These New Puritans

Awesome interview. You back in the business as well, Scik?

I've written a handful of pieces for The Quietus over the last few years.

Yeah I know. I guess quality, not quantity

That is a great interview, indeed, Nick. He comes across as such a nice guy.

Man, I need to sit down with an engineer for a month and really STUDY

Been listening to this a lot again, it matches this bad weather well. Had it on my headphones when I ran in to work this morning over wet boggy fields. Played it again this evening on a windy run along the seafront where the storm-thrown shingle has covered the paths and buried benches and a swathe of seaweed had started to encroach on city streets. I want to think of it as sort of the estaurine phase of a flow of dank music that goes from the high moors of Richard Skelton, through the wet autumnal hills of Hood and all the way down to the sublittoral kelp beds of Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.

estuarine even

Looking forward to seeing them at the Barbican in April 'performing one of the albums of the year, Field of Reeds with an expanded ensemble.'

YEah dug this out again too (bought a "proper" copy on vinyl). It's a great album. Sometimes the indulgences are a bit too great and you get the impression he's attempting something that's too clever and ambitious for his own good, but I guess that's better than not trying at all eh? I know what you mean about estuarine, there's something very Graham Swift 'Waterlands' about this. I'll still love the moments on this though - the piano vamp on Fragment Two; the flugelhorn on Nothing Else; the basso profondo; the whole of Organ Eternal.

the point in "V (Island Song)" when all of the meandering musical lines coalesce into that groove is my favorite transition on the album

oh man i must go to that barbican show.

the point in "V (Island Song)" when all of the meandering musical lines coalesce into that groove is my favorite transition on the album

Yeah that's kind of really what this album is about - all these strangely twisting threads that don't seem to lead anywhere and then suddenly bundle together in this cool way.

Hoping everyone gathers around V (Island Song) in the EOY poll

sorry but it wasn't the stand out for me. i might give it another listen on its own and then get voters regret.

Inspired by the revive, put this beaut on again today. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was over in the other room and that I was actually just listening to a helicopter hovering off somewhere in the distance.

OK, let the persuasion campaign commence...V (Island Song) has a (superb) video! My only qualm is that it loses that gorgeous slow transition into the midsection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iSgJggVpNg

uh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iSgJggVpNg

something very king crimson about that lurching chord progression and the purposeful clattering of the cymbals

yeh lots of love for this album for the eoy poll but was nowhere near nominating any tracks - probs organ eternal would be my pick if i had to choose one

that said it would be nice to see tnp in any of the countdowns

I'm nominating the album so I don't really see the point of voting for any of the individual tracks. It's not really an album with major standouts anyway.

Same here. This album has just been creeping up on me all year and will do very well on my list but couldn't really pick out a single song to vote for. Think I'm going to have to go back to the last album now, I listened to it when it came out but it didn't really make any impression on me at all.

IMO the three times they've broken 7 minutes = by far their 3 best songs. Next album they gotta go fucken symphonic-prog hardball

Way back in the mists of time they did a song called Navigate, Navigate which was 12 minutes long and felt like it went on
for about 120 minutes. Soundtrack for the 2007-8 Dior Homme
 Autumn Collection no less, wasn't really much good though iirc.

http://www.arc018.com/release/navigate-navigate

http://www.arc018.com/resources/tnp_new380.jpg

oh

well the LAST three times they've broken 7 minutes, ha

i tried listening to their first album last night and other than "Elvis" (which is kidn of fun in an annoying way), it's pretty much unlistenable.

Strongly disagree, better to think of it as a completely different band that hasn't stopped wearing it's post-punk influences on its sleeve. I love it unreservedly.

^THIS! Their earlier performances/material were so of-the-moment, but they took a more interesting approach than other, more popular bands at the time. The 16min version of "Navigate, Navigate" still gives me chills. Totally listenable.

Ah I'll need to check it out. Granted, they were a LOT more interesting than a lot of other indie rock bands of the time and I have to respect that, but even Hidden I found a bit ugly and difficult to listen to.

In other news that Barbican show, it looks like all the good seats have been taken and the rest cost £20 each so I'm kind of worried about spending money on being stuck behind a pillar or not being able to see.

i liked the first album quite a bit and there's definitely a couple of songs on there that anticipate later stuff.

the only thing about this album is how on one of the tracks ('Dream'?) it sounds like he's singing 'fart it out, fart it out, fart it out, fart it out'. surely deliberate?

maybe an homage to the last scott walker album?

Only ever heard "Fragment Two" but this suggests I need to hear the album:

"Been listening to this a lot again, it matches this bad weather well. Had it on my headphones when I ran in to work this morning over wet boggy fields. Played it again this evening on a windy run along the seafront where the storm-thrown shingle has covered the paths and buried benches and a swathe of seaweed had started to encroach on city streets. I want to think of it as sort of the estaurine phase of a flow of dank music that goes from the high moors of Richard Skelton, through the wet autumnal hills of Hood and all the way down to the sublittoral kelp beds of Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom."

maybe an homage to the last scott walker album?

― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, January 27, 2014 4:32 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Funny you should say that, but there's a track 'Nothing Else' which segues really well with 'Cue' off the Drift. Evidence: http://www.mixcloud.com/doglatin/give-thanks-some-recent-listening-jan-2014/

Made the EOY top 20, barring ridiculousness - good result tbh, even if the album is (imo) patchy in its brilliance

a rekindled love affair with it late in the year meant i voted for it at -gasp- NUMBER ONE

djh i think you would get a lot out of this record btw

Intriguing. What makes you say that?

confluence of boomkat classical and hood/hollis strands. well not at all really, but not too far away from such a concept

makes sense. i had one of those odd moments where i was pondering if known off-web.

haha no, i think your veil of mystery remains unrent

Phew. Thought I'd been rumbled. Album ordered!

Hmm.

this "live" video has got me so hyped for their US shows: http://pitchfork.com/news/54274-these-new-puritans-share-live-island-song-video-announce-tour/

Oh man, I definitely have to see them when they come to Chicago, it's gonna be mind blowing I 'm sure.

Anyone else go to the Barbican show last night? What did you think?

Sounded amazing -- utterly jealous here.

I went and it was amazing - full choir, string section, brass and wind, just Barnett and the fado singer at the front, they played the album in order and then came back with an encore of new songs (like the last album but better) and Hidden-era stuff. We Want War was astonishing with so many musicians on stage.

They had two bass singers with proper, proper deep voices as well, I've never heard anything like it.

Inexplicably two local ish shows. I've heard ticket sales are sluggish, which I suppose makes sense.

Yes, the basso profundo guys were terrific, the way they were deployed with that omnious rumble they were making kind of reminded me of what? that last Sunn O))) album perhaps? Great show overall - I did wonder how it was going to work out when they lurched into Fragment Two and the bass and drums locked into that groove in a really buoyant and overly enthusiastic way that maybe left the conductor struggling to get the strings & brass up to speed but that was such an exciting moment anyhow. After that I thought everything was really well integrated, and it was great to actually see who was making what sounds. Percussionist was a hard working guy, kind of disappointed that the glass-smashing moment wasn't all that - saw him get his goggles on and go behind a perspex screen to do it, but didn't actually hear anything happen. If I had any real gripes it would be that I became increasingly aware that Barnett does rely on using the same sonic tricks over and over - the purple-green-blue bruise hues in the brass and winds, the flugelhorn coming in somewhat predictably at the most emotive moments - but it's still for me an incredible thing he's achieved. Agree that We Want War was excellent, like Get Ur Freak On meets Benjamin Britten.