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"Anton Barbeau represents the Sacramento chapter of that nameless coterie of enduringly reliable, acid-tinged singer-songwriters that includes XTC's Andy Partridge, Robyn Hitchcock, Julian Cope and the Bevis Frond's Nick Saloman. His new album bathes beautifully constructed, thoughtfully arranged songs in a fading psychedelic sunshine, and it would be many casual consumers' album of the year if only they got to hear it. Four stars." -Stewart Lee, Sunday Times

"Prolific, pretentious, precocious, intelligent, quirky, nasal, amusing, annoying to some, pop genius to others, and never ever boring -- this, my friends, is the cumulative description of northern California's musical auteur Anton Barbeau." -PopMatters

"The man in question is Anton Barbeau, cult hero and left-field maverick from Sacramento, California. Mind you, calling him a 'singer/songwriter' is a bit like calling Jimi Hendrix a 'strummer.' His songs are fervid, swarming, tangential and often humorous, but possessed of a compelling inner logic." -Dorset Echo

"He's a bit of a genius and I think we need to adopt him as one of our own. This is brilliant music." -BBC Radio, Oxford

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTON BARBEAU

With but a few years remaining until 2012, Anton Barbeau has been busier than ever, spreading his "pre-apocalyptic psychedelic pop" far and wide. California-born, but currently residing in Cambridge, England, Barbeau has toured the UK from tip to tail, and has confused and amused audiences from Istanbul to Berlin with his mind-bending stage-show and auto-neurotic humour. He's supported a crazy range of other artists, from Martin Carthy to Mono, Robyn Hitchcock to Robin Williamson, and is as awkwardly comfy in a smoke-and-feedback drenched village farmhouse as he is in a Paris piano bar.

As a songwriter/recording artist, Barbeau is remarkably prolific. His 2009 release, Plastic Guitar, is his 6th since 2006, and features a variety of styles, from 60's-vibed classic pop to laptop bleep-bop and electro-kraut grooves. While Barbeau's previous album, The Automatic Door, took the dark themes of global warming, fundamentalism and romantic breakdown and painted them in bright colours with sunny harmonies and folky pop backing, the songs on Plastic Guitar lay bare our hero's anxieties. The album is rich with guest appearances, Kimberley Rew of the Soft Boys, Gabe and Greg from CAKE, Woodstock legend Barry "the Fish" Melton and the lads from Stornoway all contributing to the mix.

Barbeau has collaborated with the Bevis Frond on King of Missouri and with the Loud Family on What If It Works? Sharron Kraus, Oxford's queen of dark-folk appears on Anton's psychedelic masterwork, In The Village Of The Apple Sun, an album Harp magazine called "Barbeau's Sgt. Pepper," and which ended up on USA Today's "Best of 2007" list.

Bringing it all back home, in Sacramento, a 23-hour Anton-a-thon was held in his honor with over 20 performers covering Anton songs, and the sleep-deprived star performing sets with members of his various backing bands. An unusual scene - but perhaps not for a man whose two first gigs were as a teenage magician and as Jesus in the school play

Barbeau is beginning work on his next album, The Psychedelic Mynde Of Moses and has finished writing/producing Bag of Kittens, the debut disk for California gal Allyson Seconds. All this while he continues relentlessly touring tea shops and stone circles in the UK. Oh, and yes, Adrienne Barbeau IS his cousin!