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CD
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HJR 055CD
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Glasgow four‐piece Trembling Bells release their third slice of Caledonia dreaming, following on from the acclaimed Carbeth (HJR 043CD/LP) and Abandoned Love (HJR 047CD/LP). From its very first notes, The Constant Pageant flies the flag -- a banner of arms -- with a more confident, anthemic sound than ever before. Trembling Bells are 21st century troubadours who know their history, on a quest to connect with the core tradition of Song, and live deep within its mysteries. Medieval ballads, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are amongst the guiding lights in a music that embraces British folk‐rock, American roots and electric psychedelia. The album title pays tribute to folkloric culture as "omnipresent in my thinking, and a source of personal joy and affirmation," says the Bells' Alex Neilson. "A kind of florid, seething, creative wellspring that taints everything I do. Though, with this collection of songs, there were a number of other influences too. I think of traditional folk music as being like my first serious girlfriend, and all subsequent dalliances with other forms have been indelibly affected by it." It's a record of windswept bitterness and joyous elation: "Cold Heart Of Mine" is a paean to embattled lovers written in the shadow of Verona's ancient amphitheatre; "Where Do I Go From You" and "Torn Between Loves" describe doomed romance, dramatized by Mike Hastings' screaming fuzz guitar. There's also a strong sense of place. Neilson's native Yorkshire is the setting for "Goathland" -- home of folk's first family, the McCarthy‐ Watersons (not to mention the BBC's Heartbeat) -- and "Otley Rock Oracle," in which a small Yorkshire market town is re‐imagined as a place of dead roads, where severed golden heads and cauliflower‐clouds clue in a young adept. Classical and early music come to the fore on "Colour Of Night" -- in which a medieval feast seems to be taking place behind the song's stately gavotte -- and the melancholic closer, "New Year's Eve's The Loneliest Night Of The Year," a tribute to favorite modern songwriters like Gordon Jenkins, Nelson Riddle and Hoagy Carmichael (with a cheeky aside about stolen Roman marbles). The Constant Pageant is a rhapsodic celebration of the power of Song, from one of the UK's most eclectic and inventive groups.
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HJR 055LP
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LP version. Glasgow four‐piece Trembling Bells release their third slice of Caledonia dreaming, following on from the acclaimed Carbeth (HJR 043CD/LP) and Abandoned Love (HJR 047CD/LP). From its very first notes, The Constant Pageant flies the flag -- a banner of arms -- with a more confident, anthemic sound than ever before. Trembling Bells are 21st century troubadours who know their history, on a quest to connect with the core tradition of Song, and live deep within its mysteries. Medieval ballads, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are amongst the guiding lights in a music that embraces British folk‐rock, American roots and electric psychedelia. The album title pays tribute to folkloric culture as "omnipresent in my thinking, and a source of personal joy and affirmation," says the Bells' Alex Neilson. "A kind of florid, seething, creative wellspring that taints everything I do. Though, with this collection of songs, there were a number of other influences too. I think of traditional folk music as being like my first serious girlfriend, and all subsequent dalliances with other forms have been indelibly affected by it." It's a record of windswept bitterness and joyous elation: "Cold Heart Of Mine" is a paean to embattled lovers written in the shadow of Verona's ancient amphitheatre; "Where Do I Go From You" and "Torn Between Loves" describe doomed romance, dramatized by Mike Hastings' screaming fuzz guitar. There's also a strong sense of place. Neilson's native Yorkshire is the setting for "Goathland" -- home of folk's first family, the McCarthy‐ Watersons (not to mention the BBC's Heartbeat) -- and "Otley Rock Oracle," in which a small Yorkshire market town is re‐imagined as a place of dead roads, where severed golden heads and cauliflower‐clouds clue in a young adept. Classical and early music come to the fore on "Colour Of Night" -- in which a medieval feast seems to be taking place behind the song's stately gavotte -- and the melancholic closer, "New Year's Eve's The Loneliest Night Of The Year," a tribute to favorite modern songwriters like Gordon Jenkins, Nelson Riddle and Hoagy Carmichael (with a cheeky aside about stolen Roman marbles). The Constant Pageant is a rhapsodic celebration of the power of Song, from one of the UK's most eclectic and inventive groups.
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HJR 047CD
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Following on from the unanimous critical acclaim of their debut, Carbeth, Glasgow-based Trembling Bells' second album deepens their signature synthesis of traditional folk forms with the romanticism of country music, the deceptive complexity of Medieval music and the swagger of classic rock. Anthemic visions of the British landscape as a fantastic and treacherous netherworld are set to vying country-style duets, Bowie-esque stomps and the mysterious, serpentine melodies of Earlie Musik. Baroque, stately, flowery, richly-orchestrated British folk, with moments of acid burn. Members include: Alex Neilson (Jandek, Taurpis Tula, Current 93, Six Organs Of Admittance, etc.), Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand), Simon Shaw (Scatter) and Mike Hastings (The Pendulums).
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HJR 047LP
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LP version. Following on from the unanimous critical acclaim of their debut, Carbeth, Glasgow-based Trembling Bells' second album deepens their signature synthesis of traditional folk forms with the romanticism of country music, the deceptive complexity of Medieval music and the swagger of classic rock. Anthemic visions of the British landscape as a fantastic and treacherous netherworld are set to vying country-style duets, Bowie-esque stomps and the mysterious, serpentine melodies of Earlie Musik. Baroque, stately, flowery, richly-orchestrated British folk, with moments of acid burn. Members include: Alex Neilson (Jandek, Taurpis Tula, Current 93, Six Organs Of Admittance, etc.), Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand), Simon Shaw (Scatter) and Mike Hastings (The Pendulums).
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HJR 043CD
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This is the hotly-tipped debut of new new-folk outfit, Trembling Bells, masterminded by protean drummer Alex Neilson, one of the UK's leading young improvisers. From the ashes of Scatter, a Glasgow-based collective which long anticipated the free-folk phenomenon, emerges a new song-based venture. Having served apprenticeships with some uniquely talented songwriters (Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Current 93, Alasdair Roberts, Baby Dee, Red Krayola, Six Organs Of Admittance, Josephine Foster, amongst them), Neilson sets out with the group to reanimate the hidden, mythic landscapes of Yorkshire and Glasgow (in particular) via a love of canonical rock, early music, and traditional folk. Featuring the diverse musical talents of medieval music scholar and psychedelic siren, Lavinia Blackwall, Venusian bluesman, Ben Reynolds, Lucky Luke progenitor Simon Shaw, plus trombonist George Murray, and viola player Aby Vuillamy from Scatter and the Bill Wells Group. Carbeth is absolutely sweeping, grandiose baroque-folk like a newly-minted Pentangle or Fairport Convention, but with strange keyboard/horn arrangements, and sometimes thunderous percussion. This isn't music for tatted lace-wearers, but for folk-rockers wearing sturdy woolen travelling capes for backwards horse-rides through a long-lost Britain.
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HJR 043LP
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2016 repress, originally released 2009. LP version. This is the hotly-tipped debut of new new-folk outfit, Trembling Bells, masterminded by protean drummer Alex Neilson, one of the UK's leading young improvisers. Having served apprenticeships with some uniquely talented songwriters (Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Current 93, Alasdair Roberts, Baby Dee, Red Krayola, Six Organs Of Admittance, Josephine Foster, amongst them), Neilson sets out with the group to reanimate the hidden, mythic landscapes of Yorkshire and Glasgow (in particular) via a love of canonical rock, early music, and traditional folk. Featuring the diverse musical talents of medieval music scholar and psychedelic siren, Lavinia Blackwall, Venusian bluesman, Ben Reynolds, Lucky Luke progenitor Simon Shaw, plus trombonist George Murray, and viola player Aby Vuillamy from Scatter and the Bill Wells Group. Carbeth is absolutely sweeping, grandiose baroque-folk like a newly-minted Pentangle or Fairport Convention, but with strange keyboard/horn arrangements, and sometimes thunderous percussion. This isn't music for tatted lace-wearers, but for folk-rockers wearing sturdy woolen travelling capes for backwards horse-rides through a long-lost Britain.
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