[9] The brothers began their musical careers as teenagers in 1988, both of them singing and playing saxophones in The Phobia, which developed into the deliberately eccentric rock band Roger's Trout Farm (also featuring future Spearmint guitarist James Parsons, whom the Morricones would also briefly work with in Supersaurus).
"[12] In 1995,[13] the Morricone brothers regrouped in Huddersfield to form The Scaramanga Six with another teenaged musical cohort, Julia Arnez (whom they'd played with in the Spawnmate project).
"[19] Entirely self-managed and self-releasing (via their own Wrath Records label), their independent business practices and active promotion of other artists has also seen them hailed as "the closest we'll see to a British answer to Fugazi"[20] and described as "working entirely outside the indie scene, let alone the actual industry.
"[7][21][22] In between Scaramanga Six commitments, the Morricone brothers have also occasionally played as an acoustic duo called The Disclaimers and involved themselves in Being 747, a collaborative project with former Landspeed Loungers songwriter Dave Cooke.
On his BBC Radio 6 show, Tom Robinson described the song as follows: "If there’d ever been a dream collaboration between Scott Walker and Massive Attack this is what it might have sounded like... so dense and ambitious: a huge widescreen soundscape where the harmonic surprises never stop coming.
If you like The Scaramanga Six, The Divine Comedy, Scott Walker, Sensational Alex Harvey Band or indeed good music, then The Dissolving Man by Paul Morricone is for you!
"[27] Almost exactly a year later (on 4 December 2020), Paul followed up The Dissolving Man with a second solo album Cruel Designs, which he described as "a cornucopial journey through the dark wanderings of the sub-conscious mind.
"[28][29] Reviewing, the Nite Songs webzine described Cruel Designs as "every bit as much of a dark and disturbing tour de force as those who are familiar with his day job band will expect... Easy listening Cruel Designs very much isn't, but there's definitely something about the sheer scope of it which makes it an engagingly dark listen with the mix of yearning vocals, lush orchestration and downright creepiness therein combining well to make something pretty good.
Promoting the album, Paul commented "this collection of songs is deeply cinematic and full of dark stories but with a pronounced stance on current affairs.
"[11] Hailing Paul Morricone as a "modern day Bryan Ferry" and Go Sanction Yourself as "an exceptional and accomplished album from a person who seems very much at the height of his power", Joyzine magazine noted that the album's "production, musical arrangements and playing throughout are exceptional" and observed that "Paul's main talent, apart from his suave good looks and rich velvety voice of course, is his ability to combine the classic with the unusual... to fuse classic influences with the avant-garde to create something unusual and unique...
In amongst the strident piano and ascending bass lines there are creepy whispers and almost Penderecki style strings screaming, and a brass section and atonal sax from a Bernard Hermann noir thriller.
"[33] Reviewing the album for God is in the TV, Humphrey Fordham commented on "elements of baroque pop evoking a young and beautiful, well-dressed non-hippy couple cruising down a European boulevard circa 1969...
"[34] Writing in Louder than War, Andy Kidd described the album as "a formidable piece of work and... a sure fast rumination on these mad and disjointed times... an LP that surges forward and simultaneously moves at right angles declaring itself as a thoroughbred off-the-wall slab of audio gold.
Go Sanction Yourself engulfs the listener in drama and intrigue and has the listener acknowledging Morricone’s frustration and disharmony with the world around us... Whilst Paul Morricone is still very much the DIY art-rocker with full alt credentials, he has created something pretty much next level here, whether it be found circulating the tiny speakers of a hotel elevator, or crackling through the ether via taxi car wireless or late night TV, or even synchronised to an arthouse cinema flick, it rejoices in a unique richness which in turn carries this record to the stars defiant.
You’ll be waiting a very, very long time for the rewards of their trickle-down economics, especially in places like Keighley and Dewsbury who got fooled by patriotic promises.
It featured remixes from Mo Wabb, The Big Boss, Orange Polygon, Ray Bentos, Flash Cassette, Benbow, Petrol Bastard, Sargerino and JP Delorian.
Team, Little Man Tate, iLiKETRAiNS, Cold War Kids, Forward Russia, Gallows and Polytechnic as well as viral animations for The Charlatans.
"[11] Paul Morricone has previously cited The Stranglers and Tony Bennett as being among his influences, resulting in the discovery that "there was much fun to be had in crooning and shouting in equal measures.