Post tour ramblings

Once again the decision to uproot, travel thousands of miles (for some) and  drive ourselves into the ground with organisational chaos was justified by a life affirming set of dates. The sheer kindness we discover on the road floors us every time.

We were almost thwarted from the get go by an M1 pile up that threatened to scupper our London show. We snuck off a handily placed slip road, detoured the Leicestershire countryside before

arriving in London just 15 minutes late.

The 'Be Prepared' promoters were just that and had everything in place for what was a wonderful gig. Where did the 100 plus people come from? We have no idea but it was a pleasure to play in front of such a large crowd and one made up of so many familiar faces.

The madcap drive home the same night allowed us have a lovely sunny saturday lunchtime in York before heading back onto the Great North Road for a stunning gig in Newcastle. The inaugral On The Bridges show was one of the most enjoyable of our short career, the Modern Tower venue has to be seen to be believed. A freezing cold day in Edinburgh was rounded off by a lovely intimate gig in the darkened recesses of The Banshee Labyrinth.

There are too many people to thank but here goes. First up our marvellous string players for each show, Katie English (London), Sarah Kemp (Newcastle) and Florence Fawcett (Edinburgh) seamlessly performed with us despite zero rehearsing and last minute changes of plans. Our warm up man a.k.a the wildman of finger-picked acoustic./electro folk Chris Tenz baffled and stunned audiences in equal measure , there were spot on supports from Grapefruits, Michael Marwood and Talvihorros. We are so grateful to the hard work of the promoters James and James (Be Prepared), Ally (Pendulum Man) and the most organised man in rock Paul Elam (Sleepsound/On the Bridges).

We are just putting the finishing touches to our next album 'There Is No Perfect Place',  once that is done and out we will tentatively head out again, for the moment we can drift away to our normal lives with the loveliest of memories. 

February gigs update

We have all arrived from far flung places and are busy rehearsing for this weekends shows as well as recording our second album. Here are a few further updates on the gigs:-

Fri 08 - Cafe OTO London (Tickets:http://www.wegottickets.com/event/202435)

support from Chris Tenz/Grapefruits

Sat 09 - Morden Tower, Newcastle Upon Tyne (Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/202611)

support from Chris Tenz/Michael Marwood

Sun 10 - The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh (Tickets: http://www.pendulummanconcerts.com/)

support from Chris Tenz/Talvihorros

We are delighted that Katie English (Isnaj Dui) will be performing with us at the London show. Florence Fawcett of Glissando will join us for our Newcastle and Edinburgh shows.

We are busy now so check out our Facebook page for further updates and hopefully an album teaser before the end of the week.

February tour dates in full

February tour dates are now confirmed:

08 - Cafe OTO London (Tickets:http://www.wegottickets.com/event/202435)
09 - Morden Tower, Newcastle Upon Tyne (Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/202611)
10 - The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh (Tickets: http://www.pendulummanconcerts.com/)


WATCH footage from the last show of our September tour at Sacred Trinity Church, Salford

Recordings and short tour

We are pleased to announce that we are playing a show in Edinburgh on Sunday February 10th with our good friend Chris Tenz and the very exellent Talvihorros. Here is the Facebook event page:-

 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/events/483687095016729/

We are hoping to add a date or two beforehand and will announce any further shows as and when. 

Recordings for our second album tentatively titled 'There Is No Perfect Place' continue in early February and we hope to have the album ready for a late 2013/early 2014 release date. But as you know, these things take time

Post tour

Well this has been a tour of undoubted success! We were welcomed with open arms wherever we went and at least 4 out of the 5 shows were special in their own unique way. Thanks to everyone who showed up to watch the shows,  turnouts were terrific throughout and we sold many a CD so thanks for your generosity. We must apologise to anyone who came to see us in Sunderland, the venue we were supposed to play in had been closed down so we ended up in a rock club, ACDC over the PA system and the bleed from the band on the floor below drowning us out! 

We have a lot of people to thank:- namely Paul Elam for helping set everything up, Brian at Books For Amnesty York for letting us turn his shop into a gig venue for the night, all the great Wharf Chambers people in Leeds (what a venue!), George and his Headfall people  in Bristol, Ben and Arran in Sunderland for patience in an impossible situation, David and team in Manchester and all the bands we played with. It's a rarity for support acts to be chosen with such military precision and to fit in perfectly with the aesthetic.

Suddenly finding ourselves in the age of instantly uploaded photos and videos, we have a slew of footage to share, which we will do over the next few posts.......

Leeds Wharf Chambers show on YouTube

Pretend you were at our Leeds Wharf Chambers show by watching the whole damn lot of it on YouTube. We've posted it below to make it even easier for you.

Tracklist:
Heptonstall, The Canal's Drowning Black, There Come Days to the Hills, Slump Sundays, Sunstruck, Chinese History Colden Water, Dead Leaves, Untitled.

Recording Studio

We returned to the recording studio two weeks ago to start work on what will be our second album.  We have a great time with super producer Ross Halden who saw to our every ridiculous whim. We will return in January for mixing and hopefully completion.   Here is a picture of Joel overdubbing dulcimer in the stairwell.

'Sunstruck' free to download EP

To celebrate our UK tour we are offering free to download a brand new EP featuring two tracks from our now-sold-out 'Music For Another Loss' album, one previously unheard track 'High Sea Light' and an exclusive remix of 'Drift Apart' by Loner Deluxe (Rusted Rail).

Go to our Bandcamp page to download for free!

http://memorydrawings.bandcamp.com/album/memory-drawings-sunstruck-ep

Memory Drawings on 'End of a Season' sampler

'End Of A Season - a Second Language label sampler' : 39+ minutes of new and exclusive music from The Cloisters, Richard Moult, Memory Drawings, Mark Fry/The A Lords, Directorsound, Tyneham House, Piano Magic, Klima, Glen Johnson, The Home Current and Aine O'Dwyer. Existing Second Language subscribers will receive this compilation FREE with Richard Moult's Yclypt album. Non-subscribers can buy it (for £5!) from  :


http://www.secondlanguagemusic.com/SL018x.html

On the road

We will be on the road for a small number of concerts in the UK in September. Please see dates below.









September 2012

12 - Books for Amnesty, YORK (w. Ten).

13  - Wharf Chambers, LEEDS (w.Maggie 8, Ithaca Trio, Ten ) Info - http://www.wharfchambers.org.

14 - Cafe Kino, BRISTOL (w. Many Fingers, Ten, Headfall) Info - http://www.cafe-kino.com.

15 - Split Festival [Secret Venue TBA), SUNDERLAND (w. Matt Stalker, Fables, Deerhart). Info - http://www.splitfestival.com/home.htm.

16 - Sacred Trinity Chapel, SALFORD (w. riverrun, J.Collin) Info - http://www.littleredrabbit.co.uk/trinity.htm


There is a Facebook page which will keep you updated on ticket information.

Going......going.....

We hear on the grapevine that 'Music For Another Loss' has now sold out. This is, of course, terrific news BUT as Second Language do not re-press then this will be the end of the run forever. A few copies re available direct from Norman Records so move quick. We have procured a small amount for our upcoming UK tour (dates to follow shortly).

Music For Another Loss

ORDER HERE


Memory Drawings is the beguiling, drum-less project of Minneapolis-raised, Morocco-based hammered dulcimer player Joel Hanson, erstwhile Hood guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and sometime Declining Winter main-man Richard Adams, and Lanterns on the Lake/Brave Timbers violinist Sarah Kemp.

Partly inspired by Adams’ native West Yorkshire landscape (particularly as enshrined in Ted Hughes’ and Fay Godwin’s 1979 poetry/photography essay Remains of Elmet), Music For Another Loss maps the contours between brooding melancholy and redemptive calm. It’s an equipoise reflected in a musical signature which simultaneously suggests both classical minimalism and hearth-side folk, but which, tantalizingly, is never quite either. With Hanson’s exotic dulcimer peals always at the core, framed in Adams’ and Kemps’ halos of poignant melody and harmony (here and there augmented by guest keyboardists Rachel Grimes, of Rachel’s, and Gareth S. Brown, along with the occasional trace of vocals from Yvonne Bruner) this is a seductive, watercolour music whose true potency lies in its subtlety, but which gets right under the skin from first listen, nonetheless.  

While Memory Drawings is an ostensibly instrumental project, Music For Another Loss also features a second disc comprising Yvonne Bruner-led vocal versions of many of the first disc’s tracks, alongside a clutch of total reinvention remixes by Rachel Grimes, Dakota Suite, Piano Magic (featuring Disco Inferno’s Ian Crause on guitar) and Bracken.   

May 2012

We are pleased to announce that 'Music For Another Loss' will be released later this week on Second Language

Purchasing details and further info will follow but for now please enjoy a video for its penultimate track 'Chinese History of Colden Water'.  

April 2012

There's been a slight hitch is getting our debut CD ready and out into the world but we now hope it is a mere matter of weeks away. The packaging is elaborate as you may expect from the label we have aligned ourselves with.

We are working on videos and as well as the album there will be a couple of web only bonus tracks which can only be found here.

More news soon

January 2012

Our album has been mastered, polished, given the once over by a clever man in Denmark and has been sent to the record company. We await news of what happens next. In the meantime we are planning a few shows in September 2012. If you can help please look at our page on the Sleepsound (our nice booking people) website and get in touch!  

November 2011

As the last leaves descend from the Robinia tree in the back lane and the plains of Yorkshire are shrouded in mist, we have finally delivered our album via the internet wires, down to the big smoke for the pop people to do their thing. Artwork ideas are being teased out of various old looking objects while we are awaiting the completion of two exciting remixes.

photo: www.bradleyhanson.com

October 2011

As the Indian summer turns to rain and high winds we are making final tweaks to the album before it gets delivered to the record label later this month.

August 2011 part 2

We've had stunning remixes in from Bracken (Anticon) and

Rachel Grimes (Rachel's). We continue to mix, mix, mix.

August 2011

While the weather here in North Yorkshire resembles deepest winter, its surely warmer in Kentucky where Rachel has laid down some beautiful, sparkling piano to what will become the opening track 'The Canal's Drowning Black'

July 2011

Joel travelled to historic York to finish up the recording for what will be our debut album 'Music For Another Loss'. We hope it will see the light of day before the year is out.

While he was here we started writing for our second album, below is lo fidelity footage of Joel performing a short piece (listen carefully and you may be able to hear something)