THE LOW ANTHEM announce UK live dates for April 2011 // Plus DOWNLOAD new track “Ghost Woman Blues” from their website today
aaamusic | On 03, Dec 2010
With their new album “SMART FLESH” due for release in February 2011, THE LOW ANTHEM have just announced news of a number of UK dates, including a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in April next year…
Thursday 7 April – GLASGOW – Oran Mor (£14)
Friday 8 April – MANCHESTER – St Philip’s Church (£14)
Sunday 10 April – DUBLIN – Vicar Street (18 euros)
Monday 11 April – LONDON – Queen Elizabeth Hall (£16.50)
At 4pm today The Low Anthem will be giving away the track “Ghost Woman Blues” from their website. “Ghost Woman Blues” is the (transcendent) opening track on “Smart Flesh”…
“SMART FLESH” is the follow-up to The Low Anthem’s critically-lauded breakthrough album, “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”. The majority of the 11 tracks on “Smart Flesh” were recorded in a cavernous and long-vacant pasta sauce factory in Central Falls, Rhode Island, with additional tracking in a former reptile breeder’s garage which they nicknamed “the gator pit.” The album was produced by The Low Anthem and mixed by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, M. Ward) with additional mixing by Jesse Lauter, who also engineered much of the album. The Low Anthem are four multi-instrumentalists: Ben Knox Miller, also the primary vocalist, Jeff Prystowsky, Jocie Adams, and newest member Mat Davidson.
The band surveyed dozens of spaces for their portable recording studio: “We knew right away when we stepped into the factory that the space was really the main instrument for the whole record” says Miller. “The resonance was chilling. We were able to experiment with new recording techniques to capture the sound at different distances. Mics 100-200 feet away caught the sound barrelling across the room.” The Low Anthem is fascinated with tone and timbre. The eclectic array of instruments used on “Smart Flesh” include jaw harp, musical saw, stylophone, three antique pump organs (restored by the band) oversized drum kits, and an elaborate scheme to re-amp noise through various chambers of the factory.
Paranormal hitchhikers, taught highwires, aircraft, swelling tumours, whirring machinery, deserted highways, mannequins, cremation and formaldehyde make up the language of “Smart Flesh” – love, longing and vain contortions before death it’s themes.
Since the release of “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”, The Low Anthem have headlined Shepherd’s Bush Empire and played shows with Iron and Wine, The National and Emmylou Harris, among others. They’ve have appeared on both Later with Jools Holland and David Letterman and in June won MOJO Magazine’s Breakthrough Award.
“Smart Flesh” is released 21st February on Bella Union records in the UK/Europe, and on Nonesuch records in the US.
Acclaim for “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”, The Low Anthem’s UK debut…
“A sublime mix of hymnal purity and barn-storming rock… a faultless album.”
Uncut – 4 Stars **** (Album of the Month)
“Recalling Fleet Foxes, Tom Waits and Iron and Wine, New England trio The Low Anthem employ affecting harmonies, earthy blues and folky instrumentation… Beautiful and haunting”
Q – 4 Stars ****
“emerging as one of the breakthrough albums of 2009”
MOJO – 4 Stars ****
“Its Wonderful”
Sunday Times – 4 Stars **** (CD of the Week)
“this rootsy trio from Rhode Island look set to become the breakthrough Americana group of 2009”
The Telegraph – 4 Stars ****
“Resilience in godless times provides rich thematic juice, making this lush album at once a timeless, contemporary, and very distinct proposition”
The Independent (Saturday) – 4 Stars ****
“a mind-blowing album… a gothic Americana classic”
The Sun – 5 Stars *****
“…magical songs laden with imagery and poignancy.”
The Guardian – 4 Stars ****
“A gorgeous and fragile piece of work”
The Independent (Friday) – 4 Stars ****
“A welcome addition to the intricate patchwork quilt of the new wave of Americana”
NME
“delicately picked acoustic, beautiful harmonies… this album is a small evolution for the genre.”
Metro – 4 Stars ****
“The Low Anthem weave a fine narrative spell… truly beautiful”
WORD
“Chock-full of country-tinged harmonica, fragile acoustic guitar and woody harmonies, this album is a gentle treat”
London Lite – 4 Stars ****
This debut album by the Rhode Island trio begins like a facsimile of Fleet Foxes and ends like Tom Waits at his most obstreperous”
Observer Music Monthly – 4 Stars ****
“a haunting hybrid of falsetto-harmony folk and raucous americana”
Clash Magazine
