We were introduced to the music of the Shovel Dance Collective last year. The nine-piece contemporary folk group are set to release their new album The Water is the Shovel of the Shore next month, from which they release their lead single today – The Bold Fisherman.
The Shovel Dance Collective released their debut album in March 2021 titled Offcuts and Oddities and shortly after featured on Jacken Elswyth‘s (also a member of the collective) split release series Betwixt & Between with C Joynes. Shovel Dance Collective are described as reconceiving traditional folk music by foregrounding recounts of queer experience, black consciousness, pioneering feminism & working class labour. At live shows, the collective bring along pamphlets and chat between songs about the history and meaning behind what they play, and generally draw a feminist, queer, socialist line through folklore. The music itself opens up folk as an experimental mode of longform composition, encompassing drone, early music, free improvisation, and metal.
While they are drawn to traditional music, something they spoke about in the recent film documentary The Broadside Hack, as mentioned above, their musical language is experimental in the most contemporary sense. Next month sees the release of their new album entitled ‘The Water is the Shovel of the Shore‘ (2nd December), an album described as an innovative exposition of poignant folksong threaded through with site-specific field recordings, exploring the resonances water has for working people, in particular the river Thames. Many of the field recordings were captured along the river, in churches/cathedrals & in the midst of urban surroundings.
We get our first taster of that album today with the accompanying video to The Bold Fisherman.
Alongside tour dates this winter, Shovel Dance Collective will contribute music to ‘With Great Pleasure at Christmas with Michael Rosen’, a festive literary celebration from the poet, children’s author & master storyteller, recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre & broadcast via BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day.
The collective will also be featured on the Freak Zone Playlist, broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music on the 7th December.
The Water is the Shovel of the Shore is out on the 2nd December via Memorials of Distinction / Double Dare, available on CD, limited edition cassette & digital formats.
Get tickets for their launch show on Sat, 10 Dec, 7:30 pm at St John On Bethnal Green (more dates below)
Also:
5th November – Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield (Procession / Bonfire Night Celebration)