The Leisure Society frontman Nick Hemming says tonight and tomorrow’s Irish shows are “our final shows of the year, before we disappear to work on album three”, so make sure you catch them if you’re in Ireland.
MARCH
2nd, Belfast, Black Box
3rd, Dublin, Whelans
Laish are hitting the road hard in April, doing a short tour supporting Sons of Noel and Adrian and Emma Gatrill and then doing a slightly longer tour featuring just themselves. They are currently working hard to finish a second album, make a new music video and hone their live set.
Laish are also offering their debut album for the next thirty days at the discounted price of £4 on download and £7 on cd only via their bandcamp so get it cheap while you can.
Dates below, further information on facebook here.
APRIL
3 bristol, louisiana* TICKETS
4 norwich, arts centre* TICKETS
5 london, hoxton bar moved to Bush Hall* TICKETS
7 brighton, the haunt* TICKETS
(* with Sons of Noel & Adrian and Emma Gatrill)
18 leeds, communion (with Saul Ashby)
19 bath, chapel arts (with People’s String Foundation) TICKETS
20 st austell, eden cafe TICKETS
21 falmouth, miss peapods TICKETS
22 cardiff, 10 feet tall
24 newcastle, cumberland arms (with Richard Dawson, Martha Rose)
25 london, old queens head (supporting Emily Portman) TICKETS
26 milton keynes, the stables (with Emma Gatrill) TICKETS
27 lewes, needlemakers (with Emma Gatrill)
Sons play the following dates this spring:
April 2: CARDIFF – 10 Feet Tall | Last.fm | Songkick | Tickets | with Winter Villains
April 3: BRISTOL – The Fleece | Last.fm | Songkick | Tickets | with Laish & Emma Gatrill CANCELLED 🙁
April 4: NORWICH – Arts Centre | Last.fm | Songkick | with Laish & Emma Gatrill
April 5: LONDON – Bush Hall | Last.fm | Songkick | Tickets
April 7: BRIGHTON – The Haunt | Last.fm | Songkick
Further details to follow. Also check out the facebook event here. Here’s some information on the tour and upcoming album…
SONAA are back on the road and will be releasing a brand new collection of songs this year – their second long player, Knots. The band’s sophomore album sees them breaking away from the acoustic roots of their debut album which lead them to tour twice with Mumford & Sons and support Laura Marling at Royal Festival Hall.
The Sons’ immersion in folk music was always more informed by guitarists like Dave Pajo, David Grubbs and Jeff Parker than by traditionalists. These influences, rooted in the city of Chicago’s pre-millennial post-rock, jazz and avant-pop scenes, are explored on Knots resulting in an album much closer to the band’s live sound.
The duelling fingerpicked classical guitars are still there, but they’re put through cranked up, needle-in-the-red valve amps. There’s still a bit of banjo, but it’s played with an e-bow and a slide so it sounds like a haunted Hammond organ. And there’s plenty of actual Hammond, giving the track “Come Run Fun Stella Baby Mother of the World” a kind of fairground darkness borrowed from Liars or Captain Beefheart.
Elsewhere the fragile strings of “Black Side of the River” evoke the still sadness of humanity epitomised by Arvo Pärt augmented by the weighty piano chords of Earth; “Big Bad Bold” sounds like These New Puritans started an earthquake in a burning symphony hall; “Cathy Come Home” demonstrates the band’s love of drone, unison and extended guitar techniques and ends up sounding somewhere between Tortoise and the scores of Danny Elfman; and aching closer “Heroine” sounds like Robert Wyatt sped up a track from Twin Peaks for Will Oldham to sing over.
At times soft and orchestral, at times crass and loud, Knots is always infused with beauty and tenderness: soulful, taunt, honed and with a new found love of kosmiche experimentation.
Knots’ expanded sonic tapestry is marshalled and woven with growing stature by SONAA’s chief song-writer, Jacob Richardson, whose meditative lyrical concepts and melodic craftsmanship mark him out as musician of genuine depth and gravitas whilst remaining as arcane and beguiling as Palace.
Rejecting notions of a fixed line-up, Sons of Noel and Adrian is more of a sprawling musical whirlpool centered around a few key members than a traditional band – a bit like Broken Social Scene, with whom two Sons toured last year as their horn section. The band members make up most of the renowned Willkommen Collective that spawned The Leisure Society, and the various members lend their talents freely to everyone from Damo Suzuki to the Laura Marling, with one Son, a full time contributor to her band and as many as four playing with her on certain shows including last year’s Glastonbury Festival Pyramid Stage performance.
Such selfless creative interdependence is at the heart of the Willkommen Collective and Sons of Noel and Adrian. The results of their musical co-operative have yielded a sophomore effort that transcends their debut and positions them as one of 2012’s most unique and thrilling propositions: Knots see SONAA charting new, unexplored aural terrain as immersive an experience on stage as it on record.
Mary Hampton is doing a short UK tour in February with her incredible Cotillon band and different exciting supports at each show – go and see her.
Fri 10th Feb
LEWES, the Needlemakers, (West Street, BN7 2NZ)
with Crayola Lectern and Duot.
8pm, £6 (NB no advance ticket sale).
Sat 11th Feb
BRISTOL, the Cube Cinema, (4 Princess Row, Avon, BS2 8NQ)
with Dogface Sockets and Motes
8pm, £6.50 advance/£8 on the door. Tickets from
Sun 12th Feb
SHEFFIELD, the Riverside, (1 Mowbray Street, Neepsend, S3 8EN)
with the Big Eyes Family Players
7pm, FREE (or donation)
Mon 13th Feb
BRADFORD, the New Beehive, (169-171 Westgate, BD1 3AA)
with Behla Hutchinson and the Kontiki Expedition
8.30pm, £4/£3 concessions
Tues 14th Feb
NORWICH, Norwich Arts Centre, (St. Benedict’s Street, NR2 4PG)
with Sunday Driver and Cakes and Ale
8pm, £10/£8 concessions. Tickets from
http://norwichartscentre.co.uk/mary-hampton-cotillion
Wed 15th Feb
HARWICH, Electric Palace Cinema, (King’s Quay Street, Essex CO12 3ER)
with Burning Glass
8pm, £8. Tickets on 07786744789
There are two fantastic Willkommen shows coming up this December in Brighton and Lewes – and both headliners have recorded seasonal hits.
The wonderful Hamilton Yarns have uploaded a typically unique Christmas song which you can get for free from here. The band play at the Needlemakers in Lewes with Kristin McClement on December 20th.
Laish have done the same and their track can be heard here. The band play tomorrow, Wednesday 14th December, at the Proud Ballroom in Kemp Town, Brighton with The Magic Lantern. Tickets are available here. Then the two bands then play at Old St Mary’s Church in Stoke Newington, London on Friday 16th December. Tickets for that one can be purchased here.
