I reviewed Steve Morell's latest single two years ago and I was thinking that the album was going to be released anytime soon. After twentyfour months, it seems that now "The Life And Death Of Jimmy Pheres And His Rise From The Underworld" release is really near. To get acquainted with its atmosphere, Steve Morell and his partner Monica Pokorna, bring to their audience four new tracks of which the title track is "Lady Pheres". The main track is a strong ballad characterised by the alternation of Steve Morell and Monica Pokorna who start to tell the story of Jimmy, the character of the album and his love relation with Lady Pheres, the one that will ease him from his pain ("I am the one; I am your princess, come closer / And you can smell my love and feel my holiness"). One this one acoustic guitars, strings, xylophone and drums initially plays softly, like they don't want to disturb that magic feeling but then, in a crescendo, they underline the atmosphere. The second new track is "It's Been So Long" and it will be included on the album. This one is a bit more melancholic and with slow rhythm. I don't know if this one tells of the death of Lady Pheres, but an excerpt of the lyrics tell: "Here I am on my own, alone, again / Lonely thoughts creating shivering pain / Death is shining on your ring / Slowly I'm facing the sin / All I see is black and white there's no one else to hold me tight / I pull on my finger, I'm crawling like a clown". "Confusion" is a short intermezzo made of metallic percussions, vocals and brushed acoustic strings. "Holding On" is a song which is exclusive to the 12" and it's a good ballad with paced rhythms and post punk atmospheres (the distorted guitar inserts and the tribal rhythms make a nice effect). These are the original tunes and I liked them and they make me think that the album will be a good one. Now, we can talk about the remixes. On the vinyl we have one remix "Lady Pheres (DJ Vela's The Lady Smiles Vocal Remix)". Of the original tune it keeps the strings parts, some guitars, some vocals and the xylophone. It adds a bouncing retro drum machine sound and nice effects on vocals. It isn't a proper dance version but it sounds nice. On the digital version of the release, we have three other remixes of the track. "The Handclap Situation... Remix" is a minimal ambient one with strings, choruses which turns into a dub/drum and bass one after a while. The "Electrosexual Remix" is a sensual electro mid tempo where the main melodic parts (instruments and vocals) are used and alternated with the add of 4/4 hard beats. The last track is "DJ Vela The Lady Smiles Instrumental Remix". This is a good EP which sees Ragnar, EF Kriete (Goldfish), Andrew Unruh (Einsturzende Neubauten), Carolin Werren, Kevin Mooney (Adam & The Ants), Karen Weber and Valerie Renay (Noblesse Oblige) collaborating with the couple.