SOUNDING :: Modern Studies + Lomond Campbell, with Pumpkinseeds chamber orchestra
Modern Studies, the band featuring Caught by the River contributor Rob St. John, should already be familiar to regular readers of this site. Having released one of our favourite records of 2016 (Swell To Great) and performed on several of our festival stages it’s good to know that things aren’t stopping there.
Today we can announce three special shows taking place in August in Stockbridge Church, Edinburgh. Buy tickets here.
Also featuring on the bill is Lomond Campbell, an artist you’ll be hearing more of from us and whose debut LP Black River Promise, is out now on Triassic Tusk. It really is a thing of great beauty (trust us on this and buy a copy here).
“Modern Studies and Lomond Campbell’s sets will be enhanced by intricate arrangements played by renowned ten-piece string section The Pumpkinseeds, with brass and gospel voices, in what promises to be a spectacle of contemporary talent”>
The artists speak:
“Working with the chamber orchestra will hopefully add a layer of sweeping, sparkling brilliance to our usual set-up. I think we’ve all really stretched ourselves as writers for this project; our new songs are steeped in memory, like faded snapshots of family or loved ones, still dream-like and harking to the past in a way folk might recognise from our debut Swell to Great, but perhaps more complex, looser, freer, even a bit darker. I had the pleasure of working with many of these musicians on Lomond’s beautiful record Black River Promise, and they are an astonishing group of players; we hope to make the most of that with these arrangements to create a really special run of shows.” – Emily Scott, Modern Studies
“This is a unique opportunity to hear Black River Promise the way it should be heard – with a full 10 piece string ensemble. I’m honoured & thrilled to be able to perform the album live in its entirety with some of the finest musicians in the country. Realistically, this is likely to be the only time it will be performed this way. I’m also excited to see Modern Studies play live. Swell To Great is one of my top records from 2016 and I’m curious to see what they’re going to do next. Whatever it is, I hope I can do my techno shuffle dance to it.” – Lomond Campbell
“We’re very excited about SOUNDING. Stockbridge Church is a really atmospheric space with great acoustics, which I think will be a cracking place for a show in the late summer evening light. We’ll have projections (weather balloons might be involved…) and a riso-print publication to give away to ticket holders, with download links to tracks of the two acts covering each other.” – Rob St John, Modern Studies