Next month, Charlie Dore heads out on her most extensive UK tour for over four years. The Short Circuit Autumn Tour 2023 takes in gigs in Hereford, Leamington Spa, Great Kingshill, Abingdon, Barnstaple, St Endellion, Durham, Wigton, Sheffield, Otley, Knutsford, Hertford, Stroud and Banbury; the tour kicks of in September and concludes mid-October (full details below). Ahead of the tour, she is releasing a new single (1st September via Proper Records), a radio edit remix of ‘Blowing Leaves‘ from Like Animals.
Arguably her finest work to date, there are creature comforts to be had here and a certainty that, in fashion or note, the name Charlie Dore shows no sign of fading.
Mike Davies on ‘Like Animals’
We have the pleasure of premiering Charlie’s accompanying video below. Charlie tells us:
“I recorded a leaf blower in next door’s garden and found it was in a comfortable key for me (Bb), so just for the fun of it, I recorded the drone on my phone and sang a melody over the top. When it started up, the birds disappeared, but after a very short while, they returned and just carried on singing above the drone. Looking at the leaves and the birds, I felt there was a kind of parallel with the regeneration aspect of both birds and leaves.
“I played the initial idea to Julian Littman, and when we started working on it, we found it brought back memories of both our dads and how important the garden was to them, but in quite different ways.
“My father was very sociable, and for him, half the pleasure of gardening was to show friends what he’d grown, share the veg, countless pots of jam or his Elderflower Champagne, which regularly exploded in the larder. He was a keen winemaker and even made home-grown potato vodka, which was lethal and probably a fire risk. He fought a one-man battle against bindweed and nettles until he was 80.
“Julian’s dad was also a keen gardener, but he and his garden were a little more organised than my dad and part of the attraction for him was that it provided a good excuse to escape unwanted drop-ins. Visitors knew better than to interrupt Fred when he was doing some urgent gardening, only to return when he was good and ready.Julian and I knew each other’s dads, so it was lovely to have those memories revived in the process of writing them into a song.”
As ever, Charlie will be joined by her multi-instrumentalist co-pilot Julian Littman of Steeley Span.
Charlie says, “Applying ourselves to this longer tour also gives us ample opportunity to feature some of my lesser-known (but often secretly favourite) songs. It’s great to have the freedom to experiment and re-work them and have them share the spotlight. I’m always excited to see what the response will be.
“So far, Short Circuit has taken us from Scotland to Somerset and it’s been gratifying to share the music we’ve re-discovered – there’s an exclusivity about it. We enjoy taking risks, and renewing the sets in this way feels like the perfect way to conclude our Short Circuit adventure.”
The Short Circuit Tour – Autumn 2023
Friday 8th September – The Courtyard, Hereford
Monday 11th September – The Temperance, Leamington Spa
Wednesday 20th September – Chequers Folk Club, Great Kingshill, Bucks
Thursday 21st September – Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon
Friday 22nd September – Plough Arts Centre At St Annes Chapel, Barnstaple
Saturday 23rd September – North Cornwall Book Festival, St Endellion
Wednesday 27th September – The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham
Thursday 28th September – John Peel Theatre, Wigton
Friday 29th September – Cafe #9, Sheffield
Saturday 30th September – Otley Courthouse
Sunday 1st October – Knutsfest, Knutsford
Thursday 5th October – The Corn Exchange, Hertford
Tuesday 10th October – The Sub Rooms, Stroud
Thursday 12th October – The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury
All tickets and details are available at charliedore.com