Trembling Bells | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Glasgows Trembling Bells mix eclectic influences like country, classic rock, metal and Latin music into their British folk foundations just as skillfully as they collaborate with artists including Kaleidoscope, the Incredible String Band and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Drummer Alex Neilson, an improviser who has played with Jandek and Current 93 among others, formed the band in 2008 to explore more structured, song-based music. To fill out the lineup, recruited vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Lavinia Blackwall (who worked with Neilson in the group Directing Hand), bassist/vocalist Simon Shaw (also of Lucky Luke), and guitarist/harmonica player Ben Reynolds (who played with Neilson in Motor Ghost and is also a solo artist).This version of the group released its debut album, Carbeth, in April 2009 on Honest Jons Records. Blackwalls clear soprano and the group’s acoustic leanings drew acclaim and comparisons to Pentangle, Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, and other British folk luminaries of the 60s and 70s -- so much so that the band participated in an Incredible String Band tribute concert at London’s Barbican a couple of months after Carbeths release. For 2010s Abandoned Love, they co-produced the album with Belle & Sebastians Stevie Jackson, added guitarist/vocalist Mike Hastings to the fold and incorporated medieval, country, and classic rock influences into their sound. They remained prolific and stylistically restless in 2011, releasing the more psychedelic The Constant Pageant and Marble Downs, a set of duets between Blackwall and Will Oldham that arrived in April 2012. Following a 2013 side project called the Crying Lion that saw both Neilson and Blackwall collaborating with the a cappella group Muldoons Picnic on a set of choral tunes, Trembling Bells returned with their fifth album, 2015s The Sovereign Self. Their colorful explorations of British folk and psych styles continued a year later with Wide Majestic Aire, an eight-song mini-album intended as a sort of companion piece to The Sovereign Self. October 2016 saw the release of The Bonnie Bells of Oxford, a live EP recorded on tour with Bonnie "Prince" Billy. On 2018s full-length Dungeness, Trembling Bells continued to expand their horizons by incorporating elements of stoner rock, Latin and Middle Eastern music into the proceedings. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: Carbeth Released: 2009 Tracks: 9 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 I Listed All of the Velvet Lessons (?) 2 I Took to You (Like Christ to Wood) (?) 3 When I Was Young (?) 4 The End Is the Beginning Born Knowing (?) 5 Summers Waning (?) 6 Willows of Carbeth (?) 7 Your Head Is the House of Your Tongue (?) 8 Garlands of Stars (?) 9 Seven Years a Teardrop (?) |
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Abandoned Love Released: 2010-04-19 Tracks: 10 Duration: 35:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Adieu, England (03:50) 2 Man Is as a Garden Born (03:13) 3 Baby, Lay Your Burden Down (04:41) 4 Did You Sing Together? (03:35) 5 September Is the Month of Death (03:46) 6 Love Made an Outlaw of My Heart (03:50) 7 Ravenna (03:45) 8 All Good Men Come Last (03:36) 9 Darling (02:45) 10 You Are on the Bottom (And the Bottles on My Mind) (02:54) |
| Abandoned Love : Allmusic album Review : Lets be honest: Carbeth had set the bar really high. The release of Trembling Bells debut album in the summer of 2009 had been a surprise, and a radiant one at that. Their heady blend of country-rock feeling, folk roots, and wacky humor -- and the odd-couple pairing of Lavinia Blackwalls voice with Alex Neilsons -- worked brilliantly though inexplicably well. Released a year later, Abandoned Love eschews the second-album syndrome by building on the groups strengths without stripping anything away. The songwriting has matured and, most noticeably, the comic-relief element found on the first album and generally embodied by Neilson ("Your Head Is the House of Your Tongue," for example) has been toned down and tucked at the tail end of the track list (in the form of "You Are on the Bottom [And the Bottles on My Mind]," overtly country-rock with pedal steel and fiddle and all the bells and whistles). "Adieu, England," "Darling," and "Love Made an Outlaw of My Heart" stand out, the first two as perfect examples of Trembling Bells take on medieval-inspired folk songs, the latter as their unique brand of country/classic rock. Blackwalls soaring voice is better used on this album, and overall the disparate influences of the band are better integrated into a distinctive group sound. However, there is nothing here that stands out like the gripping "Willows of Carbeth" did on the first album. Carbeth was an instant like; Abandoned Love is more of a grower. But the folk fires still burning, and with this second opus, Trembling Bells have proven they are more than a flash in the pan. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: The Constant Pageant Released: 2011-03-21 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Just as the Rainbow (05:41) 2 All My Favourite Mistakes (03:50) 3 Colour of Night (04:24) 4 Cold Heart of Mine (03:10) 5 Where Do I Go From You? (05:31) 6 Otley Rock Oracle (05:04) 7 Goathland (05:08) 8 To See You Again (02:39) 9 Torn Between Loves (05:20) 10 New Years Eves the Loneliest Night of the Year (04:35) |
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: The Duchess EP Released: 2012 Tracks: 8 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Duchess (?) 2 Too Old to Die Young (?) 3 Ill Be Looking Out for Me (?) 4 Tincture of Tears (?) 5 Bells of Oxford (?) 6 (Theres Nothing Nobler Than) Yorkshire in October (?) 7 Tuning Fork of the Earth (?) 8 Dancing on the Breath of God (?) |
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: The Marble Downs Released: 2012-04-06 Tracks: 10 Duration: 48:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Made a Date (with an Open Vein) (06:34) 2 I Can Tell Youre Leaving (04:36) 3 Ferrari in a Demolition Derby (04:14) 4 Aint Nothing Wrong With a Little Longing (06:55) 5 Excursions Into Assonance (04:22) 6 Every Time I Close My Eyes (Were Back There) (05:50) 7 Love Is a Velvet Noose (03:39) 8 My Husbands Got No Courage in Him (02:15) 9 Riding (03:12) 10 Lord Bless All (06:44) |
| The Marble Downs : Allmusic album Review : A collaboration between Trembling Bells and Bonnie "Prince" Billy is fitting on so many levels: both of these artists love to dig deep in the musical histories of their respective homelands and come up with something equally fresh and reverent. They do this brilliantly on The Marble Downs, which shows off the finest points of everyone involved while sounding like an early-70s record collection that was left out in the sun to melt and meld together: raw British folk nestles up against Bakersfield country, while stately brass and acid rock guitars arm wrestle. The opening track, "I Made a Date (With an Open Vein)," is so triumphant and full-sounding with its bold fanfares and solos that it feels more like an ending than a beginning; later on, the tender piano ballad "Excursions into Assonance" sets a Dorothy Parker poem to music that could have come from a parallel universes Simon & Garfunkel. The Marble Downs vocals are just as inspired: Will Oldhams voice sounds more vital than it has in some time, even (or especially) when contrasted against the gorgeous clarity of Lavinia Blackwalls tones. They take each other to new heights, particularly on the garage rock tour de force "Aint Nothing Wrong with a Little Longing," where the gallows humor for a troubled affair finds them trading barbs like "You could have honesty without cruelty/Your brutality was mechanical," and on the trippy chamber pop of "Ferrari in a Demolition Derby," where their lovely harmonies are surrounded by surreal pomp and circumstance. There are songs that sound like long-lost traditional laments, like the gorgeous, heartbreaking "Love Is a Velvet Noose," and songs that actually are traditional laments, such as "My Husbands Got No Courage in Him," one of The Marble Downs many showcases for Blackwall. It does Oldham good to sing someone elses words -- hes especially charming on "I Can Tell Youre Leaving," where he sings, "Like Merle Haggard, youll see the fighting side of me" -- but one of the standout moments is the thunderous cover of his own "Riding." The albums celestial closing track, a cover of Robin Gibbs "Lord Bless All," underscores just how rare it is to hear a mix of sounds and artists that is so organic and unforced, and what a beautiful accomplishment that is. The Marble Downs is a cult classic in the making, and if Oldhams involvement helps more people discover Trembling Bells eclectic brilliance, so much the better. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: The Sovereign Self Released: 2015 Tracks: 8 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Tween the Womb & the Tomb (?) 2 O, Where is Saint George? (?) 3 Killing Time in London Fields (?) 4 Sweet Death Polka (?) 5 Bells of Burford (?) 6 The Singing Blood (?) 7 (Perched Like a Drunk on a) Miserichord (?) 8 I is Someone Else (?) |
| The Sovereign Self : Allmusic album Review : Glaswegian eclectics Trembling Bells offer up their freewheeling fifth LP, The Sovereign Self, an eight-song odyssey named after a line by revered British television writer Dennis Potter. That they cite influences like Potter, Greek tragedies, the painter El Greco, and socialist activist William Morris, reveals just how unlike any of their indie rock contemporaries they really are. In their six years together, theyve never made any bones about their obscure historical leanings, but neither do they attempt to wholly re-create music of a certain era. Led by band mastermind and drummer/singer Alex Neilson, they trip deeply through veins of psychedelic pop, prog, British folk, early music, and even country. Following 2012s Marble Downs, their inspired collaboration with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Neilson and singer/keyboardist Lavinia Blackwall formed the Crying Lion, a side project with a cappella group Muldoons Picnic, who released a beautiful collection of original choral songs in 2014. Their mix of madrigal, Gregorian chant, and American Sacred Harp singing represented yet another facet of Neilsons far-flung interests, consequently affecting Trembling Bells, whose layers seem to deepen with each release. The Sovereign Self opens with the epic eight-minute "Tween the Womb and the Tomb," an invigorating psych romp that showcases the interplay between guitarists Mike Hastings and new recruit Alasdair C. Mitchell, whose loosely contained fire recalls Fairports Thompson/Nicol heyday. There are cerebral folk-pop meanderings like the lovely "Sweet Death Polka" and "The Singing Blood," as well as pastoral 60s rockers like "Killing Time in London Fields," which serves as yet another vehicle for Blackwells powerhouse vocals. They even take a crack at the famed "Padstow May Day Song" under the title "O, Where Is Saint George?" An extension of their ever-evolving canon, The Sovereign Self is possibly Trembling Bells most colorful journey yet, with a wayfaring rock & roll spirit and a madcap zeal that keep it sounding fresh even when the band devolves into an extended jam around David Bowies "The Width of a Circle" on album-closer "I Is Someone Else." Trembling Bells may not be for everyone, but they are easily one of the U.K.s most fascinating acts. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: The Bonnie Bells of Oxford Released: 2016 Tracks: 9 Duration: 43:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rainbow / Jolly (05:11) 2 Goat and Ram (05:21) 3 Husband / Riding (05:47) 4 Excursions Into Assonance (04:27) 5 So Everyone (03:18) 6 Loves Made an Outlaw of My Heart (03:39) 7 All Gone, All Gone (03:42) 8 Bottom / No God / Bottle (07:46) 9 Love Is a Velvet Noose (04:12) |
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: Wide Majestic Aire Released: 2016-04-01 Tracks: 7 Duration: 31:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Wide Majestic Aire (05:38) 2 England Was Aghast (05:36) 3 Show Me A Hole (and Ill crawl in it) (04:40) 4 Swallows Of Carbeth (05:12) 5 I Love Bute (03:29) 6 The Day That Maya Deren Died (02:03) 7 Marble Arch (04:38) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Dungeness Released: 2018-03-30 Tracks: 10 Duration: 47:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Big Nothing (01:02) 2 Knocking On The Coffin (05:06) 3 My Father Was A Collapsing Star (05:11) 4 Death Knocked At My Door (05:59) 5 Christs Entry Into Govan (05:49) 6 The Prophet (05:08) 7 Devil In Dungeness (05:03) 8 This Is How The World Will End (05:21) 9 Im Coming (04:02) 10 Rebecca, Dressed As A Waterfall (04:35) |