THE HANGING STARS
HEAD OUT ON UK TOUR THIS SPRING
NEW ALBUM ‘HOLLOW HEART‘ OUT NOW
The London five-piece will be bringing their captivating amalgam of blissful psychedelic folk and harmony-laden cosmic country to venues across the UK, in celebration of their fourth album ‘Hollow Heart’ (out now).
Recorded at Edwyn Collins’ Clashnarrow Studios in North-Eastern Scotland, the 10 track LP sees The Hanging Stars transcend their well-earned reputation as masters of their craft and scale fresh artistic heights, as they conjure an album more sonically varied, more contemporary, and less in awe of its influences.
Including stops at High Wycombe’s Ramblin’ Roots Festival, Easton’s Maverick Festival and the Kilkenny Roots Festival, the string of UK dates will see the group bring their sonically varied alternative-country and offbeat pop to audiences spanning the country. Full dates below.
THE HANGING STARS – LIVE SHOWS 2022
APRIL 30TH / MAY 1ST – Kilkenny Roots Festival
MAY 5TH – Gullivers, Manchester
MAY 6TH – Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester
MAY 13TH – Le Pub, Newport
MAY 27TH – St Michael in the Hamlet Church, Liverpool
JUNE 5TH – The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
JULY 2ND – Easton Maverick Festival
Paving the way for the ‘Hollow Heart”s release, The Hanging Stars released first single “Radio On” earlier this year — a would-be make-out song with magnetic trot.
“I wrote a lot of songs over these last strange years but ‘Radio On’ just kind of turned up at the door one day. We exchanged pleasantries, had a cup of tea and then it simply sat down and made itself at home. One of those songs that just writes itself.” says Richard Olson on how the song came to be. He continues, “Maybe it’s folly, but I do believe in that universal harmony, the music of the spheres or whatever. Because sometimes they just knock on the door and walk right in.
Sing a simple song of yearning and despair – with one foot in the tinfoil covered walls of The Factory,the other on the sticky floor of London’s prime Country & Roots venue the Betsey Trotwood and a pair of hands on the controls of Edwyn Collins’ studio Clashnarrow, it seems to me that contrasts can equal harmony after all. And there is nothing the world needs more than that right now.”
With producer Sean Read (Soulsavers, Dexys) the band – singer and guitarist Richard Olson, bassist Sam Ferman, drummer Paulie Cobra, Patrick Ralla on guitars and keyboards, and the in-demand pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte – embarked on a two-day drive to reach Helmsdale, and the unique studio sitting on a cliff overlooking the North Sea, on the same latitude as Gothenburg, and with the smell of Scandinavia on the air.
The reward was a fresh kind of recording experience, attaining, with Sean at the helm, a focus and discipline allowing them to fully realise the performances they aspired to. The bucolic ambience of the place was infectious, such that a loucheness inhabited the groove and they could relax into a freedom to follow where the music led, knowing Edwyn’s bespoke equipment would faithfully preserve it. Having determined on a far more pronounced emphasis on sonics, they were in just the right place to realise that.
A mesmeric aura possesses this sequence of ten songs such that ‘Ava’ can open the album with an unhurried smoulder of steel and string, so right the extent of its unfolding surprises; voice, guitars, and resolute drums may break the reverie but attention is snared. Through ‘Black Light Night’s harsh cold turkey pop and ‘Weep & Whisper’s gorgeous near-ambient soft-focus, to the celestial shoegaze wash of ‘Rainbows On Windows’ and the divine lo-fi wonkiness of ‘Red Autumn Leaf’ a sonic surety prevails. The vocal arrangements amaze, and the breadth of instrumental exploration inspires awe.
The Hanging Stars shine brighter than ever; as with Hollow Heart they’ve self-confidently seized the opportunity to birth a record that inhabits its own world and time, and insists it be heard.
THE HANGING STARS – ‘HOLLOW HEART’ OUT NOW
UK LIVE DATES THIS SPRINGFOR MORE INFORMATION
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