Hidden Shoal News
Three Hidden Shoal Albums in Textura’s Best of 2018!
It’s that time of year and our favourite best of 2018 list is out at Textura. We’re honoured to have three of our releases included this year. Slow Dancing Society‘s The Torchlight Parade Vols. I-II was chosen by Textura as their number one ambient album of the year and Chloe March‘s Blood-Red Spark and Todd Tobias & Chloe March‘s Amialluma both featured in the overall top 10 list. Massive congratulations to those artists and many thanks to Textura for their continued support of exciting new music.
New Chloe March Single, ‘Snow Bird’
We’re excited to announce the release of the new single by English ambient-pop artist Chloe March, ‘Snow Bird’. Following on from her 2017 solo release Blood-Red Spark, and her recent collaboration with labelmate Todd Tobias, Amialluma, ‘Snow Bird’ is a luminous winter song, gently hypnotic and hopeful. The track melds dream pop and found sounds of birdsong to create a crisply detailed emotional landscape, inhabited by March’s uniquely emotive vocal.
“one of those one-in-a-million voices that could make even the most pedestrian lyric feel like cause for rapture” – Textura
“a beautiful sound somewhere between The Blue Nile and David Sylvian” – Underground of Happiness Best of 2017
‘Snow Bird’ is available to download now via Bandcamp or stream via SoundCloud. Chloe March’s music is available for licensing for film, tv, games and more through Hidden Shoal.
REW<< "Conversation Arctique" EP Out Now!
We’re excited to announce the official release of Conversation Arctique the new EP by US-based dreampop artist REW<<. The EP is available now for download and streaming via Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify and other good 3rd party stores. REW<<‘s music is available for licensing for film, tv, games and more through Hidden Shoal.
In direct contrast to his eclectic, pop-inflected albums Departeures and Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs, Conversation Arctique is a sparse, beautiful EP of succinct pieces for piano and strings that trace elegant melodic arcs like breath in cold air. Akin to the work of Julien Marchal, Conversation Arctique is a work of magical minimalism.
“REW<<’s Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs is a fantastically varied, moving, and imaginative opus, and it deserves to be celebrated.” – The Big Takeover
REW<< is the solo moniker of Ryan E. Weber, who originally hails from the Western shores of Lake Michigan. His previous bands include Camden, The Promise Ring and Decibully, and he is one half of dream-pop duo Eric & Magill. In 2014 he released his acclaimed debut solo album as REW<<, Departeures, followed by Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs in 2015, and On the Horns of Our Spheres in 2018.
Pledge and Get Slow Dancing Society’s “The Dusk Recital” on Vinyl!
You know you want Slow Dancing Society‘s gorgeous The Dusk Recital on vinyl, so why aren’t you doing anything about it? Make it happen with a pledge at Qrates!
“Sweet, but not too sweet, wistful, but not melancholic, The Dusk Recital provides another distinctive, emotionally open and atmospherically charged SDS affair. Highly addictive. Highly recommended.” – Igloo Mag
Hidden Shoal in Textura’s Ten Favourite Labels of 2018 List!
Hidden Shoal is incredibly honoured to have been selected as one of Textura’s Ten Favourite Labels of 2018. Textura is, in our opinion, the premiere new music magazine and favourite of the label team for unearthing and exposing new and exciting new music. This is the second time Hidden Shoal has been selected in Textura’s best labels list and as always we are nestled against some other very special labels, all of who you should check out.
Now for a very brief and unnecessary acceptance speech – we are nothing without our incredible roster of artists, who continually amaze, inspire and surprise us. Thank you all!
New REW<< Single and Video, EP Soon!
We’re excited present the gorgeous new single and music video from REW<<, taken from the forthcoming EP Conversation Arctique. Check out the music video over at YouTube, stream the track via SoundCloud and download it via Bandcamp. Conversation Arctique will see release on the 30th of November, with all tracks available for licensing for film, tv, games and more through Hidden Shoal.
In direct contrast to his eclectic, pop-inflected albums Departeures and Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs, Conversation Arctique is a sparse, beautiful EP of succinct pieces for piano and strings that trace elegant melodic arcs like breath in cold air. Akin to the work of Julien Marchal, Conversation Arctique is a work of magical minimalism.
REW<< is the solo moniker of Ryan E. Weber, who originally hails from the Western shores of Lake Michigan. His previous bands include Camden, The Promise Ring and Decibully, and he is one half of dream-pop duo Eric & Magill. In 2014 he released his acclaimed debut solo album as REW<<, Departeures, followed by Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs in 2015, and On the Horns of Our Spheres in 2018.
Christopher Sky “Vastness” Out Now (Digital and Vinyl)
Christopher Sky‘s stunning new album Vastness is finally upon us! The album is available digitally via Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes (and the rest) and also on vinyl via Aagoo Records. Christopher Sky’s music is also available for licensing through Hidden Shoal across film, tv, games, web and beyond. Hit us up for more info.
Employing guitar, rhodes piano, electronics and loops, Christopher Sky crafts soundscapes that feel boundless and expansive. Constantly evolving, each piece adopts nuanced textural and rhythmic motifs as both narrative devices and atmospheric signifiers. Sky’s deft handling of space and scale delivers some truly beatific vistas that are both inviting and transportive.
Perfectly placed incidental sounds are mapped out across the album’s duration. Rather than serving as instrumental adornments, they become musical signposts. As with William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, the act of listening becomes an exploration of the details while being gently guided by the ambience. Whether employing glitchy rhodes tones, crackling static or eerie reverberating percussion, Sky masterfully creates and sustains an atmosphere, then transforms it subtly, carrying the listener effortlessly through and between tracks with finesse.
Isophene’s “Reverbatory” Lands in CJSW Top 5!
Isophene’s brilliant new album Reverbatory has just landed at number 4 on the CJSW Electronic Chart. The album is available now in CD and digital formats via Bandcamp and to stream and download via Spotify, iTunes and all other good online stores. Isophene’s music is available for licensing across film, tv, games web and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Contact us for more info.
New Moonchy & Tobias Music Video
Check out this wild and wonderful music video by Alice Murace for the Moonchy & Tobias track ‘Bon Bon’. Taken from Moonchy & Tobias, an electrifying collaboration between Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy and American instrumentalist Todd Tobias. The album is available now through Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records.
Brace yourself when entering the disorienting world of Moonchy & Tobias, where churning rock textures created by Todd Tobias are the landscape within which vocalist Pat Moonchy runs riot, warping her voice into every recess and shape available. Skirting the boundary between fairytale and nightmare, the angular architecture of the music is softened and stretched at every juncture. Whether the pounding bass of ‘Juu Ichi’, the bubbling submarine atmospheres of ‘Vertigo Trail’, or the percussion and fuzz carnival of single ‘Une Saison En Enfer’, Moonchy and Tobias create a transformative musical experience in which giddy tangents abound.
Moonchy & Tobias pairs Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy with American instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Moonchy is one-half of the experimental band Sothiac, in duos alongside trombonist Angelo Contini and jazz drummer Lino Liguori, in the Tai-No Orchestra, and with German krautrock pioneers Faust. Ohio native Tobias is a long-time collaborator with Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices), and provided the musical backing to Pollard’s vocals in the freak-rock trio Circus Devils. Tobias has also released a series of themed instrumental albums under his own name.
This music is available for licensing.
Kramies’ First Vinyl Date
Lovely feature over at Vinyl District where our very own Kramies tell’s all of his first love – rekkids! Check it out here.