Wednesday 9 May 2018

VIDEO PREMIERE: The Cooling Pearls - 'Black Elizabeth'

Almost a year since leaving Oxford, I'm still keeping an eye (and an ear or two) on the local music scene, and long to get back to the beautiful community of artists. It is an incredibly supportive and collaborative environment for musicians, artists and fans alike, and a key member of the local scene is Aiden Canaday, who I met while volunteering at Oxjam a couple of years ago - he's an artist, promoter with Divine Schism and is a member of local band The Cooling Pearls.

Take yourself to the band's Facebook page and you'll note their fairly self-explanatory biography... "Aiden Canaday, Alex Pratchett & Sian Lloyd Williams wrote and recorded the album 'The Honoured Meal of the Stranger' in 2010 with no intention of playing live as a band. They have just started recording the follow up." 

8 years since their debut record, which they describe as "quite folky, lo-fi and weird", the band, who have had an evolving line-up with fifteen different members over the years (including members of Maiians, BE GOOD, Flights of Helios and Cat Matador) are back with a cracking new single, and I'm delighted to be premiering its video! For context, I hadn't even been to my first proper gig when these guys were last releasing music, so this is a pretty exciting return - watch the video below...


The song, entitled Black Elizabeth, was written on Aiden's Mum's old piano in Wales "after a dream involving floating food delivering the mantra "you are the Black Elizabeth" over and over to me as I lay on my kitchen floor". It's pretty abstract and presents a musical montage of various instruments and sounds. The video was filmed by Maiians member Sam King in Tokyo last year, while Aiden was visiting - it serves as a 'day in the life' style clip, offering an insight into the local area and culture, beautifully soundtracked by the soothing tune. It even comes complete with Japanese subtitles!

If you're in Oxford (lucky you!) and like what you're hearing, The Cooling Pearls play a Divine Schism show at Oxford's The Wheatsheaf tomorrow evening (11th May) supporting Radiator Hospital - find more info and grab advance tickets here!

Follow The Cooling Pearls online - Facebook | Twitter.

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