Another band I enjoy just issued a new record. It's The Low Anthem and the album is called Smart Flesh.
I'll come clean -if you look at the cover picture carefully you'll see the number of the copy is 57. As I open the packaging I can't help but sniff the ink and pressed card smell. No, I don't do that with plastic boxed CDs, but Alec and Dan the letterpress printers deserve a little recognition for their artistry.
And will the album meet my expectations? It's both their recognisable style but with some new twists and a huge array of instruments. This band thrives in an intimate setting and I was a little worried that the pasta factory used for half the tracks would be a large and echoing. No such worry. The acoustics linger and the band has adapted its sound for the space. The other tracks are in a smaller room and the different sound stage shows through. Theres even a slightly longer gap after one of the tracks symbolic of a 'Side 2' moment.
This album has its share of borderless highways, tightropes, fast black angels, humming steel, desert hotels and sad sad eyes. I know I'm going to listen to this one plenty of times.
And savour the inky new smell of a low serial number.
Back to the Library in Islington for a Belgian beer rendezvous before heading to Union Chapel for the second sighting of The Low Anthem in around a month.
Confusingly, it was the launch of their new CD "Oh my God, Charlie Darwin", which rashbre central reviewed in around March and has been on the car playlist ever since.
Tom the bass managed to get one of the shiny new ones, but I shall cherish my hand painted sleeve original.
Once again, an excellent gig from a talented band who can more or less interchange their instruments as they weave their musical spells. They are playing Glastonbury at the weekend, in "the pub".
Attending a gig at the Slaughtered Lamb in Farringdon is a little like being in a big room in someone's house with some favourite musicians playing within arms' reach. We sat on sofas and comfortable chairs to hear The Low Anthem and their excellent support act Ohbijou.
The pub above the venue is wide and spacious, with lively chatter spilling out onto the pavement and then down the stairway at the back is the small door to the performance area where around 100 of us watched the bands perform.
Delightful.
Kicking off with the multi-talented Ohbijou, who played and passed the instruments around almost at will. Canadian, from the other London, a seven piece mini orchestra of sounds, from violins, guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, synths and pretty much anything else they could lay their hands on. A worthy band in their own right, my only criticism would be that their CDs were not available at the end when I would have just bought one.
A short pause to recharge our glasses (Red Stripe seems to be the indie venue beer, same as at Union Chapel) and then The Low Anthem came to the floor, easing their way into "Cage the Songbird" whilst the sound system adjusted.
I've had their 'Oh My God, Charlie Darwin' album for a couple of months and its frequently on my play list, so it was a treat to hear several numbers from this and also from their older and more dusty cattle herding 'What the Crow Brings'. Mysteriously they referred to their more recent album as the one due to be released in June, but I gather they've got a different distribution deal now. They are, indeed, to hold a launch gig in Union Chapel around June 23rd for the CD which they described as gospel with science.
rashbre phonecam
The Providence, Rhode Island band is a three piece, with talented musicians who each are able to play multiple instruments. The highly animated bassist Jeff Prystowsky can also fire out great drum patterns and pedals a cool pump organ (pub chat suggests this was an eBay purchase?), the lead singer Ben Knox-Miller is a guitarist who has a superb voice and vocal range and the saxophonist Jocie Adams can also NASA blast a mean bass riff and counterpoint the rocky and bluesy numbers with real grit and gusto.
The little gang of us that attended sat in arms length of the band, enjoying every minute. As we left we briefly complemented the band in the bar, before hitting the interweb to ensure we have tix for the CD launch.
Recommended.
And here's something to the Ghosts who write History Books. p.s. They are at Koko tonight, supporting Ben Kweller. oh, and were at the London Eye
Six of us early evening in a restaurant and then late to a harbourside bar with a guitarist playing 70's songs. Throw up your voice but not your mind While them agents of change go monopolize Their colors and their faces are just shades of the same All lost in the game Then icy night deserted streets watched by crescent moon I promise you this promise we are not alone But why is it I alone that promise this Deny the forces that would hurry men If you still can Pack to go home before morning city centre session then cross town to where all the pieces were thrown in the air. We come now to a fracture in the road Here time has taken her toll The endless freezing and the thawing of the heart Would eventually divide us apart So I'm here for a few more days whilst we figure it all out. What's that you found in the pocket of your coat Looks like a small sentiment that she wrote Don't be my personal savior I would not be saved I chose to walk alone
Among all you angels is a champion angel Among all you devils there's a free soul Up from the disenfranchised the engine cries Up from the circle there's a hole
