these recordings are taken from our set at the virtaa arts festival, which we were invited to play in january 2004 in tapiola, finland. the presence of another two acts meant a shorter set than usual, though this means we can present it here uncut. we traveled light, although not quite light enough for the airline company's baggage limits...luckily the mellotron was already there, courtesy of a kind loan; the icing on the frozen cake. "jacquesfolded", y'r bonus track, was recorded the day before we flew to finland, in the lofty space of "the big room" at the rehearsal studio we favour. it was already snowing in stockport & colder than it turned out to be where we were going. all the music was improvised, and the title comes not from our messianic self-image but from the strange sights of seeing helsinki's citizens taking shortcuts that would be impractical during the warmer months.

---