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Out now (13th October), London avant-folk nine-piece Bishopskin share debut album 'Babble' via Isolar Records (Saint Leonard).
Mingling English Folk revivalism, 19th century Romanticism and Blakean spirituality - with a punkish flair that holds its birthplace and spiritiual home at the Brixton Windmill - 'Babble' showcases the group's idiosyncratic grasp of unpredictable, exquisite arrangements and gasping melodic beauties.
Celebrating the release with a clutch of tour dates this Autumn, Bishopskin play a headline launch party at The Lexington in London on the 3rd November, to accompany performances in Manchester and Paris.
Releasing singles 'Ave Maria', 'Hey Little Sister', 'Stella Splendens' and 'Mother's Steel Bike' the band has received press acclaim in 2023 from So Young, Rough Trade, DIY, Clunk Still Listening, Hard of Hearing, Backseat Mafia and Hideous Mag.
Fostering a reputation for eccentric yet absorbing live performances, the band has also played notable support slots with the likes of Opus Kink (at their Village Underground headline show), Wooze, Saint Leonard, and DREXXELS.
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As a group who sing their ‘prayers to the wind’, exalt the Virgin Mary, tell of "old man England on the moor" and rework 14th Century Latin Church hymns, Bishopskin’s very existence is revolt against modernity, a call to spirituality, an escapist sojourn into the idyllic fantasies of a quaint, mythologised, Blakean England via the modes of folk revivalism and the avant-garde.
Founded by James Donovan (formerly of HMLTD), and visual artist Tiger Nicholson in 2020, the aesthetic of ‘old England’ - it's landscapes, the "deep artistic roots" of it's pre-reformation Catholic traditions, unequivocally permeates every nerve and neuron of Babble. Reappropriating themes which flourished in early 19th Century Romanticism, the 11-song set explores childhood innocence (‘Mother’s Steel Bike’, ‘Hey Little Sister’), celebration of the natural world - ‘I’m in love with the golden hills, the rolling leaves’ goes ‘Holy Mary’ -. religious experiences (‘Ave Maria’) and patriotism (‘Born’). Musically, the album digs its claws into the musical riches of the 70s folk revival - so beloved by Donovan - to promote the sense of forgotten, untouched worlds. Luxurious sequences of strings, piano and woodwind abound, as do the delicate choral arrangements, which wouldn’t be out of place at an evensong, or Paul Simon’s Graceland, at least.
Meticulously arranged, the songs that make up Babble, whittled down from a batch of 50, were the product of years of recording and re-recording, tinkering and embellishing. “Like triple cooked chips” quips Donovan, the songs were initially tracked in Stoke Newington with Nathan Ridley (Blue Bendy; Phobophobes), edited by Donovan at home, then overdubbed, fittingly, at Nicholson’s cottage outhouse in rural Oxfordshire.
“You are like an artist, sculpting,” Nicholson says of the long gestation process: "You're trying to move it. You're trying to look at it from a different angle. You're trying to see what it looks like, if you stand low and look up, you know?”
Vital to the process were the other seven members making up the band's impressive entourage. Pooled from across London’s fertile grassroots scene - they represent outfits like Gently Tender, Human Resources, Ex-Giant and The Romance of Baba Loco. Becoming active members in the writing and recording of Babble, the album includes notable cameos from vocalist, clarinetist, (and qualified priest), Tati Gutteridge, whose combining of latin hymn and Ukrainian folk brings us 'Stella Splendens' and Tabitha Avanzato, who stars on bluesy romp 'Hey Little Sister', and the serene 'Holy Mary'.
With the spectacle of a packed stage, and with Nicholson hoping to strike the 'Fear of God’ into audiences with his extravagant, spontaneous live performances, few can rival Bishopskin for their sheer sense of uplifting, communal power - especially coming from the post-punk dominated, South London music scene, hardly famous for its wholesome spirituality:
“I think everyone has the capacity and the desire to feel something a bit spiritual.” reflects Donovan, “And the way our societies are at the moment in the modern world, we've lost a lot of that. I don’t think anyone would argue that we're living in a more serious, depressing and godless time. But I think people will take any opportunity to kind of get into that, whether it's ironic or it's serious. People are really open to feeling a little bit transcendent, I think."
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Bishopskin are Tiger Nicholson (vocals, songwriter), James Donovan (guitar), Tabitha Avanzato (backing vocals), Tati Gutteridge (sax & clarinet, backing vocals), Hana Miyagi (violin), James Moss (synth & guitar), Alex Prete (drums), Matt Baker (bass), Adam Brown (keyboards)
With the spectacle of a packed stage, and with Nicholson, taking inspiration from
HMLTD's Henry Spychalski, hoping to strike the “Fear of God’ into audiences with his
extravagant, spontaneous live performances, few can rival Bishopskin for their sheer
sense of uplifting, communal power - especially coming from the post-punk dominated,
South London music scene, hardly famous for its wholesome spirituality, “I think
everyone has the capacity and the desire to feel something a bit spiritual.” reflects
Donovan, “And the way our societies are at the moment in the modern world, we've lost a
lot of that. I don’t think anyone would argue that we're living in a more serious,
depressing and godless time. But I think people will take any opportunity to kind of get
into that, whether it's ironic or it's serious. People are really open to feeling a little bit transcendent, I think.”
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