Song, by Toad

[Two very personal Sunday Supplements this week. First up we have a view of the current Scottish music scene from one of its most authoritative correspondants; Milo McLaughlin]

Note: It’s true that the appallingly-named ‘Och the Week’ hasn’t become a weekly occurrence over on my own blog as yet, with this only the 2nd installment ever. But as I was writing this I thought it might work as part of Matthew’s Sunday Supplement especially as it has a similar theme to his excellent recent article for Drowned in Sound.

This week I’ve been reflecting, after another brilliant Homegame Festival, of just how strong the local scene is at the moment. I’ve been writing about Scottish music for the last five years for various publications and for my own blog, and I can honestly say I have never been interested in covering what’s popular. Instead, I’ve tried to champion the underdogs, the interesting, sometimes shambolic, sometimes wilfully obscure artists that no-one else really gave a fuck about.

But now I find myself in the strange position of seeing my favourite artists actually enjoy a modicum of success – with heaps of coverage both in print and online, radio play, decent record sales and sold out gigs. Ok, so Homegame this year was a much smaller capacity affair than last year, but selling out a few hundred tickets in an hour is still impressive. And the integral presence of the Edinburgh bands I have come to know and love over the last few years, in particular Found, eagleowl, Meursault & Withered Hand makes it all the better.

Seeing King Creosote, Pictish Trail and Adem play Withered Hand’s No Cigarettes for the BBC nearly brought a tear to my eye, being both a spellbinding performance and a testament to how far that particular songwriter has come in the last year, with the talent of all involved only denied by the curmudgeonly and cloth-eared.

Then only a couple of days later, on Wednesday evening, we had Meursault doing a session for Marc Riley on 6Music, with Riley also playing a track from Edinburgh band North Atlantic Oscillation’s excellent new album on the same show. If I wasn’t so knackered after the Anstruther shenanigans, I could have enjoyed gigs by two excellent local artists during this week, The Japanese War Effort and The Gothenburg Address.

And Panda Su, who like almost all of the artists I’ve mentioned above, I championed on my I Hear a New World podcasts for the Skinny Magazine over a year ago, had her song Eric is Dead played on the season finale of Skins on E4. Whatever you think of the programme itself, that’s some accomplishment for a formerly unknown Fife-based singer/songwriter. Something is clearly in the air/water/beer/fudge doughnuts around here at the moment.

Back to Homegame, and I was chatting to Mr Toad himself after Findo Gask’s gig in Legends (his first words to me were ‘you sweaty little bastard’ as I had danced my arse off to their set whilst wearing a large seafaring style jumper) and we discussed just how great it is that the current crop of bloggers from Edinburgh and Glasgow are completely unconcerned with the old bullshit about rivalry between the two central belt cities. People are up for collaborating, for interacting, and just generally being really positive.

Jim from Aye Tunes says in a recent interview with fellow weegie blogger Peenko that it was the explosion of new Scottish music blogs that inspired him to start writing more regularly, and it’s hard not to be inspired to greater things when there’s so many talented people around you doing creative things. As well as bloggers, that goes for podcasters like Glasgow Podcart and We Sink Ships, photographers like that Dylan bloke from Blueback Hotrod who has an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time, Lisa-Marie Ferla (also a fine blogger), the multi-talented We Sink Ships (yes, them again), promoters like Trampoline and the Gentle Invasion and of course the musicians themselves.

Matthew and pals have of course been performing inhuman feats of sleeplessness in order to put their ambitious plans for Song, By Toad Records into action, with some highly impressive results so far. I bought the Cold Seeds LP from the clammy hands of Mr Gummi Bako at the Hew Scott Hall merchandise stall and spend a blissful afternoon soaking up its ethereal charms on my return, and I recommend you do the same (and no I’m not on commission, the record really is great).

And things don’t show any signs of letting up as more new musical ventures seem to be popping up all the time round here. Alongside exciting releases planned by 17 Seconds Records and mini50 Records this year, new label Gerry Loves Records, set up by Andy Lobban who also does Off the Beaten Tracks (and designed this very site under the guise of his nonimage persona) are releasing a split single from Conquering Animal Sound and Debutant, released on 5th April 2010, and there’s even something called Leith Records which has popped up recently and looks like it might put out some interesting stuff. And that’s not to mention Ten Tracks, where (coughs as throws in deeply unsubtle plug) you can buy my own bundle of weird and wonderful tunes under the name of I Hear a New World (look out for the clanger).

So there’s a lot happening, and I for one am grateful. But as a very small, peripheral part of things, I’m in two minds whether to do a Sam from Quantum Leap and say ‘my work is done here’ as I vanish in an unconvincing flash of electric blue to another underlooked musical arena, or to dig deeper in the crevices of the local music scene to discover the next bunch of unlikely underdogs..

We’re in Anstruther this weekend for Homegame, and so we got incredibly pissed late at night and recorded a podcast for you all, just as a special extra Sunday Supplement.

This should give you a taste of our Homegame fun and, sadly, also an idea of just how much of a wreck we all make of ourselves in Fife once a year.
Honestly, this is my favourite festival in the fucking universe, possibly only equalled by Pickathon, which is incredibl e.

Toadcast #113 – The Anstercast

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01.Withered Hand – No Cigarettes (01.34)
02.Silver Columns – Yes and Dance (Silver Columns Remix) (08.31)
03.Findo Gask – Wrapped in Plastic (Live) (14.00)
04.Adem – Everything You Need (20.02)
05.Django Django – Love’s Dart (29.52)
06.FOUND – Freaky Freaky Chancer (33.37)
07.Cold Seeds – The Perfume of Mexican Birds (43.43)
08.Love.Stop.Repeat – The Ghost of What You Used to Be (50.52)
09.FOUND & eagleowl – Some R. Kelly Cover (58.52)

[Alex Cornish (shown right on the Tom Robinson show) is an Edinburgh singer songwriter and a good friend of mine.  He has helped us out with contracts for Toad things for free, for no more reason than generosity and, although he may not be that well known in the alt-folk spheres inhabited by most people here, he has actually achieved considerable success, including being playlisted on Radio2, all using entirely DIY methods and entirely off his own back.  He wrote this on his own site recently, and gave me permission to re-post it here as part of this week's Sunday Supplement.]

I know everyone is writing about 6 Music being axed, but here is my viewpoint as an artist who works in a very DIY way and has first hand experience of sending out unsolicited CDs to producers at radio shows.

Once you have written and recorded the ‘masterpiece’, it’s time to decide who is likely to play it. This is all inapplicable if you have a wad of cash to pay a radio plugger, I didn’t, so I did it myself. Anyway, there’s no point sending out promo CDs to people who don’t play your sort of music and there’s no point sending it to the wrong address or the wrong producer. There’s also no point in sending it to the majority of commercial stations (XFM down south excepted). You need to spend a long time doing research on the old internet. After I had recorded Until the Traffic Stops first time around I spent said long time on the internet and the telephone (one of the great things about the BBC by the way is that if you telephone the switchboard they have to tell you who the production team for a show is, including the right box no. etc.). At that time, and this was before I had ever been played on the radio, I found that XFM Scotland might play it, so I sent a CD to Jim Gellatly for his new music show. I was also a massive fan of the Tom Robinson show on 6 Music, which at the time was on Monday – Thursday from 7pm to 9.30pm. There was also Vic Galloway’s Radio 1 Introducing show. So, out of all the radio stations, in general terms I had 6 Music, XFM and BBC Introducing on Radio 1. Now XFM Scotland has closed that leaves 6 Music and Radio 1 Introducing. If 6 Music closes it’s the introducing shows on Radio 1 as the only champions of new music, and to be honest they would rarely play my sort of music.

There are two reasons why 6 Music is so important to me:

- the first is that Tom Robinson and his producer picked out my little unsolicited package, which led to it being played, then a session, then someone at 6 Music handed it up to Radio 2 and a year later I got on the Radio 2 palylist. The same thing happened with Jim Gellatly, he picked it up and from there it led to other things. Without those massive leg ups I wouldn’t have had anywhere near the level of the exposure that I have had. There are obviously people at Radio 2 and Radio Scotland who have taken big chances in backing me, but I wouldn’t have got to them without those intial acts of support.

- the second is the new music I have discovered as a fan – I remember hearing ‘ The Ride’ by Joan as Policewoman on 6 Music and buying it right away. There are lots of occasions when that has happened.

So, as a musician where does that leave you? Well, there are obviously blogs and they are great, and I send stuff to blogs already, but as a reader or listener on a blog site you have to be active i.e. you have to actually read and listen to the material on a blog. With the radio, it is more passive – it is on in your home and when you hear something new, you stop, check out the tracklisting online and buy it from itunes or whatever. 6 Music closing is going to leave a massive hole for both those that love discovering and supporting new music and for those musicians trying to reach those potential new fans. I’ll never forget the first time ‘This One’s for You’ was played on the Tom Robinson show – first radio play. A huge thrill. It’s a fucking shame.

[This week’s Sunday Supplement has been provided by Euan ‘Steinberg Principle’ ‘Kays Lavelle’ ‘Trampoline’ McMeeken, and turns Matthew’s own review of an important local release on its head. Don’t forget if you’d like to see a Sunday Supplement of your own published here, just email us at sunday(at)songbytoad.com. All contributions welcome!]

Before you all get a weird sense of déjà vu, no, you are not caught in time warp.  You’re not going back to the future.  You’re simply reading my review of ‘The Winter of Mixed Drinks’ by Frightened Rabbit as opposed to Matthew’s review that he wrote the other day.  We spoke about this idea the other night and thought it’d be an interesting thing to do: I’d be reviewing this record for my blog anyway so we thought, if my opinion varied greatly from his, it’d be interesting for me to write a review which, in a way, responded to his.

I should make it clear that in undertaking this exercise I’m not just looking for a fight.  I personally think Matthew is one of the most engaging and best music writers out there in Scotland at the moment.  That’s the main reason that I continually read his blog and shun the lifeless and soulless drivel published in many music magazines these days.  However, at the end of the day, what makes music, and indeed a music blog, so interesting is when a piece of music can divide opinion so greatly.

Unlike many on the blog the other day I point blank refuse to pat Matthew on the back for his review of this record.  Sure, it takes balls to say what you think, but I’d expect more from him than “this is awful.”   I think, and hope, what he meant by that statement was that, in the context of Frightened Rabbit’s previous 2 albums, and what his hopes were for this record, this record is awful.  Not that he genuinely thinks this record falls into the awful category because simply put: this album is far from awful.

But is it good?

My answer to this is, in terms of song quality, yes it is.  ‘Things’, ‘Footshooter’, ‘Not Miserable’, ‘Living In Colour’ and ‘Yes, I Would’ are as good as anything that they’ve done before in my opinion.  I believe there’s enough quality songwriting on this record to justify a much more positive review than it received from Matthew earlier in the week.  With the exception of ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’  – which I do believe is awful commercial garbage –  this is a really good record.  It feels more like ‘Sings The Greys’ in terms of style and, for me, that can only be a good thing.  Whilst The Midnight Organ Fight captured the hearts and minds of most people who love this band, it’s their debut that still makes me smile most.  The frantic pace and rawness of that record is, at times, just sublime.  And there are moments on this that remind me of that record.  The ending of ‘Skip The Youth’ echoes, in a way, the end of ‘Square 9’ – Matthew, if you don’t hear that then please play them together and realise your wrong about this tune.

Sure, there’s a much lusher sound to this record.  A much bigger production.  But really, what do you expect from a band on their 3^rd album and with the resources available to them?  Of course more money will be spent.  Their music has always lent itself to a sweeter, lusher sound – just compare albums 1 and 2.  I would have preferred if this record had the rawness of their debut as it is what got me hooked into them in the first place but the same applies to TMOF.

Anyways, I’m determined not to let production affect my opinion of the record.  It’s not something I ever used to bother about – until I started reading this blog actually – and it ruined my enjoyment of the Broken Records album, even though the quality of songs on that record clearly speak for themselves.   I guess ultimately everyone has personal taste when it comes to production and it’s easy to let the production of a record distract you from the overall quality of the songs.  It is important to many, I’m not denying that for one second, but, and I never thought I’d say this, I completely agree with Rampant Chutney Consumerism (it really does hurt to say that) in that, if the songs are good then they are good and will shine through no matter what.

There are no instant hits on this record, like there were on The Midnight Organ Fight, but as a piece of music I genuinely think it’s a good follow up and a strong record.  It’s certainly not awful.  I guess at the end of the day you can’t please everyone though.  They didn’t please Matthew.  They have pleased me.  Like he said though, I’m sure they don’t care either way.

[There were a couple of songs to be included in this post, but give I already have two tracks from this album available for download I didn't think I could include these - don't want to give too much away for free, sorry - Matthew]

[Matthew who helps out with the Toad Sessions and all the work which needs doing for the label has kindly written this week's Sunday Supplement.  I think he's angry about something - let the rage out Matthew, let it out!]

Similes is Matthew Robert Cooper’s fifth album under the Eluvium title and it’s just, er, amazing. I personally think this is the best thing he’s done so far in his career. He recorded an album under his full name entitled Miniatures back in ’08 which was just beautiful, and he’s also part of Concert Silence which is purely unedited improvisational work with his friend Charles Buckingham – it can be downloaded for free here – I couldn’t recommend it higher. He’s also doing the score for the film ‘Some Days Are Better Than Others’, which looks really intriguing.

The first thing I think I should talk about is the new direction of the album and the sort of mixed response it seems to be getting from a lot of folk. Previously Cooper’s work hasn’t featured any vocals at all, typically just ambient guitar, synth instruments and piano pieces. I think this came as a bit of a shock looking at some of the ‘shouts’ from people on Last.fm and such. I think it’s really fucking pathetic, to be honest. I hate ‘fans’ in most cases, but these fuckers are just too much. I don’t usually give much attention to comments on ‘community’ type things such as youtube and Last.fm etc, because it mostly just fucks me off and depresses me – can’t really be doing with it.

What was I saying? Oh yeah, the vocals. Well fuck those sour pussed twats up their Nazi fucking arseholes, because the vocals are brilliant. They add a whole new level of beauty to the sound and it’s really rewarding to hear someone have the confidence to just come out and do that.

The album starts off with the two tracks that’ve been circling the internet in promotion of the album for the past two months – ‘Leaves Eclipse The Light’ and ‘The Motion Makes Me Last’. Those two, I think, have been the cause of all the commotion. I think they sit apart from the rest of the album as they feature quite a bit more acoustic instrumentation and they have more of a ‘pop’ structure to them. The album then delves lovingly into more ‘droney’ songs, which I think starts a really nice stroll down towards the end of the album. Maybe that’s a strange way to think about it – I certainly don’t mean it in a negative way – it really is just a nice touch of balance.

Since seeing Eluvium support Explosions in the Sky back in ’07 I’ve been smitten with most things ambient/experimental/post-rock. I can’t honestly wait to feel the power of those sub-woofers make my insides bleed and turn my eardrums to pulp again. Cooper’s live performance is mainly made up of layers and layers of guitar pushed and pushed through loads of effects and his laptop. It’s pretty cool.

Similes has pretty much been the soundtrack to my life over the past wee while, since getting my naughty copy from the interwebs… I will buy a proper copy as soon as I have a chance, promise. It’s the first thing out in quite a while that’s really affected me emotionally and I think that might be an important thing to mention while writing this. I was listening to the song ‘Cease To Know’ a few nights ago while driving back from Dundee crossing the Forth and it was seriously beautiful. I think that this album really does do so much, well it does for me, and I hope that it does for others too.

Eluvium – The Motion Makes Me Last

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Eluvium – Cease to Know

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Website | More mp3s | Buy from Amazon

Discussions have cropped up frequently on Song, By Toad about the relative benefits of different degrees of recording values in music. Much of the gamut has been covered, from the extreme DIY Low-Fi sometimes known as ‘No-Fi’ to the over-polished FM-friendly MOR found at the other end of the spectrum, and typified by bands who, when mentioned on these pages, tend to find some of the more expressive adjectives inserted into their name. (See ‘Bon Fucking Jovi’ and the ‘Fucking Dave Fucking Matthews Fucking Band’)

I personally tend to find myself tarred with the brush of being a pop-bitch, meaning that I’m regarded as having safe and wholesome tastes in recording values that preclude anything but the most established of techniques. I actually think that’s a little unfair, but I do find myself questioning the value – or occasionally the point – in an artist presenting their work in a wilfully obtuse manner, and deliberately obscuring their finished products.

But it does remain an open question for me; I’m by no means resolved on the matter. I recognise the value in an artist challenging their audience and encouraging them to do a little work in order to gain greater and more lasting reward in the long term. I also understand the desire for a songwriter to get something down ‘on tape’ and out in the public realm as quickly as possible, and yet I still occasionally find myself exasperatedly thinking “Come on, you don’t have to book out Mountain Studios in Montreux, but you could stand a little fucking closer to the mic!”

Low-Fi artists are noted for basic recording methods

That thought, in turn, found me associating the challenges of No-Fi with other genres that have provided obstacles to vast swathes of the listening public. The question I’m struggling with is whether the notion of leaving tape-hiss, static and random mix levels in place on your final release is akin to – say – the pompous excesses of Prog-Rock, or the masturbatory noodling of Neo-Classical Metal.

If some Low-Fi artists use ambient noise and distortion to excess, are they just guilty of self-indulgent noodling too?

I don’t pretend to be an expert in any such genres – I wouldn’t presume to call myself an expert in any musical genre really – so I’m hesitating to criticise them too generally. However I do find myself wondering if that very unfamiliarity and alien air is the basis for my concerns. The argument has been presented to me, regarding Low-Fi and No-Fi, that if I were to spend enough time listening to these rough-edged recordings to develop a taste for them, I would soon be compelled to seek out ever rougher recordings to satisfy my appetite.

Such addictions sound dangerous to me. Nevertheless, it’s certainly true that most experiences that appear daunting to begin with, from spicy food to extreme sports, need practice and perseverance in order to obtain their full rewards.

Rick Wakeman of Yes relaxes at home

So is it therefore safe to say that dabbling in a little light Genesis or Yes on the weekends will soon see you rabidly hunting down the Henry Cow 40th Anniversary 10 CD box set? Or that appreciating that a particular instrumental passage required dexterity and practice from the performer will inevitably lead to irretrievable immersion in the works of Yngwie Malmsteen? I’m not sure. 

The other question I find myself contending with is whether or not it really matters. No-one would argue that any artist has the right to present their art to the world in whatever manner they see fit. However, does the artist, if they’re assuming the mantle of entertainer, have a responsibility to show enough respect to the audience to put a little effort into presentation? At what point does free artistic expression cross over into taking the piss?

As abhorrent as it may sound to purists, surely there should be a ring-fence around certain styles. If you’re going to write a jaunty, foot-tapping, upbeat little rock n’roll number, then that genre dictates certain recognised criteria to adhere to. Is it really appropriate to abandon the rhythm and play the song wilfully out of time? Will your audience thank you for it?

The trouble with that statement is, of course, that the counter-argument holds water too. The very nature of art is to challenge perceptions and push boundaries. As soon as you start ring-fencing and applying rules to someone’s means of artistic self-expression, you’re on a short and slippery slope to the realms of Simon Cowell and The X-Factor.

So, to conclude, the question frustratingly remains. If someone – anyone, even you – likes your work, does that make it okay, whatever it is? Or is the movement to abandon the aesthetic no more than an ever-reducing spiral that will eventually vanish up its own arse?

While you ponder, here’s a little light music.

Yngwie Malmsteen – Far Beyond The Sun

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Genesis – Watcher Of The Skies

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Navigator – Danger Dragon

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As of today, the Sunday Supplements are going to have a renewed vigour to them.  I really like the idea of the Sunday Supplements, and trying to get as many people as possible to contribute to the site, so the whole bollix isn’t just about me all the time.  Unfortunately, if it weren’t for Euan and C&B regularly sending me stuff, I just don’t think I had anything like the organisation to manage the thing properly, honestly.

So, please say hello to Dylan, your new Sunday Editor here at Song, by Toad.  His job will be to make sure we have a couple of posts every Sunday by as varied and interesting a collection of people as we can manage.  It will be important to underpin it with regular contributors, such as the aforementioned Euan and C&B, and to balance that with on-off posts for people who can’t be arsed chipping in on a regular basis.

Basically, I think it’s something which could really add to the depth of the site, frankly, but I never had the time to make sure it was done properly.  So, good luck and a big thank you to Dylan, and the people who already contribute to the Sunday Supplements, and for those of you who want to contribute or just kick around ideas for a possible contribution, from now on just email sunday@songbytoad.com and Dylan will take care of everything.

Dylan will take care of everything?  What on earth am I saying…

[Sunday Supplements this week are brought to you by Campfires & Battlefields, to whom I owe an enormous apology due to the fact that I have been sitting on this post for ages, interrupted first by Christmas, then disorganisation, then ineptitude... you get the picture.]

Olenka & the Autumn Lovers are pretty special if you ask me. They’re all the rage in London, Ontario. Olenka Krakus is the mastermind, the singer, the composer, the lyricist, the guitarist, the accordionist (sometimes), the glockenspielist. She came to Canada from Poland, and her songs are a compelling blend of Eastern European and North American influences. She sings with smoky tension, mostly in English, but sometimes in the Polish or French of her youth. She tells poignant stories of handsome soldier boys, fleets of loud frightening machines made of scrap iron, and sweet-faced children in the Warsaw breadlines. I wish I had heard her long ago.

Olenka also appears to have a wide circle of talented friends. The Autumn Lovers are a revolving cast of characters, but they all can flat-out play. Apart from Olenka’s guitar there’s violin, viola, cello, mandolin, lap steel, accordion, clarinet, saxophone, upright bass, percussion instruments of all kinds, glockenspiel, triangle, banjo, bottles knocked against wood, snapping fingers, and truly moving harmony vocals. They make a clatter that would do Tom Waits proud, providing an expansive counterpoint for Olenka’s intimate tales.

So far Olenka & The Autumn Lovers have released one self-titled full-length record and two EPs, all of which were released in 2008. Of the tracks here, Soldier’s Waltz and When We Were Children are taken from the full-length while Papillon comes from the Papillonette EP, which has a lovely lonesome country vibe. All three records are available for purchase at CD Baby, and the full-length is available for digitial download at Zunior.com. You really owe it to yourself to get this. Apparently recording has begun for the sophomore full-length as well, and a 2010 release is envisioned, which is immensely good news. These songs really speak for themselves. Enjoy.

Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – Soldier’s Waltz

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Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – When We Were Children

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Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – Papillon

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[Sunday Supplements this week are brought to you by Campfires & Battlefields, to whom I owe an enormous apology due to the fact that I have been sitting on this post for ages, interrupted first by Christmas, then disorganisation, then ineptitude... you get the picture.]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard (or heard of) a band from Montana before, so I felt a real thrill of discovery when I happened upon Wartime Blues during one of my recent forays into the darker corners of myspace. As you might expect from a Montana band, they are fresh-faced, flannel-clad, mostly, and sincere. There are eight of them, which is roughly six percent of the total Montana population, and I have no idea where they came from, but . . . DAMN.

The style is riffed-up, open-handed Americana, with accoustic and electric guitar, bass, and drums complemented by lots of good banjo, mandolin, cello, and keys of all sorts. It frequently rocks without apology, but just as often shows a restrained tension that sounds like it would translate really well live. Fans of Wilco, Band of Horses, Balletesque by The Young Republic , or Willard Grant Conspiracy will feel more than comfortable in their company, I think. The singing and songwriting duties go to Nate Hegyi, a southpaw guitarist with a real gift for hooks and a gravelly, powerful voice that belies his apparent youth. In fact, the whole band seem to be quite young, but they play with real maturity and sensitivity, like they’ve been doing this for ages.

Wartime Blues just released their debut full-length, entitled Doves & Drums, and you can find it here for the American equivalent of a fiver. A steal. The first tune below is the title track from that album. The second is a brooding slice of gorgeousness called Harelip, which comes from a powerful 2008 session they recorded for Snow Ghost, a really interesting independent music service based in Whitefish, Montana, which gives up-and-coming bands access to state-of-the-art recording equipment and spaces. The rest of the songs from that session are available for download here, and there’s a video there as well for one of their best songs, called Saul Whitewater. Tell me what you think.

Wartime Blues – Doves & Drums

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Wartime Blues – Harelip (Snow Ghost Session)

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Website |Buy |SnowGhost Session

[Welcome back to the first Sunday Supplement of 2010, with Euan from the Steinberg Principle, amongst other things, returning to his regular slot.  Next week will see the return of Campfires and Battlefields]

So I might as well us this blog as the place to announce that The Kays Lavelle’s debut album entitled ‘Be Still This Gentle Morning’ will be released through Wiseblood Industries on 17th May this year. Or that is the intended release date. It may get pushed back, but we are definitely hoping to stick to our targets and make it happen. Anyways, lead of single ‘The Hours’ is now ready to go and attached to this article. It will be a free digital download on the Wiseblood site shortly. Two album launches are planned for 8th and 9th May, keep an eye out on my blog and the Kays lovely new MySpace page for more information about this. In the meantime, hope you enjoy ‘the hours’ which was recorded by Neil Pennycook of Meursault and mixed by Alex Fenton (Fentek Audio).

The Kays Lavelle – The Hours

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