melancholic, wistful feel but its message is genuinely one of the postive and staying true to the only road you know. What’s your Cherry Way? This is where you were shaped, grew up and yes, watched your own pointed petal tears fall, but, this is you and never forget. Indeed, celebrate, there is more to come. Another highlight is “Chanter”, a Johnny Marr guitar-esque pattern starts a song that begins with the poignant “you asked for less, to find out more”. The Chanter is a story teller of incredible tales, these being ghosts of former jet aircraft test pilots in Hatfield, seen in flames at the Aircraft test beds in the town, but what was their message? As McCarthy checks in with his old friend Mercury, “does the Chanter have the answer?” Hatfield is a much maligned New Town, not renowned for much, but like all towns however, it has it’s history, it’s phantoms and stories like we all do, on this album McCarthy does much to redress the balance. Closing track, “A Hurt Too Far”, is a call back to ‘Dying Flame’, we’ve come the full circle to where the album was born. Past the last house on Dellsome. Between the pylons and the car. Falling under sheets of rain. A reverberating guitar backs some brilliant vocals as McCarthy reflects on what has transpired. And, indeed, from where he came & was inspired.
With it’s dizzying arpeggios and soulful reflections, this album is a joy.
Andy Ashley-Smith – May 2025