Hidden Shoal News
New Slow Dancing Society EP – “Ballads for the Boudoir”
Following on from the reissue of his acclaimed debut album The Sound of Lights When Dim, and the Lilac Lullabies, The Best Days of Our Lives and Night Takes Day EPs, Drew Sullivan presents Ballads for the Boudoir, the last in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs. Each EP has been released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released on double vinyl later in the year. All four EP’s in the series are available now via Bandcamp and all good third party digital retailers.
Much like 2014’s The Dusk Recital EP, Ballads for the Boudoir marries SDS ambience with a more sensual, soul-inflected direction, coloured by restrained rhythms, atmospheric sax and warm synth tones. Ballads for the Boudoir has the feel of mid-career Roxy Music, with its romantic, dreamy style. From the downbeat dub-soul of opener ‘An Invitation’ through to the crystalline rhythm guitar work of closer ‘The Melting Sky’, Ballads for the Boudoir is a soft-focus closing chapter to this seductive suite of EPs.
As with all Hidden Shoal releases, Slow Dancing Society’s music is available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilations). Contact Hidden Shoal for more info.
New AWMA Vinyl Release!
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of ‘Sterling Hayden and the Great Nobility’, the ten minute single by expansive guitar outfit AWMA (A Woman My Age), a trio made up of ex-members of the San Francisco-based slowcore outfit Half Film. The track is available as a limited edition 12” vinyl and digital download via Bandcamp.
Right from the opening notes of delayed guitar and the warm thrum of bass, ‘Sterling Hayden and the Great Nobility’ establishes itself as a songscape that’s in it for the long haul. The spacious six- and four-string interplay creates a gorgeous atmosphere, through which the drums steadily surge, like car headlights through fog. It’s not until five minutes in that Conor Devlin’s voice colours the song with impressionistic invocations, before the back half builds in intensity with fuzz bass and then reaches a cymbal-washed climax. The song was recorded in one take by Monte Vallier at Ruminator Audio in San Francisco. No one in the band remembers anything about the origin of the title…
As with all Hidden Shoal releases, AWMA’s music is available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilations). Contact Hidden Shoal for more info.
Beautiful New Target Archery Video + Stream – ‘Soujourn’
We’re excited to share the beautiful new music video for ‘Soujourn’, the 2nd single to be lifted from the forthcoming debut album, Clock of the Long Now, by Perth-based instrumental pop outfit Target Archery (the solo project of Ambrose Nock of Perth’s sun-dappled musical instrumentalists Apricot Rail). The music video was produced and directed by Chad Peacock (Peacock Visuals). Clock of the Long Now sees release on the 2nd of October in digital and vinyl formats.
Ambrose Nock explores the fertile realm of delicate, experimental post-pop with his new project Target Archery. Influenced by the likes of Sound Dust-era Stereolab, left-of-centre indie-pop bands such as Lacto-Ovo, The Go! Team and Ninetynine, and a dash of late ’80s Sonic Youth, Target Archery mine an inspiring new seam of life-affirming melodies and instrumental texture. Featuring contributions from Apricot Rail members Justin Manzano (production and instrumentation) and Jack Quirk (guitars), Clock of the Long Now was crafted in an isolated studio in rural Western Australia over a period of three years. Across 40 blissful minutes, Target Archery weave a suite of glimmering musical tapestries that expand beyond the borders of conventional guitar pop.
“The might of, I dunno, Mogwai is still there, but the charm of Múm is also present. They paint mountains in broad strokes but afterwards they take time to put in Sherpas and goats partying on the cliff face.” – Love Is My Velocity on Apricot Rail
Be sure to check out more Hidden Shoal music videos over on YouTube!
New Summon the Birds Single – ‘Funeral for a King’
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of new single ‘Funeral for a King’ by Melbourne band Summon the Birds, taken from their forthcoming second album, Blood Love, recorded by Tim Johnston (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dandy Warhols, The Drones). Stream the song via SoundCloud and Spotify and download via Bandcamp.
Like Zaphod Beeblebrox animated by Edgar Allan Poe, Summon the Birds have drunk the London tap water and are now poised for flight. Their second album Blood Love will see release on Hidden Shoal in late 2017 – imagine latter-day Talk Talk picking the locks to Spoon’s basement as The Drones circle, restless, looking for the pink pill…
Summon the Birds launch ‘Funeral for a King’ Thursday 21st September at Open Studio in Northcote, so if you’re in Melbourne, check out the details on FB and be sure to head down.
Summon the Birds Single Premiere on The Big Takeover
‘Funeral for a King’, the new single by Summon the Birds, taken from their forthcoming second album Blood Love, has just been premiered on the ever-excellent music site The Big Takeover. Head over to TBT to listen to the track. The song is available on all digital channels for streaming and download on Monday 18th September, and the band play a launch gig next Thursday 21st September at Open Studio in Northcote, so if you’re in Melbourne, check out the details on FB and be sure to head down.
Slow Dancing Society ‘An Invitation (The Drive Home)’ Single
We’re excited to present the first taste of the forthcoming Slow Dancing Society EP Ballads of the Boudoir (29/9/17), the final in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society Eps. ‘An Invitation (The Drive Home)’ marries SDS ambience with a more sensual, soul-inflected direction, coloured by restrained rhythms, atmospheric sax and warm synth tones. The track is available to stream over at SoundCloud and as a “name your price” download via Bandcamp.
Following on from the reissue of his acclaimed debut album The Sound of Lights When Dim, and the Lilac Lullabies, The Best Days of Our Lives and Night Takes Day EPs, Drew Sullivan presents Ballads for the Boudoir, the last in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs. Each EP has been released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released on the double vinyl release My Blue Heaven later in the year.
“a deeply affecting, consistently excellent effort of stunning tranquility and beautiful ambience, that demands repeated listening… Hidden Shoal have a masterpiece on their hands” – Sputnik Music on The Sound of Lights When Dim
The entire Slow Dancing Society catalogue is available for film, tv, games and compilation licensing via Hidden Shoal. Contact us for more info.
New Rewilding Single and Video!
We’re excited to share the new Rewilding single and music video ‘High Desert’, taken from the forthcoming self-titled debut album (17/10/17). Rewilding is the solo project of New Jersey-based musician and producer Jake McFee (Connected View). Check out the video on YouTube and stream the single at SoundCloud.
Teeming with disorienting organic details and often taking surreal detours, Rewilding possesses a rare, meandering beauty. While the album’s precedents are clear – Fridge, Pram, Broadcast – the personality and texture of these instrumental miniatures is unique and disarming. Instrumental pop is rarely so approachable and beguiling. With each track seemingly inspired by a specific environment, creature or atmosphere, there’s a natural, evocative ecology at work in the album as a whole. From the dry expanses of single ‘High Desert’ via the warbling analogue tones of ‘Under Water Footage’ through to the melancholic slow-motion motorik of ‘Lonesome Briar Patch’, this instrumental journey is a deeply felt ride.
Wonderful Liminal Drifter Interview on RTRFM
Fantastic interview with Liminal Drifter on RTRFM. Lots of wonderful insights into The Night Train Vacancies and much more. Dig it!Rewilding Signs to Hidden Shoal
We’re very excited to announce the signing of Rewilding, the solo project of New Jersey-based musician and producer Jake McFee (Connected View), to the Hidden Shoal roster. The first taste of Rewilding’s self-titled debut will drop next week preceding the full length on the 17th of October.
The mid-fi, meandering beauty of Rewilding emphasises how music can be an organic, flowing process, leading the listener into disorientating new territory. While Rewilding’s precedents are clear – Fridge, Pram, Broadcast – the personality and texture of these instrumental miniatures is unique and disarming. Experimental pop is rarely so approachable and beguiling.
Read more about the project here.
New Target Archery Single – ‘Opium Den’
Happy days my friends as we have the new Target Archery single for your aural delectation. The gorgeous, expansive ambient pop of ‘Opium Den’ is taken from the forthcoming full length debut Clock of the Long Now (2nd Oct 2017). The track is available as a free download via the Target Archery Bandcamp and also for streaming over at SoundCloud.
Following on from his work with Perth’s sun-dappled musical instrumentalists Apricot Rail, Ambrose Nock explores the fertile realm of delicate, experimental post-pop with his new project Target Archery. Influenced by the likes of Sound Dust-era Stereolab, left-of-centre indie-pop bands such as Lacto-Ovo, The Go! Team and Ninetynine, and a dash of late ’80s Sonic Youth, Target Archery mine an inspiring new seam of life-affirming melodies and instrumental texture.
Featuring contributions from Apricot Rail members Justin Manzano (production and instrumentation) and Jack Quirk (guitars), Clock of the Long Now was crafted in an isolated studio in rural Western Australia over a period of three years. Across 40 blissful minutes, Target Archery weave a suite of glimmering musical tapestries that expand beyond the borders of conventional guitar pop.
As with all Hidden Shoal releases, Target Archery’s music is available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilations). Contact Hidden Shoal for more info.
Hidden Shoal MixTape
