New Release – Cerys Matthews ‘Explorer’ (posted by Harry)
Cerys Matthews ‘Explorer’
CD
RCMCD006
(Rainbow City Records)
*Cerys has been collecting songs since she was seven. On her Sunday morning BBC 6Music radio show she delves into her vast record collection to share her passion and despite what radio programmers would have us believe in the need for the familiar and over exposed, the response has been a rapidly ever increasing audience that welcomes the diversity of music that is often new to their ears.
*“Explorer “ is the title of Cerys’ fourth solo album and in both choosing and writing the songs she has sub consciously delved into the huge influence of not just all the music she has heard, but the places she has been around the globe ,and by the times we live in, but most importantly made an album that over the seven days of recording had no pre determined sound or calculated format.
*The journeys start with the songs, from Spain, Scotland, Ireland, America, and Wales and their own migration. “I didn’t want to explore so much what makes the songs different from each other, but what they have in common. How, when they are put side by side, they might find a simple common ground that exists despite the characteristics of their land of origin being so diverse. “
*Cerys goes on to describe the new songs she has written. “ Everyday I sit with my guitar and play music, some of the songs I have collected in my early teens , some just discovered . I wrote the rest of this album inspired by the idea of transience, migration and travel, imagining how people felt on hearing new sounds when first docking in new colonies, the uniqueness of smelling , seeing and of course hearing such strange things for the first time . “
*“As I was about to go into the studio I started imagining sounds that might seem initially strange to the songs about to be recorded. Sounds that would in my mind compliment the message of the song, create a feeling that has the essence of where the songs have come from , but also sounds that added the exotic and the new.”
*The band took shape in the form of Mason Neely long time collaborator , from Chattanooga , Attab Haddad , oud virtuoso and flamenco performer , Tigran Aleksanyan from Armenia on the Duduck , Frank Moon , of Cornwall’s fair fields, with his 100 year old banjo , and the very English sound of Serafina Steer on harp and backing vocals , Cerys leading from the guitar .
*The self produced album is released on May 9th on CD and download on Cerys’s own label , through which she has already released her three previously successful solo albums (“Don’t Look Down “ , “Paid Edrych I lawr “ , and “TIR” ) .
*As well as her weekly Sunday Morning BBC 6Musc radio show, Cerys goes out on tour on May 2nd, she will be standing in for Bob Harris on his Radio 2 show , is presenting a TV documentary in both Welsh and Spanish on Cuba , a mentor on the BBC 2 TV show “Goldie : By Royal Appointment : a BBC Radio 4 programme on fishing , a documentary on the legendary TJ’s nightclub , recently judged the Dylan Thomas Award for new literature, performing at the Hay Literary Festival, curating a night at Cardiff Glee Club to celebrate the club’s birthday (with Natalie Duncan , Lester Allen , Tara Busch , and Mary Epworth ) on May 1st , this year ‘s President of the Urdd National Eistedfodd on 30th May ) , and has her first children’s book published on May 4th “ Songs From The Deep “ on Gomer Press.
*“EXPLORER – OVER LAND AND SEA” – THE TOUR 2011
Cerys Matthews returns to the road introducing the brand new album Explorer, which accompanies the critically acclaimed 2010 release of TIR (land). She intersperses songs that she has collected from her childhood years in South Wales, her travels around the world, as well as her now considerable catalogue of solo and band songs with humorous asides and curiosities so it promises to be a magical journey through the British Isles, Ireland and the southern states of the USA.
29/04/2011 Bangor University, Pritchard-Jones Hall
02/05/2011 Cardigan, Theatr Mwldan (2 performances – 3pm and 7:30pm)
04/05/2011 Swansea, Pontardawe Arts Centre
05/05/2011 Leamington Spa, The Assembly
07/05/2011 Milton Keynes, The Stables
08/05/2011 London, Leicester Square Theatre
10/05/2011 Bristol, St George’s
11/05/2011 Brecon, Theatr Brycheiniog (2 performances: 6pm and 9pm)
13/05/2011 Birkenhead, Pacific Road Arts Centre
14/05/2011 High Wycombe, Wycombe Town Hall
15/05/2011 Southampton, Turner Sims Theatre
20/05/2011 Uttoxeter Racecourse, The Acoustic Festival of Britain
03/06/2011 Hay-on-Wye, Hay Festival
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