Credit: Glass Modern

Pat Fish announced himself as a singular talent with 1983 debut In Bath Of Bacon, summoning zombies, sasquatches and "sex engines" over outrageous lifts from Wilson Pickett, The Bar-Kays and The Normal.The Londoner proved a fiercely literate talent over three more albums partly defined by the Wes Montgomery filigree of guitarist Max Eider. Four years of heavy touring (and drinking) made them US college radio favourites. But when Eider split in 1987, Fish went deeper, issuing intricately layered, sample-detailed LPs for Creation that revealed a one-off animist songwriter, capable of gentle mirth and gut-wrenching sadness. A committed prole and erudite raconteur, Fish had just completed 13th LP The Highest In The Land when he died peacefully at home, two days after ill health forced the cancellation of a live Facebook show.