aaamusic | On 07, May 2012

The fledgling London collective/promoter/label/blog/zine Critical Heights follow up acclaimed releases by Savaging Spires and Diva Dompé by announcing ambitious forthcoming LP/CD from Dead Rat Orchestra!

Dead Rat Orchestra have become the slow burning backwater of British music; perpetually hovering on the fringes of distinct scenes, yet never fully on-board, they remain their own mutable paradigm. Having toured with the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Silver Mt Zion, Sandro Perri, Mark Almond and Baby Dee, the band have finally announced details of their official debut set for release in July. The Guga Hunters of Ness was originally scored for the BBC documentary of the same name that follows the journey of ten men from the community of Ness on the Isle of Lewis as they embark on a traditional hunt for gannets. Utilising their customarily unconventional instrumentation to create precarious and powerful abstract-folk, the trio of Daniel Merrill, Robin Alderton and Nathaniel Mann have come up with a powerful score, with compositions seeded in hours of study of Hebridean folk song.

For a taster, you can listen to a track from the album here:

Critical Heights will be contributing to the Independent Record Market on 19th May in Spitalfields Market with a stall selling limited edition vinyl, CDs, tote bags and t-shirts. They will also be hosting a number of live events over the next few months in various venues.

Upcoming Critical Heights Events:

May 10th – MONKEY BAR, Stoke Newington, Elephanta
May 19th – Independent Record Market, CRITICAL HEIGHTS STALL
June 7th – MONKEY BAR, Stoke Newington, Keel Her
June 26th – TRADES CLUB, Hebdon Bridge, Wooden Wand + Savaging Spires
June 29th – CAFE OTO, Dalston, Wooden Wand + Dead Rat Orchestra + Duke Garwood
July 9th – CAFE OTO, Dalston, Dead Rat Orchestra (film screening and live performance) + Michael Tanner + C Joynes

criticalheights.com