Group Listening will release new album ‘Walks’ on May 10th.
The duo – Paul Jones and Stephen Black – have an inquisitive approach, blending cerebral experimentation with a slightly askew sense of humour. ‘Walks’ is their first collection of completely original compositions, and it lands this spring.
Out on May 10th via PRAH Recordings, the release will be followed by a full UK tour in June. Ahead of this, Group Listening have shared gaming new song ‘Hill End’, with its subtle blend of fluttering electronics and purring analogue aspects.
There’s a vein of retro-futurism in Group Listening’s work, drawing on a deeply English sensibility – even down to the landscapes that permeate the music.
Paul Jones comments…
Steve and I were walking in and around Bolton Priory, where we must have playing a gig nearby – Leeds I think. Most likely it was on a day off between shows and we were heading north. We went on quite a long trek, I remember it being hilly terrain, rolling slopes and lots of gradients up and down, with the River Wharfe in full flow we passed by a place with stepping stones crossing the river.
A number of nearby places had dramatic and gothic sounding names; the Valley Of Desolation and Storiths Crag. Hill End was on the map and close by, it encapsulated the feeling we had created in the music; that feeling you get when you set out on a a purposeful walk up a steep hill and the relief on reaching it’s end, exhausted but slightly elated.
Bandmate Stephen Black counters:
‘Hills End’, a bit like ‘New Brighton’, feels futuristic to me. Like Blade Runner, or Kraftwerk but with clarinets and recorders. The tune has everything you need. Propulsive drums, arpeggiators, a wind synth and two key changes too. It reminds me of driving down a motorway but getting diverted to witness a pagan ritual with burning effigies and a maypole.
Tune in now.
