Today, marks the release of Jim Moray‘s new album, Gallants (Order it here), also one of our Featured Albums of the Month. In his review, Thomas Blake praised the Jim’s stunning reimaginings and uncompromising vision, calling it his most complete statement yet.
To celebrate the release, we are sharing a live performance of The Nightingale, which also featured in out recent Mixtape – KLOF No. 81. The recording is taken from a full live session that will be premiered at 8pm on Sunday May the 3rd on YouTube. It’s free to watch, but there is a pay-what-you-want donation ticket available on Jim’s website (https://jimmoray.co.uk/product/1258974-gallants-live-at-the-arch-ticket), which also enters you into a prize draw for some exclusive Gallants stuff, including signed test pressings, t-shirts, mugs, and an offcut from the Gallants jacket.
Writing about the track in his album review, Thomas Blake notes: “Moray is an expert at drawing out the inherent beauty of a song, and here, traditional ballads like The Nightingale are teased into stunning new shapes, delicate and melodically daring. He frequently uses a kind of patchwork technique, drawing on multiple sources to create something vibrant and new that nonetheless remains steeped in history.”
Jim shared the following on the live session and song:
“Gallants • Live At The Arch was recorded at The Arch studio in Southport, a 140 year old former church, with resident engineer Tom Dring and filmed by Robin Clewley who was responsible for the artwork of the album. It was an opportunity to perform the album from start to finish with my regular live band of Stuart Provan on drums, JJ Stoney on keyboards, Lukas Drinkwater on bass and minimoog, and Phill Ward on guitar. I really wanted to make a record of how the songs sound played live without the pressure of an audience or a festival soundcheck. You’d never normally get a chance to play a new album as a complete performance either, and the band did a great job of interpreting the thing I’d constructed in the studio on my own.
“The Nightingale was collected in 1892 from Charles Lolley in Driffield, East Yorkshire, by Leeds folk song collector Frank Kidson. Three verses of it were published, along with the tune, in Kidson’s “Traditional Tunes Of England”, and both words and melody jumped off the page at me. I filled in the rest of the story from versions contained in Broadsides, and constructed the arrangement around the guitar part. On this recording I’m playing the 1959 Harmony Mars guitar I used on the album, which has been fitted with a rubber bridge to give a sound thats somewhere between guitar, banjo and Kora.”
Watch the full live session at 8pm on Sunday May the 3rd on YouTube. It’s free to watch, but, as mentioned above, there is a pay-what-you-want donation ticket available on Jim’s website (https://jimmoray.co.uk/product/1258974-gallants-live-at-the-arch-ticket).