We recently gave you the first glimpse of the new project from Jim Moray and Sam Carter: False Lights. Today they premièred their epic new video for Crossing the Bar at the FolkEast press launch which they headline on August 17th. We’ve a couple of revelations today including the new video for Crossing the Bar which you can watch below.
Jim shared this about the track with Folk Radio UK:
It is one of the last poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and was set to music by American old-time fiddler Rani Arbo. We learnt it from Jeff Warner. The poem is about crossing the sandbar that separates the river from the sea and uses it as a metaphor for death. We thought it should sound more celebratory than morbid. The video references the final scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey which seemed appropriate.
The four tracks on the False Lights EP were produced by Jim in his own FLW recording space and at Portishead founder Geoff Barrow’s Invada Studios in Bristol. The include the track above as well as:
Skewball, the first False Lights track which was uploaded as a surprise video in March, will already be familiar – a song recorded first by A.L.Lloyd in the early 1960s, and then again by Steeleye Span and Martin Carthy in the early 1970s.
Polly On The Shore was collected from George ‘Pop’ Maynard in West Hoathly, Sussex in the 1950s.
The Maid Of Australia is closely identified with Norfolk through both Harry Cox and Walter Pardon from whom it was collected, and Peter Bellamy who recorded the song in 1979.
False Lights are:
The band has also announced the other members of the band – all well known and award-winning musicians in their own right.
Sam Carter : Vocals, Guitar
Jim Moray : Vocals, Guitar, Keys
Sam Nadel (Lucy Rose) : Drums
Jon Thorne (Lamb, John Smith) : Bass
Nick Cooke (Kate Rusby, Mawkin) : Melodeon
Tom Moore (Moore Moss Rutter) : Violin
The EP is available for immediate download, and pre-order on limited edition 10″ blue vinyl from http://falselights.bandcamp.com now. A full length album is in the works now and we’ll be playing a few shows at the end of the year.
False Lights headline this years FolkEast Festival in Suffolk on 17th August (festival runs from 15 – 17 August)
http://www.folkeast.co.uk/