The High Wire announce details of their new album ‘Found In Honey’ – due for release on 14th July.
Lead single ‘LNOE’ (out 30th June) is an epic ride, a towering string-driven pop song that purposefully steps the band away from the shoegaze fuzz of their previous albums – 2010’s ‘The Sleep Tape’ and 2008’s ‘Ahead of the Rain’.
We wanted to push Ross’ melody and lyrics to the fore and tried to leave the production as clear, honest and emotional as possible. Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp) played all the strings, layering them up and weaving around the song's simple repetitive riff,” says founding member Tim Crompton.
‘Found In Honey’ was produced by The High Wire, Andy Rugg and Rik Simpson (PJ Harvey, Portishead) and was recorded at Coldplay’s Beehive Studio in London.
Writing, recording and living in the City had a major impact on the tone and feel of the album and provided many of the lyrical themes for the songs. And whilst R&B, psychedelia, shoegaze and folk can all be heard on the record - it’s the pop influences that resonate loudest, with key nods to 60s Motown, New Order, Soul II Soul and Gorillaz.
“We wanted to make a daylight soundtrack, clear and bright, completely unselfconscious and free from effects. We stuck to this throughout the writing and recording process…” says Crompton.
On ‘Found in Honey’, the band decided to make their sound as clear and ‘hi-fi’ as possible, something they’ve previously fought against. The step up in production is noticeable, and with no distorting effects, Alexia Hagen’s vocals are allowed to shine. The opening track ‘Last Invitation’ is a case in point; her directness provides a disarming entrée on what proves to be most instrumentally minimal cut on the record.
‘Angelspeech’ was originally written for another artist but its pure pop melody and electro rhythms ultimately gave the band a starting point and approach for many other tracks on the record. The swaggering hooks of ‘Under A Spell’, the anthemic indie rush of ‘Still’ and the blissed out Beach Boy-isms of ‘The Thames & The Tide’ and ‘Radio On’ all benefit from the space they are given and the willingness to experiment outside the dream-pop margins.
The London-based trio have gained radio support over the past year from Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Radio 2 and XFM.
The High Wire began as a solo vehicle for singer/songwriter Tim Crompton. Soon after the completion of ‘Ahead of the Rain’ in 2008, the line up expanded and now counts west coast Canadian Alexia Hagen and UK native Ross Forrest as core members alongside Crompton. band have previously played festivals including V Festival, Glastonbury (BBC Introducing) and CMJ.
Tracklisting: 1. Last Invitation, 2. LNOE, 3. Angelspeech, 4. The Thames & The Tide, 5. Still, 6. Radio On, 7. Under A Spell, 8. Cinch, 9. 20,000 Streets
Cliff Martinez at the 14th World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert in Ghent
The 14th World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert will take place at 25th October 2014 in het Kuipke in Ghent.
Film Fest Gent is happy to welcome the American composer and ex-drummer from Red Hot Chili Peppers: Cliff Martinez. He composed the music for films like Sex, lies and videotape, Traffic, Kafka, Contagion, The Limey, Solaris and the Refn-classics: Drive and Only God Forgives.
The concert will be performed by the Brussels Philharmonic with Dirk Brossé.
Tickets cost 30 euro and are available at the website from Filmfest Ghent.
Warner Benelux releases the sixth season of True Blood on both DVD and Blu-ray
Good news for the fans of True Blood as Warner Home Video will release the sixth season from True Blood on both DVD and Blu-ray. The releasedate is 18th June.
The sixth season of the HBO supernatural drama series True Blood premiered on June 16, 2013. The season had an abbreviated run of ten episodes, as opposed to the usual twelve, partially to accommodate the pregnancy of lead actress Anna Paquin.
It is also the first season not to be primarily based on the corresponding novel in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series (in this case Definitely Dead), instead taking elements from multiple books in the series.
Now its sixth unforgettable season, True Blood is HBO's sexy, scary, wildly entertaining series from Oscar- and Emmy-winner Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) and based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. In addition to returning TB favorites - led by human/faerie hybrid Sookie (Anna Paquin), her unlikely vampire ally Eric (Alexander Skarsgård), and newly reconstituted supervamp Bill (Stephen Moyer) - Season 6 introduces several jarring storylines that threaten what little sense of normalcy remains in and around Bon Temps. As "Billith" comes to terms with his newfound powers after emerging from a pool of blood at the end of Season 5, Louisiana Governor Truman Burrell (new cast member Arliss Howard) declares open season on vampires, replete with novel anti-vamp weapons and a high-tech internment camp. Meanwhile, Sookie and Jason steel themselves for an encounter with the killer of their parents: the mysterious and ancient Warlow, whose identity remains a troubling mystery as the season unfolds.
EXTRA MATERIAL:
Inside The Episodes (BD, DVD)
Audio Commentaries (BD, DVD)
Vamp Camp Files (BD)
True Blood Lines (BD)
H.R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist best known for designing the iconic "xenomorph" creature in the Alien movie franchise, has died. Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reports that the news comes from public broadcaster SRF, which said Giger died after sustaining injuries in a fall. He was 74.
H.R. Giger was born on February 5, 1940 in Chur, Switzerland as Hans Rudolf Giger. He is known for his work on Alien³ (1992), Alien (1979) and Jodorowsky's Dune (2013). He died on May 12, 2014 in Switzerland.
Jeff Plewman, the musician behind the experimental rock persona Nash the Slash and the band FM, has died at age 66.
Nash the Slash was a mainstay in Toronto live music clubs throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was known internationally after a world tour with Gary Numan and Iggy Pop and had opened up for the Who. Before performing as Nash the Slash, Plewman played in the prog-rock band FM in the 1970s.
His biggest hit was Dead Man's Curve, a cover of a Jan and Dean song.
