Second album from Shay Tal. The music is an intoxicating heady mix of dreamy psychedlia, delicate pop arrangements with jazz, folk and classical influences. Stunning vocals and outstanding instrumentation, this is melodic intelligent pop that is so much more than pop.

1. Open Your Windows Wide
2. The Bottomless Blue
3. Born In The Winter
4. Kingfisher
5. Justine
6. Deadly Nightshade
7. Train (If I'm Dreaming)
8. Eagle
9. All Of Your Friends Have Changed
10. The Fair
11. Sea Blue Dreams
12. If I Knew You Now
13. We Dream Of This

Check out Shay Tal on My Space

Psychedelic folk with a dreamy but progressive feel to it. Inticate pop that is captivating & beautiful but melancholic, creating a truly magical vibe.

Shay Tal is: Finn Millar (guitars, vocals, piano, clarinet, keyboards), Stephen Robson (drums, percussion, Autoharp, keyboards, reluctant vocals), with bass guitar courtesy of our great friends ex-Punishment of Luxury bassist Jimmy Davis and the late Vic Warrington.

"Music that flirts with pop, indie and dreamy psychedelia to create an other-worldly work that really defies categorisation." (Terry Craven, Wondrous Stories, Journal of the Classic Rock Society, UK).

"Shay sail on a pop/progressive ocean with some melancholy waves...Their music is light as the air and has some happy vibrations...Their music seems so fragile and I never want to break the spell that comes from their songs...I recommend this record to people who like music to be a voyage to a magical land from where they will surely come back happy." (Renaud Rigard, Zoopaloop, France).

"These are confident, strong songs and the band are not afraid to skip down uncommercial avenues with the female vocals topping off some deliciously off-kilter tunes.." (The Crack, UK).

"Cute yet melancholic female vocals waft over backing that consists of almost reggae-rhythm guitars and keyboards that wouldn't have sounded out of place on any later material by the Police. Very strange." (Melody Maker, UK).

"Shay...use soft and gentle psychedelic elements...Clean guitar sounds melt in the summer rain, which is built by the unusual but charismatic female vocals, the harmonic guitar chords...If you like well done psychedelic rock with ingredients of triphop and melancholy, you should check out this band." (Markus Weiss, Durp, Germany).

"...there is some truly beautiful music on here...An excellent CD with plenty to offer. Highly recommended." (Stuart Hamilton, Zeitgeist, UK).

"A very slight nod to Fairport Convention in the songs. This excellent album falls somewhere in between the best tradition of British electric folk/ intelligent high quality pop songs/ world music and laid back psych folk with a progressive influence bearing some slight mystical / very slight gothic overtones" - (Peter Ashby)

"Shay Tal (formerly Shay) is the UK based duo of Finn Millar on vocals, guitars, clarinet, piano & keyboards and Stephen Robson on drums, autoharp, keyboards and backing vocals. It's been some years since their debut album, Dreamers and Stalkers (see AI #18), but their sophomore effort, Tambourina, has been well worth the wait. The band have a unique sound that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who heard the first album. Finn's vocals are dreamy and whispery, yet with a slightly gravelly edge. The music is song oriented, with a highly ethereal blend of psychedelic folk, plus progressive rock influences that inject a sense of musical adventure into the mix. From the jazzy dreamscapes of "The Bottom Blue" and "Train (If I'm Dreaming)", to the emotional prog fused "Born in the Winter" and "We Dream Of This", the seductively psychedelic "Kingfisher" and "All Of Your Friends Have Changed", to the spacey meditative raga grooved "Deadly Nightshade". 13 absolutely gorgeous mind expanding tracks. It's difficult to accurately describe the Shay Tal sound. you've just got to hear them for yourself. Check 'em out." - Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations

"This band's secret weapon, greatest asset, and perhaps greatest liability is vocalist Finn Millar, so I think I need to begin by talking about her voice. I guess if I had to choose one adjective for it, it'd be "ethereal," but that doesn't fully describe it. And it's even hard to find singers to compare her to. In places, she sounds like Kate Bush, though without some of Bush's histrionic excesses; in places, like Björk, about which similarity the less said the better, so far as my tastes are concerned; and in some places very much like Marianne Faithful in a higher-than-usual register. As those (admittedly loose) comparisons might suggest, this is not an album for everyone; and add to the timbre of the singing the genre of the music, which I'd call, I guess, "progressive folk" but which the band calls "Indie/Experimental/Psychedelic," and you can probably already decide upon your own tolerance for the kind of music Shay Tal performs. As for myself, I have to say that I like it and think this band has a lot of talent. Having called Shay Tal a "band," though, I should back up and acknowledge that, except for a couple of guest bass players, Shay Tal is actually a duo; the other half is Stephen Robson, who's responsible for percussion and autoharp (Millar takes care of guitars, clarinet, and piano as well as vocals). On this, the group's second album, the fullness of the sound belies the paucity of musicians. Each song is a carefully conceived entity, the album unified mostly by Millar's unique vocals and inventive, searching lyrics. That's why I said at the outset that her voice is the band's greatest asset and liability. If you like her voice, the album is a resounding success. But if you don't, you'll find it hard to get through the whole thing, because, although there's quite a bit of variety in the songs, that voice is always there. Despite the album's length (thirteen songs and almost an hour), the band manages something new in each track. I might mention a few standouts, but most impressive is the fact that there isn't a weak song in the set. Open Your Windows Wide is an excellent opener, a lovely slow-ish song that displays the group's gift for melody. And Eagle, perhaps my favourite, encapsulates the band's virtues all in one song. A simple repeated lick on electric guitar underlines lovely multi-tracked vocals, later replaced briefly by a clarinet solo. The effect of the whole reminds me more than a bit of that of the gorgeous Yes song Onwards - even that guitar lick, though I wouldn't say it's derivative or even a quotation. The album's most ambitious track, The Fair, is also what I'd call its most progressive, flirting with difficult time signatures and stretching to more than seven minutes. It does get a bit monotonous, and the slowed-down ending drags out too long, testing the listener's patience, but it's a nice experiment. And Sea Like Dreams, the one song in which Millar's vocals remind me most of those of The Dreaming-era Kate Bush, somehow manages to be both perky and haunting. Take my word for it. This is an album hard to describe but easy to enjoy - again, given my caution about the style of the vocals. I'd guess that fans of Steeleye Span (not to make a comparison, though such a comparison could distantly be made), for example, would find a lot to like here, but I'd also recommend it to anyone interested in good, inventive music on the softer side of progressive rock but a good long distance from the mainstream." - Gerald Wandio, DPRP

"Singer/ multi-instrumentalist Finn Millar is joined by ex Punishment of Luxury drummer Stephen Robson in an eclectic, ethereal mix of sounds and atmospheres that owe much in the vocal department to some 60s chanteuses and in music to psychedelic rock, jazz, folk and classical. One unusual thing about the band is the use of clarinet (played by Millar) heard as early as the haunting opening number 'Open Your Windows Wide'. There are 12 songs and one instrumental, 'Kingfisher' which leads into one of the strongest compositions 'Justine' (sung in French- Finn is also bilingual). My favourite song though is 'Deadly Nightshade' which invokes Kate Bush at her best (and wouldn't, on reflection, seem out of place on the fantastic 'Aerial'). The drums and percussion are not used as mere backing and this is nowhere better demonstrated than on the most expansive track on the album 'The Fair'. In fact, throughout the CD, Robson's deft touch glues the music together and he also contributes autoharp, backing vocals and some keyboards. The bass playing of Vic Warrington (who sadly passed away during the making of the album) and Jimmy Davis is also much appreciated. Finally, the warm sound produced by Tim Jones' mastering adds to the overall 'vibe'. The lyrics are thought provoking throughout with songs like 'If I Knew You', about lost love and missed opportunities, having a wistful poignancy. The album is not melancholy though as there is a buoyancy about the music that marks 'Tambourina' as one of the most refreshing and original albums I've reviewed in a long time. In summary, Shay Tal play beguiling and cross genre visceral music with an other-worldly touch, through the medium of Finn Millar's exquisite vocal style and sensitive guitar and keyboard colourations and Stephen Robson's empathetic use of tone and colour. Highly recommended!" - Phil Jackson, Zeitgeist

"Shay Tal: Tambourina Weardale based, the band were formerly called Shay and approached 13 tracks from a range of influences. Rock, jazz and classical all play a part, but it's Finn Millar's dreamy voice which either haunts or needles depending on your personal taste. Impressively and professionaly put together this is an ideal companion for a hot, intoxicating night of good company that so many of us would love to recapture." - Viv Hardwick, Northern Echo

Check out the official Shay Tal MySpace page