Hidden Shoal News
Stunning New Antonymes Album out on Hibernate
We’re very excited to pass on news of a brand new album from the ever amazing Ian Hazeldine (aka Antonymes). His sublime new album, There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay, has just been released on the wonderful English label Hibernate and is available now as a beautifully packaged CD and in digital format from Antonymes Bandcamp site.
In late 2009 Antonymes released Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future on Cathedral Transmissions of which the CD is now unavailable. Since then he has revisited the album, which has culminated in this new release. Hazeldine’s own reworkings are intertwined with those of friends Ian Hawgood, Isnaj Dui, Offthesky, Field Rotation, Wil Bolton, Spheruleus and James Banbury to create an album of captivating melancholy and beauty. The guest reworkings venture into other, darker territories, where one might be harder pressed to identify the original material.
Antonymes fans can also expect a wonderful new album next year through Hidden Shoal as a follow up to the brilliant 2011 release The Licence To Interpret Dreams.
Antonymes – The End Of Everything -ii-
‘Greasy Moon’ from perth – New Single!
We’re very excited to present the second delicious taste of the forthcoming album from Australian experimental pop outfit perth. ‘Greasy Moon’ is an echoing, disorientating, addictive stomp that offers a tantalising hit of the wonderful songcraft woven throughout new album What’s Your Utopia?’s expansive, eclectic patchwork. As reassuring as it is creepy, as uplifting as it is doggedly despondent, ‘Greasy Moon’ exemplifies the perverse pleasures and ear-bending dichotomies perth draw upon for their sophomore album. Grab or stream the track below as well as previous single ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’.
‘Greasy Moon’: SoundCloud + Free Download
‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’: SoundCloud + Free Download
‘Greasy Moon’ and ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’ are lifted from perth’s anticipated sophomore album What’s Your Utopia? out November 14th through Hidden Shoal.
“a record that has surpassed all expectation… combines elements of post-rock, electronica and psych, but this genre-collage never feels forced. Instead, it’s a well-constructed body of work that sounds more accomplished than any debut record I’ve heard in quite a while” – Life is Noise on perth’s debut album Babes, Water, Waves
Kramies and [The] Caseworker Reviewed at Luna Kafe
The lovely Norwegian blog Luna Kafe has once again given a bunch of love to some new Hidden Shoal releases. Kramies title track to his stunning new EP The Wooden Heart and ‘Dependence Day’ taken from [The] Caseworker’s just released album Voices Out There have both been reviewed in the latest edition of Luna Kafe. Here’s some excerpts to get you started,
“I will line up to check the album. “Dependence Day” is so distinct and focused, so intense and enigmatic it is just perfect guitar-pop melancholia. Sadness painted in bright colours.” – Luna Kafe on [The] Caseworker ‘Dependence Day’
“a swaying, head-in-the-sun pop piece… it is a beautiful and magic/mystic song… pop music turned inside out” – Luna Kafe on Kramies ‘The Wooden Heart’
Head to the Hidden Shoal Store to download both tracks for free and check out their fantastic respective releases.
New Album "Voices Out There" from [The] Caseworker Now Available!
We’ve been bursting at the seems to release this amazing album! It is of course Voices Out There, the fourth album by garage-dreampop trio [The] Caseworker. Voices Out There sees the band rein in the lo-fi guitar-pop impulses of acclaimed third album Letters From The Coast to explore a more expansive, minimal sound, akin to Conor and Eimer Devlin’s previous band Half Film. The band manage to channel the best of Flying Nun’s roster and merge it with their inimitably dreamy and atmospheric take on rock music.
“[The] Caseworker extract darkness from inside whispery, ambient pop… completely enraptured and awesomely dazed” – Rolling Stone
First single ‘Dependence Day’ marries [The] Caseworker’s trademark restraint with a strident, slowburning melodic sensibility, while the title track vividly surveys the morphine hallucinations Conor experienced while confined to a hospital bed in Switzerland. The album’s chiming guitars, gently bobbing rhythm section and warm yet dislocated vocals from both Conor and Eimer Devlin generate a sense of intimacy and fragility that is deeply affecting. What’s most apparent on these songs is of a band in absolute control of their craft, able to derive maximum emotional heft from minimal ingredients.
Voices Out There is available now in CD and digital formats. All CD orders include an immediate download of the album in mp3 or FLAC formats and all downloads come with a beautiful extended digital booklet. Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all the details.
[The] Caseworker – ‘Voices Out There’ (Single)
[The] Caseworker and Monocle Reviews
More lovely reviews rolling in for Hidden Shoal releases. This time Monocle‘s brilliant new album Transpacific Sound Paradise has just been lovingly reviewed at Leonard’s Lair and [The] Caseworker‘s latest single and title track to their forthcoming album Voices Out There has just been reviewed at The Sunday Experience as well as the Polish blog Polyphonia.
Head to the Hidden Shoal Store to check out the above releases by Monocle and [The] Caseworker along with free downloads and previous albums.
Monocle – ‘Chances Glide’
New Kramies EP (feat. Jason Lytle of Grandaddy) Out Now!
We’re very excited to finally be able to share this absolutely stunning new release from Colorado-based dream-pop maestro Kramies. The Wooden Heart EP features the production and instrumental talents of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame, along with the inimitable production and additional instrumentation of Robert Pollard co-conspirator Todd Tobias. The EP mines a wonderfully rich seam of atmospheric yet epic songcraft that Kramies has made his own. From the throbbing ambient introduction of ‘The Beginning’ through to the delicate folk of ‘The Ending’, Kramies’ new EP covers vast emotional and musical terrain during its 23-minute run-time. The title track’s windswept grandeur is married to an emotional directness that demands your attention and doesn’t let go, ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ sways and swoons with an almost unbearable poignancy, and ‘Clocks Were All Broken’ both alludes to and embodies this music’s timeless appeal.
“In the middle, the song holds its breath for half a moment, then rises into a blissful dream-pop threshing; a massed quilt of hammering Slowdive-ian guitars joyfully plunging down onto each beat. “Spill out the haven, throw my maths chart away, ‘cos you’re the one,” Kramies sings, in an exultant sigh. “Throw my maps, a castaway.” It’s rare to find dream-pop that resolves with such assured optimism, in which you can sense experience shifting into its proper place… Kramies seems to have mastered the talent of simply breathing it into shape.” – Misfit City on the EP’s title track.
The album is available in digital format as well as a very limited edition CD (limited to 50 units). The EP features artwork by the wonderful French photographer Jérôme Sevrette and all downloads include a beautiful extended digital booklet with lyrics and more of Jérôme’s work. Check out the album at our store or on Bandcamp, download the first single for free, and check out this lovely little video for the EP’s parting track ‘The Ending’.
Enjoy!
Kramies – ‘The Wooden Heart’ (Single)
Kramies 'The Wooden Heart' Single Reviewed at Misfit City
Just ahead of the release of Kramies‘ stunning new EP The Wooden Heart the lead single and title track have just been reviewed over at one of our favourite music blogs Misfit City. Here’s a taste,
“In the middle, the song holds its breath for half a moment, then rises into a blissful dream-pop threshing; a massed quilt of hammering Slowdive-ian guitars joyfully plunging down onto each beat. “Spill out the haven, throw my maths chart away, ‘cos you’re the one,” Kramies sings, in an exultant sigh. “Throw my maps, a castaway.” It’s rare to find dream-pop that resolves with such assured optimism, in which you can sense experience shifting into its proper place. While Kavus and Knifeworld constantly quest for resolution – and spin some dazzling pirouettes along the way – Kramies seems to have mastered the talent of simply breathing it into shape.” – Misfit City
Read the full review at Misfit City and download the single for free from the Hidden Shoal Store.
New Single and Music Video from [The] Caseworker – Free Download
We have an absolutely beautiful new single and stunning accompanying music video for you from garage-dreampop trio [The] Caseworker. ‘Voices Out There’, the title track to their forthcoming new album (24th October), is available now as a free download and for streaming on SoundCloud. The accompanying 3D animated music video by Cam Merton, Hidden Shoal label manager and experimental film-maker, is available for streaming on YouTube and Vimeo.
Of all the songs on Voices Out There, the title track is most explicitly coloured by Conor Devlin’s experience of recovering from a serious car accident in 2012. ‘Voices Out There’ vividly surveys the morphine hallucinations experienced while confined to a hospital bed in Switzerland. The song’s chiming modulated guitars, gently bobbing rhythm section and warm yet dislocated vocals generate a sense of intimacy and fragility that is deeply affecting. The track’s 3d animated music video visually renders the intimate, surreal and dislocated spatiality conveyed so beautifully in the song.
The track is lifted from the band’s fourth album, and their second for Hidden Shoal, Voices Out There, which sees [The] Caseworker rein in the lo-fi guitar-pop impulses of acclaimed third album Letters From The Coast to explore a more expansive, minimal sound, akin to Conor and Eimer Devlin’s previous band Half Film. The band maintain their enigmatic intimacy and atmosphere, while suggesting haunting vistas just beyond the horizons of these succinct, sad songs.
[The] Caseworker – ‘Voices Out There’ from Hidden Shoal Recordings on Vimeo.
New Music Video from Kramies Forthcoming EP
In less than two weeks we get to share the absolutely beautiful new EP from Colorado-based dream-pop merchant Kramies. The Wooden Heart (Oct. 17th) features the production and instrumental talents of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame, along with the inimitable production and additional instrumentation of Robert Pollard co-conspirator Todd Tobias.
We’ve already released the first taste of the album with the epic title track which you can stream or download for free. We now present another sneak peak into the EP with this mesmerising short video for the parting track from the release ‘The Ending’. Check it out below or stream it directly from YouTube or Vimeo.
Fantastic Review of Markus Mehr's "Live In Bari" at Cyclic Defrost
Check out this fantastic review of Markus Mehr‘s brilliant live album Live In Bari over at Cyclic Defrost. Here’s a taste,
“The sounds just feel organic, not trapped inside circuitry. Coming after a decade or so of solo, loop based, ambient-noise explorations of every shade, the fact that Mehr has created a piece, within these parameters, that doesn’t sound stale, rote or like an artist going through the motions is an achievement in itself. That is imminently listenable, evocative and beautiful as well is a great bonus. The hearty applause at the end of the set is thoroughly justified.” – Cyclic Defrost
If you’ve not heard Live In Bari yet then you’ve got no excuse as this sublime live recording is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store!
Hidden Shoal MixTape
