Hidden Shoal News
Slow Dancing Society “Night Takes Day” EP Out Now!
Following on from the recently released Lilac Lullabies and The Best Days of Our Lives EPs, Drew Sullivan presents Night Takes Day, the third in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs, lovingly mastered by Taylor Deupree. Each EP will be released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released on double vinyl later in the year. The EP is available now via Bandcamp and all good third party digital retailers.
The pulsing, kosmische feel of Night Takes Day evokes liminal states between evening and night, and between night and daybreak. Each instrumental scene continuously changes colour, shifting from Tangerine Dream-esque twilight to swelling electronic ambient dawn. ‘Pulsing Amber’ is prime sci-fi electronica, with hypnotic arpeggios and expansive analogue sweeps, while the hopeful melancholy of ‘Do You Want To Get Out of Here’ feels like a musical nod to the horizon. Night Takes Day plays out like the soundtrack to a 15-minute Soderbergh sci-fi short – succinct yet expansive and continually evolving.
The EP, along with the rest of Slow Dancing Society’s luscious catalogue, is available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilations). Contact Hidden Shoal for more info.
New Slow Dancing Society Single
We’re excited to present the first cut from the forthcoming Slow Dancing Society EP Night Takes Day, the third in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society Eps, each released a month apart. ‘As Night Takes The Day’ delivers a brooding slice of dreamy electronica that roams it’s length in a kind of liminal twilight state. The track is available to stream over at SoundCloud and as a “name your price” download via Bandcamp.
Following on from the recently released Lilac Lullabies and The Best Days of Our Lives EPs, Drew Sullivan presents Night Takes Day, the third in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs, lovingly mastered by Taylor Deupree. Each EP will be released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released on double vinyl later in the year. The EP drops on the 25th of August through Hidden Shoal.
“a deeply affecting, consistently excellent effort of stunning tranquility and beautiful ambience, that demands repeated listening… Hidden Shoal have a masterpiece on their hands” – Sputnik Music on The Sound of Lights When Dim
The entire Slow Dancing Society catalogue is available for film, tv, games and compilation licensing via Hidden Shoal. Contact us for more info.
New Liminal Drifter Remix Album – Pre-Orders & Track Stream!
We’re excited to announce the forthcoming release of The Night Train Vacancies, the new album featuring remixes of tracks by Perth-based ambient electronica artist Liminal Drifter. The album is available now for pre-order and will see release on the 28th of August 2017. Stream Erik Nilsson’s sublime remix of ‘Troubled Mystic’ over at SoundCloud and pre-order the album in digital and CD formats (including stunning artwork by Stuart Medley) via the Liminal Drifter Bandcamp.
On The Night Train Vacancies, Liminal Drifter’s music is reinterpreted by artists such as Matt McLean (of Lilt), Lvmark, p_Frisk, ddos, Warren Scott, Striphy, escue and Robwun. While most of debut album Troubled Mystic (Hidden Shoal, 2015) was written while travelling, The Night Train Vacancies sees the original tracks taking new journeys of their own, woven together into a remix album that flows beautifully as a whole – from restrained and expansive reworkings to spectral tension-and-release bangers.
Brilliant New Summon the Birds Single!
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of new single ‘London Tap Water’ by Melbourne band Summon the Birds, taken from their forthcoming second album, Blood Love, recorded by Tim Johnston (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dandy Warhols, The Drones).
Like Zaphod Beeblebrox animated by Edgar Allan Poe, Summon the Birds have drunk the London tap water and are now poised for flight. Their second album Blood Love will see release on Hidden Shoal in late 2017 – imagine latter-day Talk Talk picking the locks to Spoon’s basement as The Drones circle, restless, looking for the pink pill…
Stream the track at SoundCloud or download via Bandcamp.
Slow Dancing Society’s “The Best Days of Our Lives” EP Out Now!
Following on from the recently released Lilac Lullabies EP, Drew Sullivan presents The Best Days of Our Lives, the second in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs, lovingly mastered by Taylor Deupree. Each EP will be released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released on double vinyl later in the year. Stream and download the album via the SDS Bandcamp.
The Best Days of Our Lives is a sublime set of instrumental dream pop, dripping in gorgeous ambient guitar work and Slow Dancing Society’s trademark atmospherics. Opener ‘The Smiling Dawn’ pairs heartbreaking guitar with disorientating swirls of static, while the dream-pop of ‘Lilacs’, reminiscent of Disintegration-era Cure, is a clear highlight of the SDS discography. The EP re-establishes Sullivan’s exceptional command of melody and ambience, culminating in a release that is as luxuriant as it is emotionally poignant.
Slow Dancing Society is Washington-based producer and musician Drew Sullivan, who has released 7 albums on Hidden Shoal over the last 11 years. As with Brian Eno’s finest moments and David Sylvian’s ambient explorations, Slow Dancing Society’s music manages to dissolve its temporal markers and speak about moments removed from time. It talks to the delicious flaws of memory and feeling whilst never sullying itself with literality or simple documentation.
Markus Mehr Featured on “Mind The Gap” Comp
The ever wonderful Markus Mehr is featured on the latest “Mind the Gap” compilation as part of the new issue of the excellent Dutch magazine Gonzo Circus. Mehr’s latest masterpiece Dyschronia has been bending ears since it’s release in May this year. Find out more on the artist and listen to the album here if you have not already had the pleasure.
Battlestations “Vixit” Out Now!
We’re incredibly excited to present Battlestations‘ majestic new album Vixit. The album is available now via Battlestations’ Bandcamp and all good 3rd party stores. An excerpt of the epic opening track ‘I’ is available for streaming on SoundCloud.
While 2015’s The Extent of Damage felt like a high-definition camera roving across a ruined world, listening to Vixit feels like witnessing an intimidating new dawn, barely comprehensible from a merely human perspective. Massive and awe-inspiring, this three-part composition is breathtaking in scope and stunning in execution. Synthesizers, orchestra and choirs interweave into a billowing tapestry of glorious sound that completely envelopes the listener.
Brief centrepiece ‘II’ is the calm at the eye of the storm, a ruminative piano piece that brings a sense of intimacy to a suite of music that is all about challenging the listener’s sense of scale. To either side, massive tracks ‘I’ and ‘III’ stretch out into multi-part compositions that are as deep and wide as any orchestral piece, tempered with a sensibility akin to ‘70s kosmische music and the most progressive neo-classical ambient.
Summon the Birds Sign to Hidden Shoal
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the signing of Melbourne band Summon the Birds. Summon the Birds flash out the shadows of the sky, spinning tales of fallen kings, dissected criminals, Arctic exploration, cloud riding and London rain. Imagine latter-day Talk Talk picking the locks to Spoon’s basement as The Drones circle, restless, looking for the pink pill…
Singer-songwriter Jonathan Shaw and bassist/producer Peter Woodlands began the band in 2007, with Kris Arrowsmith joining on drums, and guitarist Tim Clarke seduced into the fray after the dissolution of instrumental shoegaze band Bury the Sound. Their debut album 48, based on the I Ching, saw release in 2012, closely followed by single ‘Digger’ in 2013. The seeds of second album Blood Love were sown back in 2009, with song sketches dreamt up by Shaw massaged into shape in the band’s Hurstbridge rehearsal room. In 2014, bassist Drew Corby replaced Peter Woodlands, and the recording of Blood Love began in earnest.
Summon the Birds’ second album Blood Love will see release late 2017, preceded by single ‘London Tap Water’ on 7th August. The album was recorded by producer and engineer Tim Johnston (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dandy Warhols, The Drones). Read more about Summon the Birds here.
Slow Dancing Society’s “Lilac Lullabies” EP Out Now!
We’re excited to announce the release Lilac Lullabies, the first in a series of four new Slow Dancing Society EPs. The EP follows hot on the heels of the reissue of his acclaimed debut album The Sound of Lights When Dim. Each of the new EPs will be released digitally, one per month from June to September 2017, with the four EPs released collectively on double vinyl later in the year. Lilac Lullabies is available now via Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes and the other usual outlets.
Lilac Lullabies is a concise, five-song serving of SDS’s sensual, free-flowing ambient. It revisits the atmospheric feel of earlier albums The Sound of Lights When Dim, The Slow and Steady Winter and Priest Lake Circa ’88, with a delicious sense of space and restraint. Centrepiece ‘A Quiet Storm’ reaches heavenwards with its Gilmour-esque guitar lines, while ‘Before We Wake’ is a meditation on weightlessness, with gently pulsing bass and an ephemeral shroud of synth. And ‘The Dusty Morning Light’ brings the EP to a reflective close with its beautifully wistful Mellotron line.
Slow Dancing Society is Washington-based producer and musician Drew Sullivan, who has released 7 albums on Hidden Shoal over the last 11 years. As with Brian Eno’s finest moments and David Sylvian’s ambient explorations, Slow Dancing Society’s music manages to dissolve its temporal markers and speak about moments removed from time. It talks to the delicious flaws of memory and feeling whilst never sullying itself with literality or simple documentation.
New Battlestations Preview!
Battlestations’ fans and those inevitably about to be, prepare yourself! We’re excited to be able to present a preview of Battlestations‘ majestic new album Vixit. The album drops on the 23rd of June through Hidden Shoal and will be available from Battlestations’ Bandcamp and all good 3rd party stores. Check out the excerpt of the opening track ‘I’ on SoundCloud.
While 2015’s The Extent of Damage felt like a high-definition camera roving across a ruined world, listening to Vixit feels like witnessing an intimidating new dawn, barely comprehensible from a merely human perspective. Massive and awe-inspiring, this three-part composition is breathtaking in scope and stunning in execution. Synthesizers, orchestra and choirs interweave into a billowing tapestry of glorious sound that completely envelopes the listener.
Brief centrepiece ‘II’ is the calm at the eye of the storm, a ruminative piano piece that brings a sense of intimacy to a suite of music that is all about challenging the listener’s sense of scale. To either side, massive tracks ‘I’ and ‘III’ stretch out into multi-part compositions that are as deep and wide as any orchestral piece, tempered with a sensibility akin to ‘70s kosmische music and the most progressive neo-classical ambient.