New release roundup! From Billie Marten’s new track to The Last Dinner Party’s deluxe album
UK Music News, UK Music Videos
by
Desh Kapur UK-Editor/Photographer
BILLIE MARTEN
SHARES NEW SINGLE “CROWN”
OUT NOW ON FICTION RECORDS
SUPPORTING BEN HOWARD ON HIS UK TOUR
Last week, Billie Marten headlined a sold-out show at the Barbican Centre alongside free-form string group, Her Ensemble, playing remarkable orchestral versions of songs from her four critically acclaimed albums. It was no mean feat for the British singer-songwriter, who has become known for thoughtful live moments and singular songwriting and storytelling.
Now, Billie shares a recorded version of fan favourite, “Crown”. Billie says of “Crown”, “I wrote this in my garden last summer while staring at my cat sitting peacefully in the shade. It’s a song of longing, of accepting who you are, a truthful interlude”.
The song was recorded this summer with Philip Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Cass McCombs, Tomberlin) in Brooklyn, NY. “We made this song in what felt like an instant, elbow to elbow, circled up, delicately listening to each other breathe, and sing, and play. Honestly magical. I wish you could have been there. Thank god we recorded it,” says Weinrobe. “Immaculate players came together to make a completely live recording – the only overdubs on this were Núria Graham’s harmonies and Mauro Refosco (David Byrne) on his triangle,” Billie continues.
Getting back to her happy place and finding “nerve” of the song, Billie travelled to NYC after playing the legendary Newport Folk Festival, and started work on her next record, which follows 2023’s critically acclaimed album, Drop Cherries.
KEEP UP WITH BILLIE MARTEN
BIG SPECIAL
BIG SPECIAL & JOHN GRANT ANNOUNCE NEW SINGLE
‘STAY DOWN, LAZARUS’
SUPPORTING JOHN GRANT ON UK & EU TOUR DATES
BIG SPECIAL and John Grant have linked up for stellar new collaborative single release ‘STAY DOWN, LAZARUS’, out now via SO Recordings. BIG SPECIAL recently broke into the Official UK Albums Chart Top 40 with their debut album POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES, and have spent their summer drawing huge crowds at festivals including Glastonbury, Green Man, Latitude, and Reading & Leeds.
On ‘STAY DOWN, LAZARUS’ the Black Country duo and revered NYC songwriting talent make for a potent force lined up beside each other. Dark, thrumming atmospherics and brooding voices intertwine on a song that talks frankly about being sold a lie, forced to stay in your lane. Lead singer Joe Hicklin says: “Stay Down, Lazarus is just a big moan about the social promise of elevation and rising up, that doesn’t really exist for most people. It was actually the first song written for BIG SPECIAL, but it didn’t make our debut album. We always felt it needed something more, so we took a shot in the dark and asked John Grant, a major influence of ours, to have a crack at it with us. We are proper chuffed he wanted to get involved and still pinching ourselves”
John Grant adds: “Was very psyched that Big Special asked me along for the ride on this track. Had a blast doing this!”
John Grant will also be bringing BIG SPECIAL out on tour with him through the UK and Europe this winter, before the band wraps up their year with more headline shows in Europe, India, Thailand and Australia. Tickets on sale now here.
WATCH ‘PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GIRL’ ON THE ROAD VIDEO HERE
SOLD OUT UK TOUR NOW UNDERWAY
The Last Dinner Party are pleased to share Prelude To Ecstasy: Acoustics and Covers – a deluxe edition of their Mercury Prize-shortlisted debut which includes reimagined versions of the band’s own songs alongside unique covers of their favourite tracks from other artists. Prelude To Ecstasy: Acoustics and Covers arrives with an on the road video for ‘Portrait of a Dead Girl’; made with footage from the band’s recent inaugural trip to bassist Georgia’s home country of Australia. This new collection was first teased towards the end of summer with The Last Dinner Party’s cover of Sparks’ 1974 single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’.
To sum up the impact The Last Dinner Party have had, or simply to try and summarise the highlights of their last twelve months would inevitably be doing the band an injustice. With sell out tours across the globe, chart-bothering singles, a fastest-selling number one album by a debuting band for years, a Rising Star BRIT Award, BBC Sound of 2024 winners, reams of acclaim and now an inclusion on the Mercury Prize – Albums of the Year shortlist: you’d be hard pushed to liken it to any new artist introducing themselves within the last decade, perhaps further beyond. The wildest of rides.
But amongst all the deafening noise stand five smart young musicians trying to ignore what they cannot control and instead leave a permanent impression out on the stages they’d always dreamed of performing on. A mesmerising, captivating live act, The Last Dinner Party started this journey honing their craft on the basement stages of London’s grassroots venues and have been telling their story to bigger capacity rooms across the UK, Europe and the US ever since. Having commenced the summer with a spree of stellar festival appearances including Radio 1 Big Weekend, Primavera Sound, TRNSMT and a scene-stealing return to Glastonbury, The Last Dinner Party have wrapped their debut run of Australia shows and an appearance at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, with the band now amid a collection of sold out dates on both sides of the Atlantic: culminating in 3 nights at London’s Eventim Apollo.
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago