| Paul Smith & Peter Brewis |
| Frozen By Sight |
Paul Smith & Peter Brewis — Frozen By Sight
ζ Lepší než kartáč z Karáčí, než šuškanie do uška.
ζ Spletité reminiscence: David Sylvian, Scott Walker a pár ruských skladatelů jako třeba Sergej Prokofjev (inspirace) — ale zní to jako chladný kontinentální vítr, cesta autem přes spálené ulice někde daleko, daleko od zamračené oblohy Sunderlandu. Navíc je zde smyčcový kvartet: tato sekce tmavé, ploché mraky roztáhne a písně prosvětlí.
Location: Sunderland, England ~ Newcastle upon Tyne, in The North of England
Genre: Chamber Rock 'n' Rubato
Album release: 17th nov 2014
Record Label: Memphis Industries
Duration: 42:08
Tracks:
01 Old Odeon 1:44
02 Santa Monica 5:54
03 Exiting Hyde Park Towers 3:09
04 Barcelona (At Eye Level) 4:46
05 L.A. Street Cleaner 2:10
06 A Town Called Letter 3:10
07 Mount Wellington Rises 2:14
08 Budapest 2:45
09 Perth to Bunbury 4:43
10 Philly 2:27
11 Trevone 4:49
1ě St Peter's 4:16
Personnel:
ζ Paul Smith — Vocals/Guitar/Thumb Piano
ζ Peter Brewis — Piano
ζ David Brewis — Drums
ζ Andrew Lowther — Percussion
ζ John Pope — Double Bass
ζ Ed Cross — Violin
ζ Josephine Montgomery — Violin
ζ Chrissie Slater — Viola
ζ Ele Russell — Cello
ζ Frozen by Sight is the new album from Paul Smith (Maximo Park) and Peter Brewis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Week_That_Was) + (Field Music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Music).
ζ Drawing inspiration from disparate musical and poetic sources the two Mercury Prize nominees have come together in a playful departure from their respective bands, with Brewis’ chamber–band arrangements built up around text from Smith’s travel writing, creating a a restrained yet richly descriptive song suite.
ζ First performed at the inaugural Festival of the North East in spring 2013, Smith and Brewis began work in early 2014 recording the album at the Field Music studio in Sunderland with David Brewis, Peter’s brother, acting as co–producer. Integral to the sound of the record are the distinctive performances of the band: David’s dynamic push and pull on the drums, John Pope’s wandering, melodic bass playing, the precision and drama of Ed Cross’ string quartet, and the sonorous palette of Andrew Lowther’s tuned percussion. Brewis reinforces the arrangements with smatterings of piano while Smith features as a highly individual singer/guitar player.
ζ Pre–order Frozen By Sight on gatefold 180 gsm lp, cd or download and you’ll receive an exclusive limited edition stitched lyric book, the first 100 of which will be signed by paul smith. in addition, you’ll receive an instant download of trevone, mount wellington rises and exiting hyde park towers from the album to your inbox to whet your appetite.
ζ Further frozen by sight performances will be announced shortly.
Fortaken: http://www.memphis-industries.com/
PAUL SMITH
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
ζ Best known as Maximo Park's singer/songwriter, Paul Smith didn’t feel like he wanted to make music until he heard Nick Drake when he was 12 years old. At the time, he was a student living in Billingham, Teeside with his brothers and parents; his father, a chemical factory welder, encouraged him to learn how to play the Spanish guitar they had at their house. However, it wasn’t until Smith was 17 that he picked up the guitar in earnest, forming an instrumental band called Me and the Twins with identical twins Rachel and Laura Lancaster at Hartlepool Art College in 1998. Narbi Price joined the group on drums in 2001, and this version of the band recorded an EP. However, Me and the Twins went on hiatus when Smith was suggested as a singer to Newcastle band Maximo Park by drummer Tom English's girlfriend. She heard Smith singing Stevie Wonder's “Superstition” at a club’s karaoke night — the second time Smith had ever sung in public. With the addition of Smith, the band changed its sound from avant–garde rock to bright, angular songs inspired by the Buzzcocks and the Smiths. Their first single, the limited-edition 7" Graffiti/Going Missing, found its way to Warp Records, who signed the band and issued its Mercury Prize–nominated debut album, A Certain Trigger, in 2005. Smith and the rest of the band issued 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures and 2009’s Quicken the Heart, touring consistently in support of each album, and took a break in 2010. During that time, Smith gathered songs he’d written that didn’t fit the Maximo Park mold and recorded them with friends, including Field Music's David and Peter Brewis. The result, Margins, was released by Smith's own Billingham Records in October 2010.
Website: http://www.frozenbysight.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulsmithmusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frozenbysight
Tour dates:
THU 18 DECEMBER
Band on the Wall
Manchester, UK
FRI 19 DECEMBER
St Giles-in-the-Fields Church
London, UK
SAT 20 DECEMBER
The Sage Gateshead
Gateshead, UK
____________________________________________________________
REVIEW
Harriet Gibsone
ζ theguardian.com, Thursday 14 August 2014 13.08 BST
ζ Listen to a track from the collaborative album Frozen By Sight, created by Maximo Park and Field Music members
ζ When the world weighs too heavy on my mind, the internet feels too fraught, the sky outside too dark and that Rita Ora and Iggy Azaela track too utterly uninspired for words; I like to crawl into the warm bosom of the Brewis brothers. Whether it be The Week That Was, School Of Language or their covers of the Pet Shop Boys on 2012 compilation album Play, Field Music’s David and Peter imbue warmth and comfort into every piece of music that they so cerebrally craft.
ζ I was very happy then, to discover Peter Brewis’ latest venture this week, which comes in the form of a collaboration with Maximo Park’s Paul Smith. The premise of Frozen By Sight sounds somewhat convoluted — referencing latter–day David Sylvian, Scott Walker, and Russian composers like Prokofiev as inspiration — but it sounds like a cool continental breeze, a car journey through the scorched streets of somewhere far, far away from the sullen skies of Sunderland.
ζ Enlisting a small band and string ensemble, Brewis arranged a series of compositions that would soundtrack words gathered from Smith’s travel writing. “When I’m writing, it makes sense to try and document the world around me as well as the world within me,” says Smith. “Usually, I like to depict everyday situations but the focus of Frozen By Sight is solely my external world, taken from descriptive passages in my notebooks, written as I travelled.”
ζ You’ll have to wait until 17 November for the album’s release — out via Memphis Industries — but before then we have the premiere of Barcelona (at Eye Level). What begins with the bare bones of song evolves into bucolic beauty. Dappled with the jazz inflected delicacy of Mark Hollis’ solo work, Smith depicts “distant hills” which “illuminate dark, flat clouds” before a soaring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy–styled string section sweeps in. Fortaken: http://www.theguardian.com/
____________________________________________________________
| Paul Smith & Peter Brewis |
| Frozen By Sight |
ζ Lepší než kartáč z Karáčí, než šuškanie do uška.
ζ Spletité reminiscence: David Sylvian, Scott Walker a pár ruských skladatelů jako třeba Sergej Prokofjev (inspirace) — ale zní to jako chladný kontinentální vítr, cesta autem přes spálené ulice někde daleko, daleko od zamračené oblohy Sunderlandu. Navíc je zde smyčcový kvartet: tato sekce tmavé, ploché mraky roztáhne a písně prosvětlí.
Location: Sunderland, England ~ Newcastle upon Tyne, in The North of England
Genre: Chamber Rock 'n' Rubato
Album release: 17th nov 2014
Record Label: Memphis Industries
Duration: 42:08
Tracks:
01 Old Odeon 1:44
02 Santa Monica 5:54
03 Exiting Hyde Park Towers 3:09
04 Barcelona (At Eye Level) 4:46
05 L.A. Street Cleaner 2:10
06 A Town Called Letter 3:10
07 Mount Wellington Rises 2:14
08 Budapest 2:45
09 Perth to Bunbury 4:43
10 Philly 2:27
11 Trevone 4:49
1ě St Peter's 4:16
Personnel:
ζ Paul Smith — Vocals/Guitar/Thumb Piano
ζ Peter Brewis — Piano
ζ David Brewis — Drums
ζ Andrew Lowther — Percussion
ζ John Pope — Double Bass
ζ Ed Cross — Violin
ζ Josephine Montgomery — Violin
ζ Chrissie Slater — Viola
ζ Ele Russell — Cello
ζ Frozen by Sight is the new album from Paul Smith (Maximo Park) and Peter Brewis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Week_That_Was) + (Field Music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Music).
ζ Drawing inspiration from disparate musical and poetic sources the two Mercury Prize nominees have come together in a playful departure from their respective bands, with Brewis’ chamber–band arrangements built up around text from Smith’s travel writing, creating a a restrained yet richly descriptive song suite.
ζ First performed at the inaugural Festival of the North East in spring 2013, Smith and Brewis began work in early 2014 recording the album at the Field Music studio in Sunderland with David Brewis, Peter’s brother, acting as co–producer. Integral to the sound of the record are the distinctive performances of the band: David’s dynamic push and pull on the drums, John Pope’s wandering, melodic bass playing, the precision and drama of Ed Cross’ string quartet, and the sonorous palette of Andrew Lowther’s tuned percussion. Brewis reinforces the arrangements with smatterings of piano while Smith features as a highly individual singer/guitar player.
ζ Pre–order Frozen By Sight on gatefold 180 gsm lp, cd or download and you’ll receive an exclusive limited edition stitched lyric book, the first 100 of which will be signed by paul smith. in addition, you’ll receive an instant download of trevone, mount wellington rises and exiting hyde park towers from the album to your inbox to whet your appetite.
ζ Further frozen by sight performances will be announced shortly.
Fortaken: http://www.memphis-industries.com/
PAUL SMITH
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
ζ Best known as Maximo Park's singer/songwriter, Paul Smith didn’t feel like he wanted to make music until he heard Nick Drake when he was 12 years old. At the time, he was a student living in Billingham, Teeside with his brothers and parents; his father, a chemical factory welder, encouraged him to learn how to play the Spanish guitar they had at their house. However, it wasn’t until Smith was 17 that he picked up the guitar in earnest, forming an instrumental band called Me and the Twins with identical twins Rachel and Laura Lancaster at Hartlepool Art College in 1998. Narbi Price joined the group on drums in 2001, and this version of the band recorded an EP. However, Me and the Twins went on hiatus when Smith was suggested as a singer to Newcastle band Maximo Park by drummer Tom English's girlfriend. She heard Smith singing Stevie Wonder's “Superstition” at a club’s karaoke night — the second time Smith had ever sung in public. With the addition of Smith, the band changed its sound from avant–garde rock to bright, angular songs inspired by the Buzzcocks and the Smiths. Their first single, the limited-edition 7" Graffiti/Going Missing, found its way to Warp Records, who signed the band and issued its Mercury Prize–nominated debut album, A Certain Trigger, in 2005. Smith and the rest of the band issued 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures and 2009’s Quicken the Heart, touring consistently in support of each album, and took a break in 2010. During that time, Smith gathered songs he’d written that didn’t fit the Maximo Park mold and recorded them with friends, including Field Music's David and Peter Brewis. The result, Margins, was released by Smith's own Billingham Records in October 2010.
Website: http://www.frozenbysight.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulsmithmusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frozenbysight
Tour dates:
THU 18 DECEMBER
Band on the Wall
Manchester, UK
FRI 19 DECEMBER
St Giles-in-the-Fields Church
London, UK
SAT 20 DECEMBER
The Sage Gateshead
Gateshead, UK
____________________________________________________________
REVIEW
Harriet Gibsone
ζ theguardian.com, Thursday 14 August 2014 13.08 BST
ζ Listen to a track from the collaborative album Frozen By Sight, created by Maximo Park and Field Music members
ζ When the world weighs too heavy on my mind, the internet feels too fraught, the sky outside too dark and that Rita Ora and Iggy Azaela track too utterly uninspired for words; I like to crawl into the warm bosom of the Brewis brothers. Whether it be The Week That Was, School Of Language or their covers of the Pet Shop Boys on 2012 compilation album Play, Field Music’s David and Peter imbue warmth and comfort into every piece of music that they so cerebrally craft.
ζ I was very happy then, to discover Peter Brewis’ latest venture this week, which comes in the form of a collaboration with Maximo Park’s Paul Smith. The premise of Frozen By Sight sounds somewhat convoluted — referencing latter–day David Sylvian, Scott Walker, and Russian composers like Prokofiev as inspiration — but it sounds like a cool continental breeze, a car journey through the scorched streets of somewhere far, far away from the sullen skies of Sunderland.
ζ Enlisting a small band and string ensemble, Brewis arranged a series of compositions that would soundtrack words gathered from Smith’s travel writing. “When I’m writing, it makes sense to try and document the world around me as well as the world within me,” says Smith. “Usually, I like to depict everyday situations but the focus of Frozen By Sight is solely my external world, taken from descriptive passages in my notebooks, written as I travelled.”
ζ You’ll have to wait until 17 November for the album’s release — out via Memphis Industries — but before then we have the premiere of Barcelona (at Eye Level). What begins with the bare bones of song evolves into bucolic beauty. Dappled with the jazz inflected delicacy of Mark Hollis’ solo work, Smith depicts “distant hills” which “illuminate dark, flat clouds” before a soaring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy–styled string section sweeps in. Fortaken: http://www.theguardian.com/
____________________________________________________________