Multi-instrumental acoustic trio Three Cane Whale (featuring Alex Vann [Spiro], Pete Judge [Get The Blessing] and Paul Bradley [Scottish Dance Theatre]) recorded their third album ‘Palimpsest’ earlier this year in Real World Studios in Wiltshire. The album which was produced by Adrian Utley of Portishead is due for release on January 8th, 2016. Listen to the premiere of Moon in a Bottle from the album below:
The album features a number of guest musicians including Estonian violinist Maarja Nuut and British cellist James Gow augmenting the line-up on a number of tracks.
We interviewed the genre-defying Bristol trio in 2011 (read it here) when they released their eponymous debut album which was recorded live in an eighteenth-century Bristol church in a single 11-hour session. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them perform live in a church at Priddy Folk Festival and at Sidmouth Folk Week. Sense of time is lost as they begin their performance conjuring a deep sense of place in the mind’s eye with each composition. Place is an important inspiration for the band – on their Second album Holts and Hovers they recorded in 20 different locations, including churches, chapels, a greenwood barn, an allotment shed, the top of a Welsh waterfall, and the underside of a Bristol flyover. Even the bands name is deeply rooted in the history of the landscape. When asked where it came from they explained
It’s a misspelling of a mishearing. It comes from the Somerset Levels I think…a willow construction made from three interlocking canes or rods. But this one is in an allotment that’s right under a dual-carriageway, surrounded by bird-scarers made from old CDs.
With that connection in mind it seems more than fitting that they turned to Dorset’s independent book publisher Little Toller press to provide the artwork. I’m a big fan of Little Toller and we’ve featured a number of their publications on Folk Radio UK before. Their love of nature writing which is expressed through their beautiful monographs and re-issued nature classics seem to be from a time and place where the breakneck pace of life today is removed. If it’s escape or respite you seek than make sure you buy the album then catch them on tour throughout the UK in early 2016, with Arts Council touring support.
Here is a session they recorded for Little Toller at St basil’s:
https://vimeo.com/146419389
Pre-Order it via the Three Cane Whale Shop here.
www.threecanewhale.com
http://littletoller.co.uk/