aaamusic | On 03, Jul 2012

Due for release digitally on 27 August 2012 via Grandpa Stan Records is Volume One, the new full-length from Paul Cook & The Chronicles; a collection of songs about opportunities missed, the girls who should have broken your heart but never quite managed to and those that just didn’t care enough to try. The record recently saw a limited release through Rough Trade as their ‘Album of the Week’.

 

Salvaged largely from the experiences of London-born songwriter Cook over the course of the past year, the album also finds room in the lyrical shadows for stolen stories and overheard arguments on the night bus home. Musically meanwhile, the material draws it’s roots from classic country and folk rock, with artistic touchstones including Neil Young, Paul Simon and Gram Parsons.

 

Through the preventative measures espoused by album opener ‘Six Places’, the compound confusion of ‘Girl Trouble’ and the abject fear of ‘Bullet Holes’ – the warning signs against future involvement are clear. Yet there is light in the darkness too. From the hopeful ashes of ‘Candlelight’ and ‘Silent Heart’, to the acceptance of ‘I Forgive You’, the songs illuminate paths forward when things end.  More than that they are wrapped in beautifully constructed and insistent melodies and sung by a voice with a timeless unaffected quality.

 

Paul Cook & The Chronicles made their live and recorded debut in 2011 with radio support for first single ‘Six Places’ coming from the likes of BBC Radio 2, 6 Music and XFM, (including a live session on the Dermot O’Leary Show on BBC R2 with Zoe Ball).
Volume One was Produced and Mixed by Julian Simmons (Guillemots, Midlake, The Shutes) with Paul Cook, and represents the opening salvo in a four-volume sequence of full-length releases over the course of the next 18 months.

 

Volume One will be released digitally 27 August 2012 via Grandpa Stan Records.