On May 12th, Glasgow-based folk band Gnoss return with their new album Stretching Skyward (pre-order here). While it’s only been two years since their last release (The Light of the Moon), a lot has happened. Those intervening years were at the forefront of their minds when they wrote this album which features ten different stories with ‘change’ at their hearts.
The album’s first single is ‘Christine’s’, which is accompanied by a live video (watch below), single-handedly captured by the very talented Sandy Butler at their Celtic Connections gig in Saint Luke’s in Glasgow. While the stories they’ve written for this album reflect on change, their music has also developed. Just as their last album reflected a maturity in their tune and song writing, this has evolved a lot further on Stretching Skyward, most notably with the use of new sounds that Aidan Moodie reflects on in his comments about the album and single below. This is an exciting time for Gnoss who seem to have attained a perfect balance of the past and present; through a broader soundscape which allows greater contrast, those contemporary progressive elements seem to accentuate the roots of their music, something that can be clearly heard on their lead single Christine’s. Achieving such a balance is not easy, but, having listened to the album in full recently, I’d say they’ve nailed it and they’ve had plenty of fun doing it.
Don’t miss their upcoming live dates, I doubt there are many bands that start a tour with Barbados followed by Orkney! This is a band that positively thrives on stage, so try to catch them live for the full experience.
Aidan on Christine’s and the album:
“Christine’s is the first single from our new record Stretching Skyward – it’s a tune of Connor’s, written for his auntie, that was one of the first pieces we arranged for the new record.
We felt Christine’s was the first choice for lead single as it really strongly feels like a Gnoss track while also carrying the new sounds and ideas we brought to the studio for the record. There are a lot of new influences on that have merged with our original acoustic sound that we can’t wait to share.
Scott Wood (SKERRYVORE), who worked on our last album, ‘The Light Of The Moon’, also produced and recorded this record. Making The Light Of The Moon with him helped develop our sound in a hugely positive way; we’re delighted with everything he brought to the process this time too. We know each other’s work, and it lets us feel comfortable enough to experiment. In the end, we incorporated a lot more synths, samples, and electronic elements – James Lindsay (Breabach) playing electric bass, as well as upright, really added to this. Our usual sound has been brought into a slightly more contemporary space, which is fun! We’ve been listening to a lot of contemporary stuff lately as a band, so it was cool to honour that while still retaining our roots.
The video was filmed at our Celtic Connections gig in Saint Luke’s in Glasgow. Celtic Connections has been very supportive of us over the years and so we thought it would be the perfect night to capture on film. We shared the show with Siobhan Miller and it was an incredible night. There was a lot of warmth on stage and from the crowd. The video ended up capturing a really nice memory.
A huge thank you to Sandy Butler who singlehandedly shot and edited the video! It’s been a pleasure working with him – we’ve loved his previous work with various folk artists so we’re really excited to have had the chance to team up. He’s just the best.”
Pre-save / pre-order Stretching Skyward: https://absil.one/stretchingskyward.owe
Gnoss Tour Dates
BARBADOS CELTIC FESTIVAL — 18th to 21st May
ORKNEY FOLK FESTIVAL — 25th to 28th May
SHEFFIELD / The Greystones – 10th June
EVESHAM / The Fleece Inn – 15th June
LONDON / The Green Note – 17th June
FOLK AT THE FROIZE – 18th June
ABERDEEN / The Blue Lamp – 23rd June
COMRIE / The White Church – 24th June
GLASGOW / Cottiers Theatre – 25th June
CRAIL FOLK CLUB – 13th July
CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL – 27th July
FRESH AYR FOLK FESTIVAL – 11th August
TOWERSEY FESTIVAL – 24th August
TÖNDER FESTIVAL (DE) – 25th to 27th August
Ticket links and more can be found here: https://linktr.ee/gnossmusic