About
Armed with their playful signature melodies, but this time with a darker undertone, the politically charged album The Golden Hour is an intricate body of work reflecting our turbulent times by weaving in topics of war, loss and the state of the environment.
This is a record which dives between Ys-era Joanna Newsom, tUnE yArDs and the more experimental side of Wilco. From nursery rhyme to nightmare within a few bars, it’s a timely song cycle which manages to take the listener on a fascinating journey within its concise six tracks. Once you press play it’s difficult to not see it through. In an age of music being so disposable, it’s a rare thing to hold a listener’s ear, but with its constant weaving road, you’ll be instantly hooked and left wondering what its final destination might be.
Reflecting the husband/wife duo’s background working in contemporary classical music and opera, this is a full-blown orchestral collaboration with the esteemed CHROMA Ensemble.
“It was our wish was to create a pop album that incorporates these elements by going beyond the usual cheesy Hollywood-strings and instead bring CHROMA on par with the rest of the band”, explains Henri. To achieve this, the band’s sound has been extended to include strings, woodwind and brass together with a panoply of bells, noise guitars and keyboards.
After this the songs have once again been treated by Grammy Award-winning mixing engineer S. Husky Höskulds (Tom Waits, Mike Patton, My Brightest Diamond, Ornette Coleman) who has enveloped the songs in his inimitable soundscapes.
“The songs very much reflect our current state of mind and we are happy to be more vocal about the issues we feel strongly about as we find that you can’t stay quiet any longer with the way things seem to progress”, says Catherine. “The title of the album refers to the first hour after a traumatic injury, when treatment is most likely to be successful as well as to the short time after sunrise or before sunset when daylight is redder and softer, creating dramatic skies and surreal cityscapes. As such we find it a suitable title for a call to action on environmental and political issues at this hour when the problem has been identified and there still is a chance to fix it.”
“This album will benefit from quiet listening and we want to bring people together for some real-life social sharing,” explains Henri. “So, to launch the album we will hold Golden Hour Listening Parties in outside spaces, where the light hits the surrounding environment in particularly spectacular ways during the said golden hours. In this way, we hope to encourage friend and fans to take a break from their busy lives and come together for a moment of contemplation and come up with a plan of action; discuss what needs attending around us - in our neighbourhoods, our countries or further afield - and do something about it.”
PAST PRESS
“Weird and lovely” - Pigeons & Planes
“Pretty damn progressive! In an arch sort of way” - Byron Coley/The Wire
“Still as different as ever, still as unique, still as good.” - Organ
“An early contender for sleeper hit of the year” - God Is In The TV
“It feels mystical and oddly haunting at the same time, like it’s telling a story in a language we can’t understand.” - GoldFlakePaint
**** - Artrocker
“Cerebral composition with an infectious quality” - Clash
HOW TO HOST YOUR OWN LISTENING PARTY
1. Purchase your copy of ‘The Golden Hour’
2. Email the band to request a Golden Hour signal splitter. info@frenchforcartridge.com
3. Find a spot with a view. For best results try outside in a park, a garden, a street, a rooftop, a beach or somewhere inside with large windows. Keep an eye on the weather forecast, golden hours are spectacular only if you have a bit of sun.
4. Invite your friends (at least one) to come along and bring their headphones.
5. Check the golden hour calculator to pinpoint the propitious moment and exact time to meet, wherever you are in the world an hour after sunrise/an hour before sunset. http://www.golden-hour.com
6. Plug the signal splitter in to a device and listen together.