
Living In A Giant Candle Winking At God is the only album by the Transit Kings, a band consisting of Jimmy Cauty, Alex Paterson, Guy Pratt and Dom Beken.
Band Conception and Main Releases
The four members had already started messing around with musical ideas at the end of the 90s, but it would take them another few years until the release of the first single Boom Bang Bombay (limited to 75 copies only) as Custerd in 2003.
A follow-up album titled Ear Cake 3000 was also announced in the accompanying promo sheet but never materialized.
Two years and one name change later the five-track EP Token saw the light of day in 2005, introducing the (now called) Transit Kings to a wider audience.
In July 2006 London based record label Malicious Damage started releasing a set of three singles containing various album tracks and remixes over the course of four weeks. These were then complimented by the release of the full album in August.
Departure of Jimmy Cauty
While Jimmy was involved in the writing and production of most of the album’s tracks he eventually left the band before its release.
“I’ve known Jimmy for a long time,” says Paterson, “so I should have been ready for something like this. I actually rang Youth up the other day and said, ‘Look, what’s Jimmy’s problem?’ He just said, ‘That’s Jimmy.’ In many ways, it’s a little bit of history repeating itself.”Dom Beken & Alex Paterson, Future Music, Mar 2006
In addition to Living In A Giant Candle Winking At God Malicious Damage released Early Bath, a compilation of the previously released single B-sides, unreleased bonus tracks, and an XFM Radio Session.
With the Transit Kings story concluded, Alex Paterson and Dom Beken continued to work together as High Frequency Bandwidth, an alias under which they recorded more tracks in a similar style.
Promotion & Advertising
Promo flyers featuring the album’s artwork and origin story were distributed by Malicious Damage in 2006.
Alex Paterson of The Orb [sonics, samplers, sequencers], Jimmy Cauty, ex-KLF [programming, guitars], Guy Pratt, long-standing post-Waters Pink Floyd bassist [bass, guitars, percussion, indian flute, vocals] and Dom Beken, Orb programmer/producer [programming, keys, drums & percussion, bass, guitars, harmonica, shouting] all met up in 2001 at Gunpoint, the studio built by Guy and Dom at London’s Townhouse Studios…
Work eventually moved to Jimmy’s Wheelchair Factory studios in Brighton but, as is always the case with collaborations, other projects took over…
But this album refused to die…
With a history of ignoring convention and changing musical expectations, this collective, proved irresistible to guests such as Johnny Marr [ex-Smiths] and Simon Day [The Fast Show] who just happened to be in the vicinity at the time…
Eventually, after the permanent departure of Jimmy Cauty to the art world, work moved to Dom Beken’s studios in the former projection room of Ealing Film Studios… with Dom and Alex at the helm, the album at last made it to the mastering suite thanks to the encouragement and independent spriti of Malicious Damage Records…
The album, Living In A Giant Candle Winking At God, will be released on Malicious Damage on 21st August…Malicious Damage promo flyer (2006)
Reviews

Tracks & Formats
Token EP (MD602)
CD / 6 Jun 2005 | ||
1 | Oh Shit | 4:16 |
2 | America Is Unavailable | 5:29 |
3 | Japanese Cars | 4:54 |
4 | West End Of A Duck Going East | 6:18 |
5 | Magic | 5:53 |
Magic remains the only track exclusive to the 5-track EP.
Living In A Giant Candle Winking At God (MD616)
CD / 21 Aug 2006 | ||
1 | The West End Of A Duck Going East | 6:12 |
2 | Stop Over (Dance With Me) | 0:10 |
3 | Concourse | 7:16 |
4 | Boom (Bombay) | 5:42 |
5 | Oh Shit | 4:02 |
6 | Baby Don’t | 5:17 |
7 | Japanese Cars | 4:56 |
8 | Free Free | 8:08 |
9 | Blooze Tracks | 5:19 |
10 | America Is Unavailable | 5:21 |
11 | Wagon Wheels | 6:06 |
12 | The Last Lighthouse Keeper | 6:38 |
Early Bath (MDS644)
CDr / 11 Dec 2008 | ||
1 | Japanese Cars (Burning Donuts Mix) | 6:08 |
2 | Butterflies | 4:29 |
3 | America Is Unavailable (SSS Ding Dong Mix) | 4:42 |
4 | Boom Bang Bombay (Saffron Mix) | 6:10 |
5 | Blow Boy | 6:24 |
6 | Cave | 5:10 |
7 | The Last Lighthouse Keeper (The Orb Mix) | 6:38 |
8 | Transit Kings Live (XFM Super-Chunk) | 32:32 |