TALL FIRS + The Declining Winter + Alastair Brown

Sat 4th Oct 2008

Miles of Smiles presents
TALL FIRS
+ The Declining Winter
+ Alastair Brown

Doors 8.00
£7 via WeGotTickets
£8 door

"If your idea of staying warm on a winter night is a bottle of bourbon and a bleak memory, Tall Firs will make excellent company. (Rolling Stone)

After a 2006 debut which drew accolades from Rolling Stone, Vice, NME, Q, and Harp amongst others, Tall Firs return with a second dose of songs showcasing a new non-drowsy formula and the results are like a fine cough syrup: a confusing, bittersweet concoction laced with just enough speed to keep you feeling a bit better about the world of sickness closing in around you. 'Too Old to Die Young' maintains the lugubrious lyrical stylings Firs accolades demand.

If Sonic Youth is the primordial, towering redwood forest of the indie noise-pop landscape, then underground NYC electric folk-duo the Tall Firs are the newly rising evergreens nestled at the foot of them. (Harp)

The band are unafraid to invoke the pocket-orchestra balladry of the first record. You try to translate the opening 'So Messed Up' into words and back into music. You'd end up with the ghost of Townes Van Zandt voiced by a David Byrne/Neil Young Frankenstein in pirate bespanglement backed by Echo and the Bunneymen starring Television on guitar and Rashid Aronoff on drums. But with zero tolerance for quirkiness.

"These songs possess a sense of simmering tension, where lugubrious lyricism and instrumental drift do not detract from a poised delivery and a subtle but thoughtful use of contrasting shades. The acoustic-electric interplay suggests a kind of rootless, melodic modernity." (The Wire)

Main support are The Declining Winter; shimmering, shuffling and sparse, using guitars and electronics to gently post-rock you. Featuring Hood's Richard Adams.

Opening is Alastair Brown and his acoustic tales of hope and longing. Think Conor Oberst solo and from the home counties.

More info at Miles of Smiles / BePrepared

RSS