A number of my favourite artists have returned with new music lately - each one filling my heart and bringing me alllll of the joy. The prospect of live shows, browsing for vinyl, commutes spent devouring new albums and playing singles on repeat. Big yes. One of these artists is Matthew And The Atlas, who came back with the gorgeous Folding Unfolding back in March, a teaser of things to come. Luckily, we didn't have to wait *too* long - he's just shared new track Nineteen, alongside news of brand new album This Place We Live, due on October 13th.
Excitingly, Matt is re-joining the Communion Records roster for this album - having been their first ever signing way back in 2010 with the release of his debut EP. Love me a bit of Communion history. (And anything to do with Communion, to be honest.) With previous record Morning Dancer having just celebrated its fourth birthday (they grow up so fast...!) I know I'm not the only one who will be eagerly awaiting this one!
More on the record in due course (you've got a few months of me ramping up the obsession over its arrival... you lucky things) but for now, I'm loving Nineteen, and glad to have something other than On A Midnight Street, Pyres and Temple to listen to on repeat. (All are big ol tunes. Promise.)
On Nineteen, Matt shares: "I wrote 'Nineteen' during a period when I was making music but struggling to focus on a clear direction to take it in, and I began to feel like I was losing my way creatively. This led me to reminiscing on how I felt about music when I was younger. I used to run an off-licence in my early twenties and a friend of mine would always drop by. We would stand out at the front of the shop, talking about bands we loved from America, what it would be like to tour there and if we'd ever be able to do music full time. The shop was in a little Hampshire town, next to a railway line which seemed very far away from that world, but it all seemed possible still. 'Nineteen' is trying to recapture that feeling of excitement and possibility I had back then when we were kids."
To celebrate the release of the record, Matthew And The Atlas heads on a mammoth 30-date tour across the UK and Europe in October and November. Dates and ticket info here.
A hectic week last week for various reasons meant that the blog's submissions got away from me a little... PR folk, I'll work through them soon, promise (hooray for a week off work!) Though it had been sat in my inbox for a couple of days, finding this track belatedly on my Release Radar playlist on Friday morning was a lovely surprise. Tender Central, AKA India Bourne, long-term friend and bandmate of Ben Howard, has released a stirring duo with Matthew Hegarty (of Matthew and The Atlas), entitled Ashes. The single arrives alongside the announcement of her record The Garden, due for release via Hello Friendly Recordings on 22nd January and made alongside producer Jakwob.
I'm a little surprised to realise that this is her debut album. It's certainly long-awaited. A classically trained cellist, her ear for arrangement is brought to the fore in the record, with electronica and folk blending to create something that feels refreshingly modern. Having spent a lot of time on the road with Ben over the last... decade, almost? (blimey!) the notion of 'home' is a bit of a blurry concept for India, and this translates into the themes of the record. Belonging and feeling unsettled sit alongside things such as womanhood, family crisis, and learning to love and accept ourselves.
Talking about this, she describes that "underneath all of it I see my journey from anxiety to peace, from hardship to kindness and compassion, from discomfort to understanding and resting in the unknown". The title (and title track) come from the peace found whilst digging outside her old London flat - "digging in the earth is where I find immense peace and stability. It grounds me. It was a revelation in a time I felt so lost. I found peace in the outdoors and I finally slowed down to appreciate it all. In that space I was also able to realise that peace is always there but that it's 'hard to learn', it requires practice and time. A life's work perhaps."
The new single is somewhat based on a quote from Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book Women Who Run With The Wolves, which reads:
deep in the wintry parts of our minds, we know that there is no such things as a work-free transformation. We know that we will have to burn to the ground in one way or another, and then sit right in the ashes of who we once thought we were and go on from there.
Talking about finding the quote, India explains"I was experiencing big change in my life during the time of writing and life felt unsettling. Often in these times I want to control everything and make sure that any step forward is done 'perfectly' but I know really, that perfection doesn't exist. I realised by letting go of who we feel we 'should' be rather than who we are, is a much better way of living and allows for more space, creativity and joy to come in."
Some very exciting album news to share today! Specifically of the acoustic, unplugged nature. Matthew & The Atlas shared their beautiful album Morning Dancer earlier in the year and a couple of months ago they headed to Bristol and recorded an acoustic version of the entire album (!!) They did this for last record Temple and the result was sublime so I'm really chuffed to hear this news! The first two tracks Low and Pyres were shared last week and they're as lovely as is to be expected. Morning Dancer (Unplugged) is set for release on November 1st so... set your alarms, mark it in your diaries?! First up, here's Low...
As possibly my favourite track from Morning Dancer I am particularly enjoying Pyres with added harp from Emma Gatrill which you can hear below!
On Sunday I had the absolute pleasure of joining thousands of music fans in (very) West London's Gunnersbury Park for this year's Citadel Festival. My third one-day metropolitan festival of the year, it was a gorgeous day of live music, surprisingly decent weather and brilliant company. I was there to review and found it particularly amusing when the guy on the press box office asked "what publication are you with?" to which I bemusedly gave the name of my tiny blog as confidently as if it were the NME itself.
A reduced train service combined with a fault on the line held me up and meant that we missed the start of MarthaGunn's set but thankfully caught the majority of it, heading in the direction of recent single Saint Cecilia once we'd made it through security. Playing on thestage closest to the festival entrance, they opened up proceedings beautifully for those just arriving, showcasing brand new tracks and old favourites to the crowd at the Communion Presents stage. Closing the set, early single Heaven was a highlight, and I'm quickly realising that lead singer Abi is my hero.
As if all of my 2017 Communion dreams had come true, next up on the stage were Banfi. I caught some of their set at Bushstock recently, but couldn't see much from the back of the venue so it was great to see them again - my tenth time seeing them live and always a treat! Newly appointed manager/bassist Scott Miller (of Dry The River fame) fits into the band perfectly. They too delivered a set combining old favourites She Comes Home, Never Really Cared and Happy When You Go seamlesslywith brand new tracks from the debut album they're working on. (Can't wait!!)
Next, with a gap in our schedule we had a break from the music, and explored more of the festival site. Near the main stage we found an area hosting a range of comedy, science and circus performances. We were drawn in by some dance, and were shortly being a little bit mesmerised by some diablo skills in the Roundhouse Presents area.
After a while of watching and repeatedly exclaiming "how? HOW?!" at the mind-boggling talent on show, we headed back towards the Communion tent, walking via the main stage and catching some of The Coronas on the way. After enjoying their new track So Caught Up recently I was really looking forward to checking out what Melbourne's The Teskey Brothers had to offer. Despite their early afternoon slot, they filled out the tent and played blues rock to a hugely enthusiastic crowd, hanging off their every word and over the moon at the addition of a harmonica to the mix. As their bio says, "onstage, singer Josh Teskey's smoke whiskey voice defies expectation, flooring audiences." Their new album Run Home Slow is out August 2nd!
We stuck around at the Communion stage afterwards - as I said in my preview of the festival, the quality of their booking means I could've happily stayed there all day. Next up was Matthew And The Atlas - my fourth time seeing the band, but the first out of the surroundings of a church venue (twice at Bushstock Festival and once at a special Bear's Den Christmas show.) Vocalist Matt Hegarty and his incredibly talented band ran through a set featuring two of my favourite tunes, On A Midnight Street and Pyres, before treating us to a peaceful rendition of Elijah. Watch out for a post on his brand new video later this week!
Cue a dash for food and a rush to the main stage, where we managed to catch the end of the DMA's set. Hailing from Sydney, I'd never listened to them before and quite enjoyed what we saw - it was pretty clear that they were well loved. In parts it felt like the vocals of Blossoms tied with the guitar lines I love from The Vaccines - a solid combination indeed. We managed to make our way through the crowd and get much closer to the front for the set I'd been most excited for, the opportunity to see one of my absolute favourite bands live again. Friendly Fires delivered a hell of a performance, with frontman Ed Macfarlane showing us his signature (and frankly marvellous) dance moves from the first notes of opener Lovesick right through to closing track Kiss Of Life. I'm not really one for much dancing at gigs but it's impossible not to find your hips swaying along to these guys. In a completely joyous set (complete with a LOT of singing along on my part) the band ran through tracks from their self-titled debut album, the utterly sublime second album Pala and singles from upcoming album Inflorescent, due for release 16th August. It's been a long wait and from the tracks we've heard so far, I think it'll have been worth every second.
Feeling completely elated from their set, we quickly headed back to the Communion stage to catch the second half of Jade Bird's set. She was a last minute addition to the line-up, replacing Matt Corby due to illness, and what a welcome addition. I've been wanting to see her live for a while and really enjoyed the set, full of tracks from her recent self-titled debut - the only sad thing is that I think I missed her playing my favourite track, Uh Huh. I guess I'll just have to go and see her play again!
In a miraculous turn of events, we managed to get back to the front row in time for the stage's (reasonably early, at just after 7pm) headline set from one of my favourite bands, Bear's Den. It was my fourth time seeing them on the So that you might hear me run of shows and it was an absolutely triumphant return to the hometown stage after months of touring the album across Europe and the US. In a typical 21st century move, a guy on the front row was streaming the cricket live on his phone, holding it up for those around him to watch before the band started, and an amusing moment in the set arrived when the crowd cheered and clapped for a while after the second or third track. The band looked chuffed and I joined in, thinking it was sweet that the crowd loved them so much, before realising that it was because we'd just won the cricket.
In an hour long set (my only complaint is that this passed far too quickly) showcasing favourites from all three albums, the crowd proved themselves to be very much in love with the group, singing at the top of their lungs and clapping along at every opportunity, and occasionally resorting to cries of "we love the Den!!!" between tracks. It was my 11th (I think) time seeing the band but felt just as exciting as the first, with the opening banjo notes of final track Agape still instilling a lot of joy. After a Highlands & Islands tour of Scotland next month they're touring the UK later in the year, and have just announced a show at London's Eventim Apollo for 20th February - full dates here.
After catching up with some friends we headed back through the festival site to the main stage to watch some of the headline set from Catfish and the Bottlemen. For some reason I've never really taken a proper listen to the band, and mostly know them from what I've heard on the radio, but as we walked across the park, I could hear their first album hit Kathleen and couldn't help but speed up to get closer ("I know this one!"). With the morning's train woes in the back of my mind, we didn't stay for the whole set so that we could beat the crowds back to the tube, but from what I did see they proved themselves more than worthy of the top spot on the billing.
All in all I totally loved my first Citadel Festival and would certainly recommend it to people looking for a family friendly Summer festival that has things other than just music on offer. If the line-up next year is anything as strong as yesterday's (bear in mind that I missed Bastille and a host of other brilliant artists) then you'll be in for a treat.
Ridiculously excited to share that I'll be heading to this year's Citadel Festival next Sunday (July 14th) to watch some of my favourite bands and write about it for the blog. One of the coolest blog related perks to date. It's my first time at the festival, a single day event in Gunnersbury Park in West London which started back in 2015 with the particularly impressive co-headliners Bombay Bicycle Club and Ben Howard. The likes of Foals and Tame Impala have since headed line-ups full to the brim with a programme of live music, talks, workshops and even a spot of yoga. Fun and educational for all the family. With Catfish and the Bottlemen heading up a very strong line-up this year I am very much looking forward to it and keeping my fingers crossed for good weather on the day!
Testament to the quality of the line-up, I'm probably most excited about the artists playing (and headlining) one of the smaller stages this year, as Communion Music (that indie label that I ramble about quite a lot) are curating the secondary stage. MarthaGunn and Banfi kick off proceedings, before Cleopatrick, The Teskey Brothers, Matthew and The Atlas and recent Bushstock Festival headliner Matt Corby.The stage's headliners (and some of my favourite chaps in the world) are Bear's Den, returning to the UK for a huge hometown set after a pretty much non-stop run of touring across Europe and the US since the release of their album So that you might hear me back in April. The latest Communion Presents on Radio X show is worth a listen - Maz was joined by Davie from Bear's Den for a Citadel takeover with music from acts playing across the festival - listen here.
You could in all honestly stay at the Communion Music stage all day and go home feeling that you've got your money's worth. Personally, I'll be tearing myself away from the barrier there and heading to the main stage to catch another of my absolute favourite bands, Friendly Fires. I've been a big fan of the band for years and finally got to see them live last April at their comeback O2 Brixton show - lead singer Ed's dancing was as infectious as I'd expected and if you're heading to the festival these really should not be missed. With their last album released back in 2011, they'll be playing tracks from upcoming record Inflorescent, due for release in August.
They'll be followed up by Bastille - a brilliant live act who's stage set up at Glastonbury (currently catching up on the iPlayer) was on another level. The festival happens to coincide with lead singer Dan Smith's birthday (Bastille Day) so it's bound to be a bit of a riot! Welsh indie-rockers Catfish and the Bottlemen bring proceedings on the main stage to a close, with tracks from their recent album The Balance which reached number two in the album charts back in May. I've not seen them live before so I'm intrigued to catch their set as I know a lot of people who have a lot of love for the band and their shows!
The likes of DMA's, Tinariwen, Dream Wife, Fontaines DC and Talos complete the music line-up across a few stages, while a range of workshops, talks, quizzes and other events take place during the day - Peppa Pig is even making an appearance. Not to mention a bunch of London's best street food outlets to choose from.
Between Friendly Fires, Bear's Den and more I'm excited to see some of my favourite artists and to hopefully discover some new bands next weekend. Tickets for the festival are available here and you can download the official Citadel app to check out timings and other info on the day.
I often ramble about my love for the independent label Communion... they're brilliant and they always deserve the praise, constantly delivering music and shows from some of the most exciting new bands out there. Their first ever signing was the total legend Matthew And The Atlas, very quickly hailed by Q Magazine as a "British Bon Iver" and deservedly so. Last year, I caught Matt and the band performing in the beautiful surroundings of a Church in Shepherd's Bush for the label's Bushstock Festival, I was volunteering in the venue and it was a little overwhelming to be standing around in the 'backstage' area while members of the band came and went. The set was glorious.
I am delighted to hear that Matt is releasing his brand new album Morning Dancer on 10th May and absolutely can not get enough of the first single Pyres. Musically it's a far cry from his early acoustic offerings of 2010, and even the Cali and Palace EPs of 2017, but this is in no way a bad thing. Matt's unmistakable vocals shine through the track, with gorgeous harmonies and as Communion themselves describe it, "illustrious brass interjections" which need to be heard to believe. I've essentially had this track on repeat on my 2019: cool music and things playlist all weekend.
Matthew And The Atlas are heading out on a UK tour in May to celebrate the release of Morning Dancer, full dates are as follows: Patterns, Brighton (12th May); The Fleece, Bristol (13th); The Globe, Cardiff (14th); Omeara, London (16th); Bodega, Nottingham (17th); The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham (18th); Arts Centre, Norwich (20th); Deaf Institute, Manchester (21st); Leaf, Liverpool (22nd); The Wardrobe, Leeds (24th); Stereo, Glasgow (27th); Mash House, Edinburgh (28th); Voodoo, Belfast (29th); Grand Social, Dublin (30th). Grab tickets for all those shows here!
