Broadside Hacks have quickly established themselves as the UK’s premier folk conglomerate. As a London-based promotion company, they’ve hosted some of the most innovative darlings on the contemporary scene. They’ve also been doing the Heimlich on some classic albums – arranging star-studded presentations of Mike and Lal Waterson’s masterpiece ‘Bright Phoebus’ and Mark Fry’s ‘Dreaming of Alice’, as well as retrospectives of the music of Martin Carthy and Incredible String Band in some of the capital’s most glittering venues. They also find time to run a record label that houses some of the more gleefully weird trad artists in the UK (Milkweed, Goblin Band, Spitzer Space Telescope et al). Tinderbox, the debut album by Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist Myer U Clark, fits neatly into their burgeoning roster.
As first albums go, Tinderbox is astonishingly accomplished. Opening track Backbencher brings to mind the Mount Rushmore godheads of the late ‘60s Canterbury scene – Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Caravan – with its sidewinding vocal, chiming guitar, oceanic harmonium and lyrics about existential uncertainty creating a dilated, pastoral tableau. And that sets the tone for the proceeding 10 sun-dazzled songs.
Simple Sailing has a touch of Brian Eno at his most discombobulatedly pop, as dreamily double-tracked vocals spew surreal images over irregular drums and down-tuned banjo. Healers has a languid, ramshackle charm with Clark’s calypso-inflected piano holding down the fort for James Cann’s gnarly guitar solo. As A Sparrow is reminiscent of Syd Barrett’s gnostic pop utterances, with Clark singing “As a sparrow/ I’ll take the dream as it is/ And let my heart decide where I land” as acoustic guitar meshes with banjo and ruminative clarinet.
But it’s not all joss sticks and magic tricks. Sense by Sense is punchier with Jim Wilcox’s motorik drums providing a spine for Harry Wright’s kaleidoscopic synth and some of Clark’s more unfettered singing.
But Tinderbox is at its strongest when Clark is marrying his algebraically complex guitar patterns to a gorgeous tune. Surviving Colliding is a high example of this, with Clark unleashing a tumult of string bends and pull-offs before the song takes flight with Noah Houghton’s exuberant drums propelling a sonorous melody through thickets of mandolin and synth. There’s a clarity of vision, which is matched by adroit musicianship and a singular conception of songwriting, which makes Tinderbox a formidable debut album.
Special shoutout for the wonderfully named Caio Wheelhouse’s album design too. He does artwork design for musicians such as Molly Linen, Lavinia Blackwall and many others on the psychedelic folk underground. This should also give you an indication of the synesthetic quality of Clark’s sound world.
Tinderbox (June 26th, 2026) Broadside Hacks
Pre-Order: https://myeruclark1.bandcamp.com/album/tinderbox