Sept 02 -Sept 04, 2010, Kristiansand, Norway
Sept 02 -Sept 04, 2010, Kristiansand, Norway
The critically acclaimed British band Sweet Billy Pilgrim, who play at Punkt 09 on Friday 4 September, have been nominated for the hugely respected Mercury Music Prize for their stunning album Twice Born Men. Other acts nominated include Kasabian, Bat For Lashes and Lisa Hannigan.
Sweet Billy Pilgrim, led by their main writer and singer Tim
Elsenburg, are exemplars of British atmospheric art-pop, and recently
released their second album, Twice Born Men, on David Sylvian`s
label, Samadhisound. Often compared to Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Talk
Talk or Elbow, Sweet Billy Pilgrim achieve a sublime balance between
their hooks and their moods, their ambitions and their humility, but
the music of Sweet Billy Pilgrim is first and foremost, staggeringly
beautiful.
"Twice Born Men is a kind of concept album, in the loosest sense,"
says Tim Elsenburg. "It starts at the end of the heart`s little
journey and then works its way back to the beginning, which is
actually the end anyway."
On being nominated Tim continues: "I was at work, fitting a toilet
seat in Farnham, when I heard about the nomination. The two realities
sort-of collided and time and space went funny for a bit, and I may
have just repeated a certain expletive at regular intervals for the
first few minutes. We are very proud that our record - grown in my
shed - has made such a good impression on the judges, and to be
associated with the Mercury is a massive honour."
On Sweet Billy Pilgrim David Sylvian said: "Musicians these days are
like rogue molecular scientists tinkering away in a shed at the bottom
of the garden but whereas most tend to emerge with endearingly
unstable little monsters Sweet Billy Pilgrim manage to produce an
entire universe."
Twice Born Men will be the first beneficiary of the newly-formed
partnership between Samadhisound and EMI Label Services wherein
external labels are able to benefit from EMI`s wealth of sales,
distribution and promotional support.
The music of Sweet Billy Pilgrim is first and foremost, staggeringly
beautiful. But it`s a shy beauty - a lingering ambience and a distant
clicking in the night, church windows built from littered glass, love
songs that look to the day when even the children are forgotten.
Strangers tell you their heartbreaks. Fountains toss back their
coins. And just when you start to feel sceptical, in shambles singer
Tim Elsenburg - shaggy and dour, wringing joy from his melodies with a
bashful croak and a glorious croon.
The trio of Tim Elsenburg, Anthony Bishop (bass, banjo), and Alistair
Hamer (drums) strikes a balance between the loops and textures wrung
from laptops, and the sharp tones of a banjo. Bass clarinet and
crisp guitar bring a ramshackle glory to the opening single, Truth
Only Smiles, a tuned dishwasher introduces the treacherous love of
"Kalypso."
Elsenburg has explained his strategy: "I like it when a piece of music
seems to grow from a number of points, with no one sound becoming the
focus necessarily; everything carefully feeding the texture and the
atmosphere. That way, when something does leap out of the mix - like a
voice, say - the impact is all the greater."
Their love ballads, like love, are next to shapeless: take the
dripping heartbreak of "Longshore Drift," or the breeze-brushed guitar
and exquisite afterglow of "Joy Maker Machinery." The album closes
with "There Will It End," as a harmonium thick with church dust drones
a hymn as Elsenburg overdubs his own voice 30 times to play the part
of the congregation - "rich old lady, drunk old man, small child,
wannabe opera singer, distracted teenager, tone-deaf miner." It`s
heavenly in spite of itself.
Praise for Twice Born Men:
Sunday Times
"What makes Twice Born Men truly special is the way the indefinable
floatiness of the verses is merely the springboard for a succession of
delicious pop choruses." 5 stars
Uncut
"The best album of its kind since Elbow`s all-conquering The Seldom
Seen Kid. That the 30-voice choir finale...is all him is just one of
many miracles this jewel yields." 4 stars
Mojo
"Pioneering spirit, murky drama... For every subtle, shivery marriage of
keyboard, laptop and acoustic tweaking there is an overriding gruff,
fervent folk-soul, perfect for pilgrims... is this the missing sequel to
Jonny Greenwood´s `There Will Be Blood´ soundtrack." 4 stars
The Wire
"The mood, in some ways, is similar to that of Talk Talk`s Laughing
Stock... in which the scenery, the density, the levels of treatment and
style are constantly varying... Twice Born Men is an unassuming thing
of minor beauty."
BBC
"It revels in the peace it creates and sometimes destroys. Like the
work it is sporadically reminiscent of, it`s engrossing, out-of-step,
difficult yet peculiarly gratifying."
MusicOMH.com
"This is a beautiful, beautiful album, which will appeal to fans of
alt country and a very English strand of art-pop. It should also be
appreciated by lovers of great music everywhere."
The band play a series of festivals in the UK and Europe over the
summer with a full UK tour planned for the autumn.
And the name? Well, Billy Pilgrim is a character from Kurt Vonnegut´s
novel Slaughterhouse 5. Very sweet indeed...
Websites:
www.sweetbillypilgrim.com / www.myspace.com/sweetbillypilgrim
www.twitter.com/sweetbillyp / www.samadhisound.com
Written by: erik,22.07.2009