Next month, sees the release of Joshua Burnside‘s new album, “Teeth of Time” (February 28th via Nettwerk). Having already treated us to a number of album tasters, including Up and Down, his double A-Side Marching Round The Ladies / The Good Life, and Ghost of the Bloomfield Road / Good For One Thing, the final teaser from his album comes with ‘Climb the Tower‘.
Accompanied by a moving video that was inspired by the experience of fatherhood, the scenes of teen years and later life play out like collected memories, woven through with an innocence and hope that’s impossible not to relate to.
“Will you be my friend, till the very end? Would you sign my cast? Hide in the long grass?”
Climb the Tower reimagines the adventures of Joshua’s childhood and reflects on the similar stories his son may have. Would they have been friends growing up? The track is said to serve as an emotional lynchpin of the album.
Burnside explains: “This album is about growing older, becoming a dad, getting by and making do. It’s about change and changeless mountains that silently watch as our short lives pass, ice sheets melt, loughs die and stars vanish. It’s about the haves and have-nots, the lucky and the damned. It’s about being stuck in traffic with a hangover, and doom scrolling at 3am. It’s about trees as gods in the imagination of a child, about lands divided, and never-ending wars fought under the banner of capitalism. It’s about Belfast, the north and about saying f*ck that to those that would divide us. It is about losing the ones we love and carrying on.”
Live dates:
27 Feb – Edinburgh, The Caves
28 Feb – Aberdeen, The Tunnels
1 Mar – Newcastle, The Grove
2 Mar – Stroud, Prince Albert
4 Mar – Deal, The Lighthouse
5 Mar – Brighton, Hope & Ruin
6 Mar – Southbourne, The Wight Bear
7 Mar – Bristol, Fyfe Hall
8 Mar – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club
9 Mar – Birkenhead, Future Yard
11 Mar – London, Islington Assembly Hall
12 Mar – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
13 Mar – Cardiff, The Gate
14 Mar – Newport, Carnigli Nights Out
15 Mar – Manchester , YES Basement
26 Mar – Kilkenny, Cleere’s Bar & Theatre
27 Mar – Clonakilty, DeBarra’s
28 Mar – Kinsale, Catherine’s Cultural Centre
29 Mar – Dingle, The Green Room
30 Mar – Tralee, Tobar Naofa
1 Apr – Strandhill, Sligo Brees
2 Apr – Galway, Roisin Dubh
3 Apr – Dublin, Whelans
5 Apr – Belfast, Ulster Hall
EU dates:
3 Jun – Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg
5 Jun – Cologne, Gebaude 9
6 Jun – Paris, Le Pop-up du Label
8 Jun – Antwerp, AMOR
10 Jun – Hamburg, Nochtspeicher
11 Jun – Berlin, Franzz Clu