Hidden Shoal News
The World of Dust “13 Holy Nights” Out Now!
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of 13 Holy Nights, the wonderful new album from The World of Dust, the musical project of Stefan Breuer. The album is available now on vinyl, CD and digital via Bandcamp and to stream on Spotify along with the other usual suspects. The album is released through Lousy Moon Records , Tiny Room Records and Almost Halloween Time Records. The music of The World of Dust is available for licensing via Hidden Shoal (film, tv, web etc).
The 13 Holy Nights take place from 23th December to 6th January. According to anthroposophical teachings, a stronger connection with the spiritual world is possible during this magical time. By following ancient rituals you can reconnect with the natural world and tune in with where you stand in life. One way to look back on the past year and forward to the next is through dreams. During the winter solstice of 2022, The World of Dust’s Stefan Breuer documented his dreams and turned them into these songs.
13 Holy Nights was recorded on a Tascam 388, a ¼-inch tape machine Stefan also used when he started recording at the age of 10. No guitars were used, just percussion, bass, vocals and keyboards. Most of the sounds come from the Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler synthesizer. Weird new sounds for weird dreams, influenced by artists like Robert Wyatt, Portishead, Robert Pollard and The Microphones.
Paraphon “Infinity” Out Now
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of Infinity, the stunning sophomore release from Paraphon. The album is available now for download now via Bandcamp with availability on streaming platforms to follow. Be sure to check out the video teaser for the album on YouTube by Australian video artist Cam Merton. The music of Paraphon is available for licensing (film, tv, web etc) via Hidden Shoal.
Infinity follows Paraphon’s epic debut, Soviet Cities on the Moon, and continues with its themes of interstellar travel. Drawing on the lush and expansive ambience of Vangelis along with the darker edge of some of his contemporaries, Infinifty delivers an immersive and compelling narrative that evolves and shifts with each track.
Summon the Birds “Blood Love” Single and Remixes
Hidden Shoal is excited to present the release of ‘Blood Love’ by Summon the Birds, the Melbourne band’s swansong, alongside remixes by labelmates Markus Mehr and Erik Nilsson. The track is available to stream and download on Spotify, Bandcamp and all good online stores. The single is accompanied by a beautiful animated lyric video, available to stream on YouTube. The music of Summon the Birds is available for licensing through Hidden Shoal.
There’s Blood Love, the album, released back in 2018; and then there’s ‘Blood Love’, the song, which gave the album its name but never etched its way onto the grooves. The story’s thread appeared to Jonathan Shaw in Melbourne, but its indelible riff snuck into Shaw’s acoustic guitar on a bus ride in London. From there the song’s universe took shape: the cabin, the woods, the still-born babe in the warm-blanket, the full moon-whipped shadows, the water. Recorded in 2019 by Tim Johnston, ‘Blood Love’ is all about grief, and is a fitting way to send off a band perpetually returning to the theme of letting go.
Befitting the majesty of Shaw’s vocal presence on the song, both remixes of ‘Blood Love’ place the voice front and centre. Markus Mehr situates Shaw’s vocal within a desolate, metallic, digitally warped space, amplifying the sense of isolation until it cracks. In contrast, Erik Nilsson surrounds Shaw’s vocal with fresh, rich, instrumental details, reimagining the song’s farewell as more romantic and melodramatic.
“a slightly woozy, somewhat proggy, little bit folky sound… They’re not afraid to give a song room to breathe, to let the lyrics tell a story, to create an epic sound… worth checking out” – Half-Life Music
“a fine exponent of Brit-infused prog rock… Radiohead are a clear marker here… They create their own rich universe with narrative character and personality in abundance” – [sic] Magazine on single ‘London Tap Water’
Summon the Birds began in 2007, when singer-songwriter Jonathan Shaw and bassist/producer Peter Woodlands kicked up an idea for a record called 48, based on the iChing. Kris Arrowsmith joined on drums, with guitarist Tim Clarke seduced into the fray after the dissolution of instrumental shoegaze band Bury the Sound. 48 saw release in 2012, closely followed by single ‘Digger’ in 2013. In 2014, bassist Drew Corby replaced original member Peter Woodlands, and the recording of second album Blood Love began, bolstered by Paul Spurling on keyboards, Marlene Samson on backing vocals, and Adrian Perger on horns. Producer and engineer Tim Johnston (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dandy Warhols, The Drones) oversaw the sessions and lent his golden ears to the mixes, and the album was mastered by John Ruberto (Courtney Barnett, The Drones, Electric Mary).
Battlestations “Splinters Vol III: Ravage” Out Now!
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of Splinters Vol III: Ravage, the stunning new album from brooding instrumental project Battlestations. The album is available to download via Bandcamp for free for the next month. The music of Battlestations is available to license for use in film, tv, games, web etc via Hidden Shoal.
Following on from the first two volumes in the Splinter series, Ravage continues Battlestations’ journey into epic, unconventional and experimental soundscapes. Over its single-track, 38-minute run time, Ravage guides the listener through multi-textural narratives that borrow as much from the imagined futures of sci-fi as they do from the past and present horrors of industrialised capitalism. There’s a clear and elegantly designed arc to the music’s solemn drift, as periodic rhythmic passages act as structural scaffolding for thick waves of synths and guitars. Anyone enamoured with the first wave of classic post-rock, such as early Ulver, will find plenty to love in Ravage’s dramatic contours.
The Lizard Point “Giske” – New Album, Music Video and Release Event
Hidden Shoal are excited to announce the forthcoming release of Giske, the stunning new album from post-ambient duo The Lizard Point. The album will see release on the 11/11/23 and will be available as a limited run vinyl and in digital and streaming formats. Head to Bandcamp to order the vinyl and digital and stream the album via Spotify and the other usual suspects.
The album will be officially released in San Francisco with an immersive audio event where listeners are bathed in ‘sound sculptures’ performed through 176 speakers in total darkness. Tickets for the release event are available here. To accompany the release, a mesmerising music video by Australian video artist Cam Merton has been released for the sublime album tack ‘Pulsar’. Check it out on YouTube.
Giske was written and performed by Conor Devlin and Geoffrey Scott, and produced by Monte Vallier. The record was mixed at Ocean Sound Recordings in Giske, Norway in the summer of 2022.
The music of The Lizard Point is available for licensing (film, tv, web and more) via Hidden Shoal. More info here.
Memorybell’s Stunning New Album “Broadcast Silence” Out Now
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the official release of Broadcast Silence, the 6th LP by American neoclassical ambient artist Memorybell. The album is available in digital and CD formats via Bandcamp and in digital format via Spotify, Apple Music and the other usual suspects. The music of Memorybell is available for licensing via Hidden Shoal Publishing. Contact us for more information.
‘Broadcast Silence’ is four long-form pieces of evocative ambient-drone that explore the process of overcoming trauma and dissociation and reconnecting to the world. The tracks unfurl and evolve slowly, playing with time and expectation. Despite its bittersweet title, a line of hopefulness runs through ‘Abandoned Dream’. There’s a distinctly cosmic flavor to ‘Pieced Together’, as attention shifts from one muted spectacle to the next. ‘Fell Silent’ is a graceful, reflective piece that gently pushes the central motif tumbling into a void. And ‘Untethered’ is a fittingly-titled closer, as a final vapor trail blooms into the aether.
“Essential to anyone searching for an aural retreat from an over-compressed world of packaged sound… Highly recommended for fans of solo piano and intersected genres, where Brian Eno meets Satie.” – Headphone Commute on Obsolete
Moonchy & Tobias “Wild Eye” Out Now!
We’re excited to announce the release of Wild Eye, the brilliant new album from Moonchy & Tobias. The album is available now through through Tiny Room Records and Hidden Shoal and can be purchased (CD + Digital) via Bandcamp and streamed via Spotify.
Moonchy & Tobias’s new album Wild Eye runs ritual threads throughout its tracklist like tingles of deja vu. Nocturnal and unnerving, it unfolds like an intoxicating fever dream, ebbing and flowing in shadowy splendour. The title track’s intro and epilogue counterbalance a pulsing tribal bedrock with Pat Moonchy’s shimmering voice. Single ‘Shangri La’ and its reprise could well have soundtracked James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, its strident strings and horns capturing the listener in fevered rapture. ‘The Goldsmith’ feels like a Quaalude-infused cross between a Western and a horror movie thanks to its low-slung arpeggiated guitar. ‘Mirage’ has an intoxicating majesty, stumbling like a drunken Cocteau Twins. ‘Numilla’ is similarly off kilter, almost falling over with every step, yet somehow assured in its ultimate destination.
The music of Moonchy & Tobias is available for licensing across tv, film, web and more. Contact us for more information.
New Moonchy & Tobias Single – ‘Shangri La’
We’re excited to present the first single from the forthcoming Moonchy & Tobias album Wild Eye. ‘Shangri La’ is an exotic, intoxicating journey into psych dream pop territory and acts as the perfect flag bearer for the new album. Stream the track via SoundCloud and be sure to check out the premiere of the track over at The Big Takeover.
The music of Moonchy & Tobias is available for licensing across tv, film, web and more. Contact us for more information.
Erik Nilsson “Recollage (Reworked)” Release
We’re excited to announce the release of Erik Nilsson‘s wonderful new release, Recollage (Reworked). The album is available now via Bandcamp and will soon be up on all streamers and online stores. The music of Erik Nilsson is available for licensing across tv, film, web and more. Contact us for more information.
First released in 2011 by Luxus-Artica Records and then reissued in 2016 by Hidden Shoal, Erik Nilsson’s brilliant debut album Recollage is being re-released in a somewhat altered format. Earlier in the year, Nilsson revisited Recollage’s eclectic mix of electronics, live instruments and field recordings to create a new iteration. Recollage (Reworked) recontextualizes the original album’s often dizzying compositional style, reminiscent of The Books’ cut-up approach to songcraft, and casts it in a freshly addictive new light.
New Apricot Rail Track and Upcoming Show
Apricot Rail fans rejoice! After years in the shadows, the band have leapt into the light with a new track and their first live performance in what feels like forever. ‘‘Romance Under the Blossom Tree’ sneaks out ahead of their performance at RTRFM’s Springtime Social on November 5th. Stream then track here and buy tickets for the show here.
The music of Apricot Rail is available for licensing via Hidden Shoal (film, tv, web games etc). Check here for more details.
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