Wednesday 20 March 2013

BEN MARWOOD - new album & live in the UK

BEN MARWOOD
Brand New Album + UK Tour dates

The latest labour of love from folk underdog Ben Marwood, 'Back Down' is released 13th May 2013 on Xtra Mile Recordings.

The third and final part of a loose trilogy that began back in 2008, the follow-up to 2011's acclaimed debut album 'Outside There's A Curse' finally sees the self-deprecating solo songwriter swap the bedroom-based 8-track for a studio approach.

Recorded over an eighteen-month period where finances allowed, 'Back Down' retains the coiling, intense lyrical style that earned its predecessor so much attention. Joined on record by a collection of friends and fellow musicians, mostly from the Reading scene he calls home, songs switch naturally from the stripped-back, bare bones of guitar and vocals to full-band affairs with a distinctly live feel, all click tracks and metronomes discarded (“including the parts that needed it” - Marwood). Thirty-five minutes of melody half-sung, half-spoken, but always pointed regardless of whether the targets are his own shortcomings or a BBC One light entertainment show, this is pop music for the bitter.

To coincide with the release Ben steps out on a short headline UK tour.
Dates are:
MAY
18 Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre
JUNE
1 Leicester Cookie Jar @ Crumblin' Cookie
3 York The Black Swan
4 Dundee Cerberus Bar
5 Edinburgh Pivo
7 Cheltenham Frog and Fiddle
8 Bristol The Louisiana


This may only be album two, but Marwood is already a mainstay of the UK live scene, having notched up countless shows over the past decade alongside the likes of Billy Bragg and labelmates Chris T-T, Franz Nicolay, Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun, Beans on Toast and Retrospective Soundtrack Players. 2011 saw him embark on his first two national headline tours and a month-long stint as opening support to friend and label-mate Frank Turner and 2012 was spent polishing off the new record, as well as headlining the GreenHouse stage at 2000Trees and being part of Turner's extended backing band at the London Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Praise for Outside There's A Curse:

"Packed with witty lyrical observations.. bold, intelligent and wholesome." 8/10
- Rock Sound

"There's an over riding sense here.. that we could be peering into the colourful minutiae of a songwriter whose story will be well worth following.” – 4K’s Kerrang