Ryley Walker

Birmingham Promoters present:
RYLEY WALKER + BOAT TO ROW + MY AUTUMN EMPIRE
Ages 14+ (under 16s must be accompanied by an adult)
http://birminghampromoters.com

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Ryley Walker

Ryley Walker is the reincarnation of the True American Guitar Player. That’s as much a testament to his roving, rambling ways, or as to the fact that his Guild D-35 guitar has endured a few stints in the pawnshop.

Primrose Green begins near where All Kinds of You, his last record, leaves off but quickly pushes far afield. The title sounds pastoral and quaint, but the titular green has dark hallucinogenic qualities, as does much of the LP. The band is a mixture of new and old Chicago talent, blending both jaded veterans of the post-rock and jazz mini-circuits together with a few eager, open-eared youths.

No one knows what the future holds for young Ryley Walker. Hardship and setbacks and dilapidated housing uncertainty only seem to spur him on creatively. Here, with this record, we risk limiting his access to personal disaster by flirting with success. A short lifetime of interminable practice and discipline have resulted in a masterpiece of an album, an album of a sort we haven’t seen since the 1970s.

“Acoustic swagger exists, and Ryley Walker has it” – NPR Music

“A brackish and magical seven-inch that sits somewhere between Tim Buckley’s soaring reveries and Bert Jansch circa ‘LA Turnaround”– John Mulvey, UNCUT

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Boat To Row

Birmingham quintet Boat To Row have earned an outstanding live reputation since their beginnings as a solo project in 2009. They combine a genuine ease in each other’s musical company with an energetic, skilfully crafted sound. Their songs play host to winding tales, journeying through light and shade. Expect an intricate set woven with strings and vocal harmonies, layered with an ever-expanding collection of instruments.

They have supported Slow Club, Willy Mason and Johnny Flynn and have toured with Dog Is Dead and Gemma Hayes. They recently joined Jim Lockey And The Solemn Sun and Devon Sproule for dates on their UK tours. This summer saw appearances at 2000 Trees, Lunar, Wood, Behind The Castle, Moseley Folk, Green Man and Cambridge Folk festivals.

Crossroads, Grassmarket and Loyal Light EPs have paved the way for new single ‘Tightrope’. Released on Nocturne Records, it has enjoyed BBC Radio 2, BBC Introducing, BBC Shropshire & Cambridgeshire, Amazing Radio and BBC 6 Music play.

“Simply wonderful” - Janice Long, BBC Radio 2

“A band to get your ears involved with” - This is Fake DIY

“One of the West Midlands most exquisitely talented folk acts” - Brum Notes

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My Autumn Empire

My Autumn Empire is the project of bucolic post-rock experimenter Benjamin Thomas Holton (epic45). Exploring the edgelands where hazy dream-pop meets dark lyrical folk, Benjamin has released three acclaimed albums on Wayside & Woodland Recordings. The fourth, entitled Dreams of Death and Other Favourites, is a collection of ruminations on death, nightmares and hauntings, inspired partly by the ‘strange stories’ of Robert Aickman and Nigel Kneale’s unsettling TV adaptations of the 1970s. Musically, expect to hear echoes of The Incredible String Band’s wyrd folk, the cyclical guitar of David Pajo and the drifting rural transmissions of the much missed Hood. All of this framed by Benjamin’s love of melody and knack for an overall hauntological ambience.

Benjamin is also an integral part of the July Skies live band and has collaborated with artists such as Hood, Stephen Jones (Babybird) and Bibio (Warp Records).

“Efficacious and compelling” – Drowned In Sound

“Woozy otherworldly bedroom pop” - God Is In The TV