The ever-popular Lancashire folk experimentalists Harp and a Monkey have just announced dates for a mini-summer tour – along with the pledge to preview some of the material from their long-awaited fourth album!
The trio, who have won huge acclaim for their unique approach to the crafting of both new and traditional song, will be visiting a number of areas and venues between late May and July for the first time, as well as revisiting some of their favourite haunts.
In addition to playing a wide selection of songs from their existing and critically lauded albums, the band will also be “road-testing” new material from a fourth album due to be released in the autumn. This new album, entitled The Victorians, will be their first in more than three years.
Singer and storyteller Martin Purdy explained: “We are pretty excited about the new album. We only release albums when we feel we have a group of songs that can work together to create a seamless artistic statement. A lot of good stuff gets ditched along the way as a result, but it’s worth it.
“It would probably make a lot more sense, definitely in commercial terms, to continually release new material or be seen to be aligning ourselves with other successful ‘folk’ acts or movements, but we aren’t really interested in that. The truth is that we are just very happy ploughing our own furrow and watching our audiences grow as a result of more organic forces. It’s a gentle process but one that has allowed us to strike up some genuine friendships among members of our audience. Long may that continue, and long may it be added to at forthcoming shows…”
You can catch Harp and a Monkey, and their unique musical storytelling, arrangements and myriad of instruments (from harps to glockenspiels and banjos), at:
May 18: Village Folk, Chellaston, Derby
June 8: Holywell Music and Folk, Quaker Meeting House, Oxford
June 15: Thornton Hough Village Hall, Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside
June 21: St Mary’s Church, Lichfield, Staffordshire
June 22: The Met, Bury, Greater Manchester
June 29: Sturmer Village Hall, Haverhill, Suffolk
July 6: Heptonstall Festival, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
July 7: Readifolk, Watlington House, Reading, Berkshire
July 20: Westfield War Memorial Village, Lancaster, Lancashire
More here: http://www.harpandamonkey.com/