Featuring singer Polly Perry, formerly of Polly & the Billets Doux, guitarist Seb Hunter and drummer & pianist Steve Gibson, Provincials return on 25 June with their double A-side single Feels Like Falling / Outskirts. Both tracks are taken from their forthcoming new album Heaven Protect Us, due at the end of 2021.
While Feels Like Falling is a euphoric redemption song, Outskirts, which we have the pleasure of premiering today, is a dark folk track with Polly’s haunting vocal taking centre stage over an Arabesque guitar refrain in a style reminiscent of Lucy Dacus and Big Thief. The piano allows some brief light contrast to this brooding song, and as with their last album, The Dark Ages, they continue to build their own individual brand of contemporary-retro dark-folk. The ethereal sound of the theremin returns, a haunting sound that happily sways things off-kilter when you’ve just sighted the horizon. When reviewing their last album, David Kidman noted that their “occasional almost wilful unpredictability” was one of their strengths. Although maybe subtle, it’s still great to hear it at work here.
Provincials have performed across the UK including at the Purcell Room in London’s South Bank Centre as well as Ronnie Scott’s and Glastonbury Festival. Their previous releases have received critical acclaim across the board and they have been supported by DJs across the BBC network including on Radio 2, 6Music and Radio 3. Heaven Protect Us was recorded with Dan Parkinson at Wooden Heart Studios in Andover, Hampshire throughout 2020. Seb Hunter is also highly regarded as an author, having published the acclaimed international cult bestseller Hell Bent for Leather in 2005.
https://provincials.bandcamp.com/