Over the coming weeks FFS will be submitting the same set of questions to the Schmercury nominees. Today, Nick Hemming answers on behalf of The Leisure Society, who are nominated for their album The Sleeper.
Author: Lynn Roberts
Lynn founded For Folk's Sake in 2008. Her favourite artists are Joni Mitchell, The Leisure Society and The Mountain Goats. She plays keyboards in Joe Innes & the Cavalcade.
Drummer Doug Fink leaves Noah and the Whale to be a doctor
Noah and the Whale drummer Doug Fink, brother of frontman Charlie, has announced he is to leave the band to resume his medical career after collecting his degree from University College London last year.
Festival: Joe does Green Man
The images conjured up at the mention of the Green Man festival have, sadly, not quite matched the reality in the last couple of years. Where young children should have been gaily running amok in the secret garden, instead they’ve been whining about the mud. And when you’ve been dying to just stretch out on the grass and let the music wash over you, all that washed over you was the rain.
Alessi’s Ark at Glastonbury
Here is a rather lovely video made by Lois Jeary featuring Alessi’s Ark’s Glastonbury performance and an interview with the lady herself. Enjoy! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8hRetqBSwg]
Single: Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies
It’s hard to isolate “Blue Skies” from its album, “The First Days of Spring”, but seeing as it makes such a beautiful single, it’s worth a shot.
Noah and the Whale (namely Charlie Fink) have evolved massively as songwriters since last year. This is something “Blue Skies” optimises perfectly. The track builds up an air of expectant hope, not only in the lyrics (‘Blue Skies are coming/But I know that it’s hard’) but also in the opening bars of music that peak into a soaring chorus and then ebb back into place.
Mumford and Sons unveil Little Lion Man Video
Verge-of-a-breakthrough band Mumford and Sons have released their debut video out into the internets.
The foursome, who FFS interviewed when they were just six months old, play to an empty venue with as much vigour as they played to a packed borderline this week in the video, which is available on their myspace.
FFS Interview: Rachael McShane
FFS talks to Bellowhead’s Rachael McShane about her recently-released album ‘No Man’s Fool’ and we have a link to a free track from the album.
Interview: James Yorkston on…
“Even though I am not a very good singer, my voice is my best instrument, I prefer to sing than to play guitar, to tell stories, I write the lyrics in my notebook and then I put them to music, the lyrics always come first.”
Album: Andy Nice – The Secrets of Me
Andy Nice has played cello with screaming gothic pervs Cradle of Filth and bald techno ravers Orbital, and is currently in string + dance combo Instrumental. He also has a name more suited to a particularly over familiar used car salesman.
Ignoring the fact he’s currently touring with deep-voiced chamber-pop stars Tindersticks and the embroidered patch on the front of the cd, you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s not much here for the good people of FFS. But press play and an entirely different sound to that expected issues forth – arresting, emotional, complex yet melodic cello music. And it really is cello music, pretty much just that instrument, with songs formed from layer after layer of rich string sound.
EP: Tigers that Talked – Black Heart, Blue Eyes
Tiger’s That Talked — Their name sounds mythical and enigmatic which I think perfectly describes this band’s sound. The four-piece from Leeds has, to date, released a few home-made EP’s and have recently released their first album, 23 Fears on record label Bad Sneakers. This EP, Black Heart, Blue eyes is almost a taster for fans and new listeners alike to understand their music.