Hidden Shoal News
Forthcoming Todd Tobias Album – Video Teaser
Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Gila Man, the new album by American instrumental soundscaper Todd Tobias (Guided by Voices producer, Circus Devils), which includes new single ‘Pollen Path’ (featuring Chloë March). The album will see daylight on the 18th of October 2016 preceded by the first single ‘Pollen Path’ on September 6.
Gila Man is a discrete, surreal world – a wordless musical novella that merges a psychedelic Western with shadowy science fiction. It simultaneously evokes the wide-eyed wonder of discovery and the creeping dread of what horrors may lurk around the next corner. Featuring the stunning voice of English songwriter Chloë March, the album is at once beautiful and unsettling. Gila Man’s individual songs vividly evoke characters and scenes within the album’s imaginary narrative, casting dusty projections onto the mind’s eye. Wherever this music ventures, the listener is compelled to follow.
New Joe Sampson Single – Stream and Download
We’ve been waiting to share this amazing first taste of the forthcoming Joe Sampson EP, Songs of Delay, released via Hidden Shoal on 12th September. On ‘My Love’, Joe Sampson musters maximum emotional resonance from the sparest of musical ingredients. Held together with just acoustic guitar, bass and double-tracked voice, the song exudes an impending finality. Seemingly both disconsolate and resolute, Sampson wrings so much from so little – all in just under two minutes.
Songs of Delay is a sublime five-track EP of consummate songcraft. Across its 13-minute run-time, Joe Sampson patiently unfurls a perfectly formed suite of acoustic vignettes, each song exuding a gently mesmerising beauty. Stripped back in both instrumentation and execution, with additional vocals by Nathaniel Rateliff on ‘Songbird’, the EP leaves its raw, emotional core exposed, evoking the comfortably sad acoustic tones of Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen. Ornamented with often darkly humorous lyrics, intoned in a soft yet road-worn baritone, Sampson’s intimate, emotive songs draw you in, gradually weaving their subtle magic.
Stream ‘My Love’ at SoundCloud or grab a limited time free download over at Bandcamp. Read more about Joe Sampson here.
Arc Lab “Anthem” Out Now + New Music Video!
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of Anthem, the brilliant new album by Arc Lab. To coincide with the release we also have the wonderful new music video for album track ‘The Refracting Glass’ to share with you.
After years away, Medard Fischer’s Arc Lab project returns with Anthem, a retrofuturistic sci-fi travelogue. Folding classic analogue timbres and detuned FM ambience over fragmented radio broadcasts, forgotten NASA program materials and layers of deep space noise, Anthem is in turns menacing and contemplative, forbidding and epic. The album shifts between claustrophobic tension and widescreen, cinematic expanse. Crushes of static and thundering percussion sit alongside diminutive synth studies, all plotted against an almost palpable narrative of anxiety, struggle and, ultimately, salvation. It’s the grandeur of classic space opera, refracting darkly through a contemporary lens.
“…one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time…confounding the set-in-stone rules of a stagnant IDM genre” – [sic] Magazine on Arc Lab’s The Goodbye Radio
Arc Lab is Hidden Shoal artist Medard Fischer’s primary vehicle for musical experimentation – a blank-slate platform on which he has released a diverse catalogue of emotive, conceptual work. Eschewing easy genre classification, Fischer’s output as Arc Lab effectively blends IDM’s technical sophistication with the moving and poignant character of neo-classical ambience and a finely tuned ear for electroacoustic pop. Anthem comes after an almost 8-year hiatus following Arc Lab’s brilliant 2008 album The Goodbye Radio (n5MD), described as “‘genre-defying’ or, perhaps most appropriately, ‘genre-transcending’” (Textura) and as “one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time” and “downright ingenious” ([sic] Magazine).
Anthem is available now via BandCamp and all good online stores. Check out the beautiful music video for ‘The Refracting Glass’ over at YouTube.
New Slow Dancing Society Single & Album Pre-Orders
Hidden Shoal is excited to present ‘The Color of Despair‘, the new single from American ambient artist Slow Dancing Society. The song is lifted from the forthcoming album The Wagers Of Love And Their Songs From The Witching Hour, due for release on the 23rd of August 2016.
On his seventh full-length release as Slow Dancing Society, Drew Sullivan’s sound continues to evolve. This 19-track epic meshes the warm, rich SDS sound with a new set of textures, bringing these musical snapshots into vivid definition. Trumpet and saxophone nestle amidst lyrical guitar lines, pulsing rhythms and expansive synths, creating an immersive and melancholy listen, tempered with rays of hope.
Sullivan’s work is as cinematic as ever, yet here he’s scoring a more personal film. Profoundly influenced by Sullivan’s experience of becoming a father for the first time, the album took shape around the creation of single ‘The Color of Despair’. The track distilled his anxieties about his new life and responsibilities, and became ground zero for the album’s sound and production, with many other songs on the album evolving out of its instrumentation and feel. The ambient lyricism present here is a testament to the narrative possibilities of instrumental music, resulting in a strikingly complete-sounding album.
‘The Color of Despair’ is available now as a stream and free download. The Wagers Of Love And Their Songs From The Witching Hour is available for pre-order via iTunes and BandCamp before it’s release on 23rd August 2016.
New Slow Dancing Society Album Out 23/8/16
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the forthcoming release of The Wagers Of Love And Their Songs From The Witching Hour, the new album by American ambient artist Slow Dancing Society. The album will see release on 23/8/16 preceded by the first single ‘The Color of Despair’ on 26/7/16. Check out the album teaser over at our YouTube channel.
On his seventh full-length release as Slow Dancing Society, Drew Sullivan’s sound continues to evolve. This 19-track epic meshes the warm, rich SDS sound with a new set of textures, bringing these musical snapshots into vivid definition. Trumpet and saxophone nestle amidst lyrical guitar lines, pulsing rhythms and expansive synths, creating an immersive and melancholy listen, tempered with rays of hope.
Sullivan’s work is as cinematic as ever, yet here he’s scoring a more personal film. Profoundly influenced by Sullivan’s experience of becoming a father for the first time, the album took shape around the creation of single ‘The Color of Despair’. The track distilled his anxieties about his new life and responsibilities, and became ground zero for the album’s sound and production, with many other songs on the album evolving out of its instrumentation and feel. The ambient lyricism present here is a testament to the narrative possibilities of instrumental music, resulting in a strikingly complete-sounding album.
Arc Lab ‘All These Worlds Are Yours’ Music Video
We’re excited to be able to share another track and music video from the amazing forthcoming Arc Lab album Anthem (28/7/16). ‘All These Worlds Are Yours’ is the sublime closing track from the album and oozes a melancholic sci-fi finality from it’s synth laden pores. The accompanying music video sets the tone with its 80’s NASA footage collaged and re-cut.
Check the video out via YouTube and pre-order your copy of Anthem now from BandCamp.
Antonymes Featured On Official Spotify Playlist
The stunning Antonymes track ‘Elegy (IV)’ has been included in the new official Spotify playlist Music For Concentration. The track sits among a set of beautiful music from the likes of Nils Frahm, Dustin O’Halloran, Jon Hopkins, Max Richter, Harold Budd, Broken Social Scene and more. Check out the playlist here.
‘Elegy (IV)’ is taken from Antonymes‘ sublime new album, (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly which is available now via Bandcamp and the usual 3rd party online stores. Contact Hidden Shoal for all Antonymes licensing inquiries.
Featured Track – Erik Nilsson ‘Ex Nihilo’
On ‘Ex Nihilo’, the quicksilver opener to his superb 2015 album Hearing Things, Erik Nilsson‘s impressionistic deployment of the guitar is very much in the tradition of Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis: minimal notes, maximum impact. The track beautifully sets the stage for the album to follow, putting the listener in a receptive, contemplative mood that allows Nilsson to work his magic to best effect.
New Arc Lab Single, Album Pre-Orders & Video Teaser
We’re very excited to announce the release of ‘Through The Burning Glass‘, the first single lifted from the forthcoming Arc Lab album Anthem. On ‘Through the Burning Glass’, Medard Fischer draws inspiration from the majesty of Geogaddi-era Boards of Canada and lends it his own unique twist. Combining deep, propulsive beats with a shifting matrix of synths, the track’s soaring trajectory is truly something to behold.
After years away, Medard Fischer’s Arc Lab project returns with Anthem, a retrofuturistic sci-fi travelogue. Folding classic analogue timbres and detuned FM ambience over fragmented radio broadcasts, forgotten NASA program materials and layers of deep space noise, Anthem is in turns menacing and contemplative, forbidding and epic. The album shifts between claustrophobic tension and widescreen, cinematic expanse. Crushes of static and thundering percussion sit alongside diminutive synth studies, all plotted against an almost palpable narrative of anxiety, struggle and, ultimately, salvation. It’s the grandeur of classic space opera, refracting darkly through a contemporary lens. Anthem sees release through Hidden Shoal on 28th July.
“…one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time…confounding the set-in-stone rules of a stagnant IDM genre” – [sic] Magazine on The Goodbye Radio
Anthem will see release through Hidden Shoal on the 28th of July with pre-orders now available via Bandcamp. First single, ‘Through The Burning Glass’, is available now for streaming via SoundCloud and a beautiful album video teaser is available for streaming at YouTube and Vimeo.
Kramies & Alma Forrer ‘Into The Sparks’ (Acoustic) Video
We have a lovely little Tuesday delight for you in the form of a music video for the acoustic version of Kramies new single ‘Into The Sparks’ (feat. French chanteuse Alma Forrer). The track is a gorgeous anti-gravity ballad with Kramies and Alma’s voices reverberating amidst open acoustic guitar chords. Simply beautiful.
Check out the video at YouTube and Vimeo and head to Kramies’ BandCamp to grab yourself a free download of both the original single and this acoustic version. Be sure to check out Kramies other releases, music videos and news here and listen to more of Alma Forrer’s music here.
Hidden Shoal MixTape
