A DANCING BAGGAR ANNOUNCES ANOTHER LEFTFIELD BEAUTY, ‘FOLLOW THE DARK AS IF IT WERE LIGHT’ AND ALBUM LAUNCH
aaamusic | On 15, Mar 2011
Dancing Beggar is twenty-three-year-old UK-based musician James Simmons. Producing his debut full-length album in 2009 after the release of a six-track EP, ‘How They Grow’, the beautifully envisioned long-player ‘What We Left Behind’ is a collection of instrumental recordings where tenderly plucked guitar strings meet post-rock undercurrents and ambient field recordings. James’ work has been met with positive reviews from both the UK and international music press with the following notable reactions; Rock Sound Magazine – “An astonishingly assured piece of work”, The Stool Pigeon – ”A Post-Rock treat”, Notion Magazine – “A wonderful, wordless music that also seeks to evoke memories of forgotten Summers days”, while prominent music website subba-cultcha.com <http://subba-cultcha.com> awarded it 10/10 and US site Thesillentballet.com <http://Thesillentballet.com> made A Dancing Beggar artist of the week as well as giving the album an honourable mention in its top 50 albums of 2009.
A Dancing Beggar’s eagerly anticipated second album, ‘Follow The Dark As If It Were Light’, was written and recorded between July 2009 and July 2010. Mixed and mastered by Ludovic Morin (Sigur Ros, Fleet Foxes, Beirut) at The Sound Dept, London, in August and September 2010. Ludovic Morin’s masterful touch is apparent on the record and only enhances the lush arrangements and overall clarity of the recordings.
These seven songs are journeys rather than standard arrangements of verses and choruses, as James takes a more mature, subtle approach to writing by applying soft piano loops, field recordings and tender vocals, presenting a more defined, restrained and minimal motif throughout. ‘Empty Boats’ is a song dedicated to sailors who have lost their lives at sea, while, ‘Returning’ is simply inspired by driving home in a storm. ‘Follow The Dark As If It Were Light’ marks a change in direction for A Dancing Beggar, focusing on a softer, more personal sound, crafted out of homemade samples, ambient drones and delicate piano melodies, and has been compared to the likes of Sigur Ros and Grouper.
A Dancing Beggar is in the midst of preparing the album for live performances having already played alongside Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), Epic45, Codes in The Clouds, Worriedaboutsatan and Talons to name just a few. James recently remixed the track ‘Désordre’ for French producer/musician Franz Kirmann for his EP ‘Liza’ and has also remixed Codes In The Clouds’ ‘Distant Street Lights’, which appears next to Machinefabriek, Library Tapes and Paul Mullen/ Yourcodenameis: Milo on the ‘Paper Canyon Recycled’ album released by Erased Tapes Records (Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick, Olafur Arnalds).
Check out the promo clip here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150420166340107&saved <http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150420166340107&saved>#!/video/video.php?v=10150420166340107
Released by: Audiobulb Records
Release/catalogue number: AB036
Artist Web-links:
http://soundcloud.com/a-dancing-beggar
http://adancingbeggar.bandcamp.com/
http://adancingbeggar.blogspot.com/
Live Dates:
A Dancing Beggar will perform live Monday 30th May at The Macbeth, London. Special guests to be announce.
