Hidden Shoal News
New Erik Nilsson EP – “Music For”
We’re excited to announce the release of more new work from the wonderful Erik Nilsson. On the heels of The Slanted City’s self-titled debut album, Erik Nilsson is cleaning his hard drive. In the coming months he will be releasing a series of neglected musical projects under the banner Notes and Sketches. Music For is the third installment of the Notes and Sketches series and explores the notion of musical use value. As Nilsson explains,
“It contains music intended to (1) accompany tooth brushing (subtly notifying the brusher to change sides every thirty seconds), (2) stimulate contemplation during the blue hour, (3) amplify the perceptivity of cloud watchers, and (4) awaken the joy of singing in machines. Feel free to use the music for other purposes, too – at your own risk, of course.”
The album is available now from Bandcamp and soon via Spotify, Apple, Amazon and all the other likely suspects. The music of Erik Nilsson is available for licensing (film, tv, web etc) via Hidden Shoal.
Chloe March’s “Starlings & Crows” in the Curve Ball Top 30 for 2020
Chloe March’s stunning album Starlings & Crows has been selected by the UK radio show Curve Ball as part of their Top 30 for 2020 (many thanks to Chris Evans as always). This follows on from the album’s selection by the highly respected Textura as one of the 10 best albums of 2020.
“However tempting it might be to cite artists such as Elizabeth Fraser and Tracey Thorn as reference points when speaking of March, Starlings & Crows—not for the first time—shows she’s staked out her own artistic place. No one sounds quite like her, either vocally or musically.“ – Textura
The album is available now in CD, cassette and digital formats via Bandcamp, streaming via Spotify and is also available via all good online stores and streaming service. The music of Chloe March is available for licensing (film, tv, web and more) via Hidden Shoal.
Chloe March’s “Starlings & Crows” in Textura’s Top 10 of 2020!
Chloe March‘s stunning new album Starlings & Crows has been selected by the highly respected Textura as one of the 10 best albums of 2020. The latest edition of Textura also features a glowing review of the album,
“However tempting it might be to cite artists such as Elizabeth Fraser and Tracey Thorn as reference points when speaking of March, Starlings & Crows—not for the first time—shows she’s staked out her own artistic place. No one sounds quite like her, either vocally or musically.“ – Textura
The album is available now in CD, cassette and digital formats via Bandcamp, streaming via Spotify and is also available via all good online stores and streaming service. The music of Chloe March is available for licensing (film, tv, web and more) via Hidden Shoal.
Bento – ‘Moon’ (Glanko Remix)
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of Glanko’s remix of ‘Moon’ by Italian duo Bento. Glanko strips out the breakneck jazzy rhythms of the original and replaces them with a sleek sci-fi underbelly, lending ‘Moon’ an elegant yet sinister propulsion. The track is available now to stream on Spotify.
“a masterclass in the use of space, poise and timing, a frail and fragile ghost light whose hypnotic lull comes teasingly shimmered in a sparse sleepy headed detailing” – The Sunday Experience on Glanko & Daniel Bailey’s Isometrik
Glanko is the musical moniker of Italian electronic composer Giuseppe Fallacara. Isometrik, his joint EP with Daniel Bailey, was released on Hidden Shoal in 2016. Remission, his third album, was released on Hidden Shoal in 2020.
Bento are Italian duo Francesco Barletta (synth, vocals) and Umberto Coviello (drums). They have collaborated with artists as diverse as Andrea Ruggiero (Motta, Marina Reitec) Mina Carlucci (Vostok), Sabrina de Mitri, Umberto Coviello and Giuseppe Grassi.
New Series of Works from Erik Nilsson
We’re excited to announce the release of new work from the ridiculously talented Swede. On the heels of The Slanted City’s self-titled debut album, Erik Nilsson is cleaning his hard drive. In the coming months he will be releasing a series of neglected musical projects under the banner Notes and Sketches. The first installment of the series, Vox Machina, features three short instrumental pieces written for two synths and a drum machine. Expect melancholic melodies, irregular time signatures and generous amounts of reverb.
The album is available now from Bandcamp and soon via Spotify, Apple, Amazon and all the other likely suspects. The music of Erik Nilsson is available for licensing (film, tv, web etc) via Hidden Shoal.
“Moonchy & Tobias III” Out Now!
Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records are proud to present Moonchy & Tobias III, the sublime third collaborative album of vocalist Pat Moonchy (Faust, Sothiac) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Todd Tobias (GBV, Robert Pollard) under the Moonchy & Tobias banner. The album is available now on CD and in digital formats via Bandcamp, streaming via Spotify and is available to download or stream at most online stores. The music of Moonchy & Tobias is available for licensing (film, tv, web and more) via Hidden Shoal.
On their third collaborative album, vocalist Pat Moonchy and multi-instrumentalist/producer Todd Tobias delve deeper into the shadowy recesses of their intoxicating sound, creating an immersive soundtrack to our most uncanny nightmares. Moonchy’s primal vocals, mostly sung in Latin, thread through Tobias’s nocturnal atmospheres like smoke. As Moonchy explains, “When I sing in Latin it feels like discovering the details of ancient lives lost in time.” There’s a definite sense that something latent and primordial is being summoned – yet the full extent of its power is cloaked in mystery.
In an unintentional parallel, the album that III most resembles is Portishead’s majestic Third, which creates and inhabits its own haunted space. Where Moonchy & Tobias differ is in employing a more rustic approach to songcraft, while still evoking an exquisite sense of atmosphere. There’s an undeniable melancholy across these 12 tracks, but it never feels cloying, instead leavened by a poised theatricality and sense of play. The midnight hour has a new transportive soundtrack.
“Musically you have references such as Mi And L’Au, The Caretaker, Cranes, Dead Can Dance and Portishead , although they never quite cover what this pair brings here. In conclusion, you can safely say that you are certainly not dealing with an average combo. What a great, versatile and mesmerizing album!“ – De Subjectivisten
Chloe March “Starlings & Crows” Out Now!
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of the stunning new Chloe March album Starlings & Crows. The album is available now in CD, cassette and digital formats via Bandcamp, streaming via Spotify and is also available via all good online stores and streaming service. The music of Chloe March is available for licensing (film, tv, web and more) via Hidden Shoal.
For her fifth album, March drew inspiration from her early childhood in the Warwickshire countryside, nineteenth-century nature poet John Clare, and Lewis Carroll’s fantastical Alice Through the Looking Glass. Throughout the album there’s a palpable sense of wonder at the natural world, shot through with a deep concern for nature’s vulnerability. Starlings & Crows resonates with notions of home on a macro and micro level.
First single ‘To a Place’ is an elegant waltz built around swooning strings and piano. ‘Landing 1969’ sounds as astral as its subject matter would suggest, pulsing at the same tempo as Buzz Aldrin’s heart-rate as Apollo 11 left earth. ‘Remember That Sky’ is achingly emotive, showcasing March’s innate talent for creating an atmosphere of intimacy without compromising compositional depth. Despite running to a succinct 38 minutes, Starlings & Crows is lush and expansive, while distilled to its crystalline essence.
“The latest album by Chloe March is another heady trip through electro pop… The air is thick with atmosphere throughout and March is a masterful creator of mood… a beautiful sound somewhere between The Blue Nile and David Sylvian” – The Underground of Happiness
Oft compared to singular artists such as Nina Simone, Beth Gibbons and Elizabeth Fraser, Chloë March follows her own independent path, writing, engineering and producing from her home studio in south-east England. Inhabiting musical territory somewhere between art song and folk, dream-pop and electronica, the ambient and the cinematic, March embraces all these influences to create poetic, emotionally charged and intensely atmospheric songs and soundworlds.
Memorybell ‘Day Glides After You’ Live Performance
Check out this stunning live rendition of ‘Day Glides After You’ from the new Memorybell album Solace. Do yourself a favour and wrap yourself is this warm, 12 minute blanket of sound. You’ll thank us. The album is available to purchase on CD and in digital formats via Bandcamp, stream via Spotify and is also available from all good online stores.
The music of Memorybell is available for licensing (film, tv, web etc) via Hidden Shoal.
The Slanted City Debut Out Now!
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of the brilliant self-titled debut album by The Slanted City, the new minimalist pop project from Erik Nilsson. The album is available now via Bandcamp, Spotify and all good online stores and streaming services.
The Slanted City sees Erik Nilsson shape the experimental instrumental work of his previous two Hidden Shoal releases with his exquisite sense of songcraft and pop nous. The delicate marriage of melody and tone in opener ‘Density’ typifies The Slanted City’s elegance and charm. Each part feels carefully placed, the song’s robust structure swaggering and shifting over its 5-minute runtime. Single ‘False Starts’ is as if Split Enz collaborated with King of Limbs-era Radiohead, insistent rhythms interplaying with expansive guitars, synths and Nilsson’s vocal repetitions reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard.
Gentle lullaby ‘Further’ hypnotises with its melancholic piano refrain, hushed vocals and subdued sonic treatments. And ‘Don’t Think of an Elephant’ further emphasises Nilsson’s compositional restraint as he gently marries the song’s two distinct movements before unleashing a wonderful fuzz guitar crescendo. Across these nine tracks and 43 minutes, Nilsson demonstrates a master craftsman’s attention to detail, resulting in an album that blooms on repeat listens.
The music of The Slanted City is available for licensing (film, tv, web etc) via Hidden Shoal.
Target Archery Feature Album at RTRFM
Target Archery‘s gorgeous new album The Nomenclature of Kites is this week’s local feature album at the wonderful RTRFM. Tune in to the station to hear tracks featured all week. The album is available now for download via Bandcamp, streaming via Spotify and from all the other usual online stores and streamers. Be sure to also check out the music video for the album track ‘The Flat Earther and his Rocket’ on YouTube.
Hidden Shoal MixTape
