It was in 2018 that Victoria, British Columbia Tremblers of Sevens featuring ‘Wise’ (Dan Weisenberger) on guitar and powerhouse drummer ‘Rad’ (Juli Steemson), released Aleppo, on which this hard-hitting duo delivered a stark reminder that the war in Syria rages grimly on.
In the interim they have been releasing a series of singles including The Bride’s Waltz – “Learned off of Shanachie LP #21002 “Jewish Klezmer Music” by Zev Feldman (cimbal) & Andy Statman (mandolin)”, a cover of Bert Jansch’s Poison and their own Dark Church inspired by a visit to an 11th-century Byzantine church carved into volcanic rock in Cappadocia, Turkey.
All those tracks feature on their new album Shadow Houses which is out on 2 July and is available to pre-order via Bandcamp. In their own words:
This album takes a stack of references out of the world-wide musical library, makes them listen to Black Sabbath and shotgun a few pilsners. Picking up where Aleppo left off, Shadow Houses contains two original compositions plus six luscious sonic reinterpretations from sources as diverse as Jerusalem, the Warsaw Ghetto, Romania, Gypsy Klezmorim, American dirge merchants and Scottish troubadors. Tremblers also called in the sonic talents of local heavyweights Daniel Lapp, Jody Johnson, Danuel Tate and Richard Moody to help flesh out the sound. More layers, more delay, and more magic.
Tremblers of Sevens
This particular gem caught our ears earlier this morning – Nonesuch/If. A traditional/David Hidalgo, Louie Perez
Drop D arrangement of an old English fiddle tune, given a desert treatment and lyrics from a 1994 Latin Playboys song. With Danuel Tate on keys.
Think a trippy Jim Morrison meets the Saharan blues…Tate nails the keys on this. Outstanding.
if i stood by the river, or by the sea
if i could not swim,
would you laugh at me?
If the ocean was wine, or filled with gin,
if the ocean was whiskey, or filled with gin,
would you lead me away,
or would you push me in?
Pre-order Shadow Houses here: tremblersofsevens.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-houses