Tomorrow marks the release of ‘Cuckoo Storm’ (One Little Independent Records), the new album from Marry Waterson and Adrian Crowley. Both artists have featured widely on KLOF Mag, including Adrian’s previous solo albums, The Watchful Eye of the Stars and Some Blue Morning, as well as collaborations with James Yorkston (My Yoke Is Heavy: The Songs Of Daniel Johnston) and Brigid Mae Power on the Bring Your Own Hammer project. Likewise, many of Marry’s collaborations have been covered, including those with David A Jaycock, Emily Barker, Oliver Knight, and Lisa Knapp & Nathaniel Mann as Hack-Poets Guild. Of course, Marry is also a well-established animator, creating mixed-media animated music videos for herself and many other artists (from this new project we have already shared Watching The Starlings).
With ‘Cuckoo Storm’, several distinctive characteristics combine to make this such a compelling and well-crafted album. I won’t dig too deeply here, as an album review will appear on KLOF Mag tomorrow, but suffice it to say that their songwriting approach is quite remarkable and unique – this, alongside Waterson’s distinctive voice, Crowley’s rich baritone and a cast of top musicians, then you have a mix that is sonically rich and layered and this one will reward repeat listens. We then, of course, have the accompanying visual elements that Marry has created and it’s always a pleasure to share these creations; like the music, there are also multiple layers at play here, as Marry shared below.
“The painted words of The Leviathan were my favourite from the poetry selects Adrian emailed me. I thought he might find the tune I sent back a little odd, but he loved the melody, the creative repeating of lines drawing out the lyric. Happy with the way it turned out, we initially thought we might call the album ‘The Leviathan’, so I came up with this otherworldly creature as a possible cover. We settled on the title ‘Cuckoo Storm’, but we loved her, so she now floats in layers of seaweed, bubbles and hand-painted cine film. Special mention to Rob Pemberton (Pembo) for the cool watery beats that drag us down into the deep.”
’Cuckoo Storm’ is out on 8th March 2024
Pre-order: https://oli.lnk.to/cuckoo-storm