The nine-piece ensemble Shovel Dance Collective, who delivered us “one of the most forward-thinking and original collections of traditional material you’re likely to hear…”, recently announced their highly anticipated second full-length and first studio-recorded album, The Shovel Dance, which will be released on October 11th through American Dreams.
The ensemble features the collective talents of Daniel S. Evans, Alex McKenzie, Joshua Barfoot, Fidelma Hanrahan, Jacken Elswyth, Oliver Hamilton, Tom Hardwick-Allan, and the group’s lead vocalists, Nick Granata and Mataio Austin Dean which we hear in full force on their lead single, “The Merry Golden Tree,” a stunning, inventive, and towering interpretation of the traditional folk song with origins dating back to the early 1900s.
Shovel Dance Collective shared the following on the release: “This album is a record of our attempts so far to reach for the additive power of collective expression that has forever been essential to traditional music. Unable to summon the strength of a hundred voices in song or the reeling energy of a session, we’ve substituted careful and collaborative arrangement.”
Listen to “The Merry Golden Tree” below, which is also our Song of the Day.
In April they released a further volume in their Offcuts and Oddities series of live recordings, voice notes, and cassette tape experiments, prior to which we were treated to The Water is the Shovel of the Shore (2022). In his high-praising album review, Thomas Blake concluded:
…it is a hugely ambitious and intelligent project, astonishing in its cohesiveness given that its creators style themselves as a collective rather than a band, and it’s one of the most forward-thinking and original collections of traditional material you’re likely to hear this year, or any year.
Shovel Dance Collective are among several working bands that function as a leaderless collective, but they’re unique for the beauty, force, and political charge of their folk music. “Folk music,” the band says, “places you in a great chain of everyday life, and how it can relate so intimately to political and emotional actions, past and present.” And what’s more, “it infers a beautiful collectivity.” The Shovel Dance brings the band’s collectivity to its fullest realization yet.
The Shovel Dance is out on October 11 (American Dreams)
Pre-order via Bandcamp: https://shoveldancecollective.bandcamp.com/album/the-shovel-dance
Rough Trade (Vinyl)
The Shovel Dance Tracklisting
01 Abbots Bromley Horn Dance / The Worms Crept Out
02 The Merry Golden Tree
03 O’Sullivan’s March
04 The Rolling Wave
05 Kissing’s Nae Sin / Newcastle / Portsmouth (Come, Come, My Brave Boys)
06 Four Loom Weaver
07 The Grey Cock
Shovel Dance Collective Shows
24 August – Line Up Festival, Malvern, UK
14 September – Alter Festival, Aarhus, Denmark
20 September – Ultima Festival, Oslo, Norway
19 October – The Tin, Coventry, UK
20 November – HCMF, Huddersfield, UK
21 November – Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, UK
22 November – St Mary Magdalene Church, Clitheroe, UK
23 November – Where Else?, Margate, UK
24 November – The Con Club, Lewes, UK
5, 6, 7 December – Cafe OTO, London, UK (Residency)