Raven Bush performing with Syd Arthur at the 2014 Coachella festival
We like to keep up with the latest happenings in the world of the excellent Cambridge band Syd Arthur here at katebushnews.com, and Stephen Humphries has let me know about an interview he recently conducted with Raven Bush, Kate’s nephew. As well as discussing their new album, Sound Mirror, live appearances at Coachella and hanging out with their friend Paul Weller, Raven is asked about Kate’s return to live work:
Your aunt, Kate Bush, is pretty famous—she’s a rarer sight than Beyoncé. Has she given you any feedback on your music and are you going to see her perform live in London this fall?
It’s always positive feedback from her. At the minute, it’s looking like I will be around. It all depends on what happens after the record comes out. I’m really looking forward to seeing her play myself. For me, it’s totally surreal, as I’ve never seen her play live. Kate is so down to earth. My relationship with her has really been as an auntie outside of the musical profession.
Read the full interview at the Under the Radar magazine site here. Keep up with all the latest Syd Arthur happenings at their Facebook page here. (thanks to Stephen for the heads up)
We have a real soft spot for this band, not least because one of the members (fiddle-playing Raven Bush) is Kate’s nephew. Fresh, accomplished, joyous music to listen to – and Syd Arthur are only getting better and better. Their recent single ‘Dorothy’ received great national radio support in the UK – including an enthusiastic endorsement from Paul Weller when he guest presented on BBC Radio 2. 11th March sees them releasing a new double-A side single Ode to Summer / Edge of the Earth. A headline UK and Ireland tour kicks off this month (see below or www.sydarthur.co.uk for dates!).
Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they have patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves, using an innovative hybrid of analogue and digital techniques. They seamlessly mix bucolic, retro reveries, devastating blasts of precision controlled riffing, sweeping folk, fleet-fingered mandolin work and a musical vocabulary that’s as fluently conversant with world music as it is the time signature twists of many progressive artists.
Meanwhile, their impressive new album, “On An On”, has been warmly embraced by the music press:
‘Dorothy begins with a calmative wash of heat-have guitars, then cedes to a lazy, joined at the hip groove that’s a small marvel of poise and subtlety…. Enchanting’ –MOJO
‘Dizzyingly intricate… they bristle with energy and ideas’ – Q
‘Strong compositional ideas… a careering piece’ – Uncut
‘Absurdly talented’ – Word
‘Syd Arthur are sons and heirs of those Canterbury musicians who did sometimes whimsical, sometimes intense things with psychedelic and progressive rock’ – The Guardian.co.uk
‘Staggeringly good. It will take something exceptional to beat On An On to Prog Album Of The Year’ – Classic Rock
‘Fleet-fingered folky flavours steeped in prime prog history’ – Prog
‘A unique sound that is both full and intriguing… curious and surprisingly uplifting’ – Guitar Techniques
‘Blends taut mandolin lines with fuzztone propelled jazz guitar… fresh and relevant’ – Guitarist
Regular site visitors will know all about Syd Arthur, a band based in Canterbury which features Kate’s nephew Raven Bush on violin and mandolin. An accomplished live band, they are greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s. I can’t wait to catch them live some day!
With their unique and organic aesthetic, the band have since found themselves the integral part of an exciting new music scene. Several bands have developed strong ties, united by an encouraging spirit of camaraderie and a shared love of such greats as Soft Machine, Fela Kuti and King Crimson, to name but a few.
Syd Arthur have recently announced a new single – Ode To The Summer – to be released on Dawn Chorus Recording Co on 31st October. Featuring an exclusive non-album B-side, Black Wave it will be available on digital/limited 7″ vinyl. Ode To The Summer can be pre-oredered from all major online retailers from now, or pre-order through us direct and you will receive the download right away. Also Limited 7″ Green Vinyl available in limited numbers at www.sydarthur.bandcamp.com
These guys sound fantastic on this – check it out.
Regular visitors to this site give us much feedback on our promotion of the creative work of not just Kate but also those closest to Kate; Paddy, John and Del. One of the of the most interesting connections that we’ve picked up on in the last few years has been the journey of Syd Arthur – a band based in Canterbury, England, that features Kate’s nephew Raven (John Carder’s son) on fiddle. With a very distinctive sound the band have built on earlier successes and are justifiably proud of their impressive new Moving World EP. Pre-order it here. We recommend you get it.
The band is four Canterbury-based devotees of sound immersed in the simple pleasures of songwriting, performance and their abilities for exploratory improvisational musical interplay. Live, the band has been together since 2006. On record, it all starts from here.
Syd Arthur’s intricate, high-energy live sets have been what the band are founded on, and over the past 5 years they have created a large following on the underground scene across the South of England, Europe and beyond. Festival veterans, the band have played from Glastonbury to the Secret Garden and back. Summer solstices and green gatherings number against self-funded UK tours and trips to pretty much every country in Europe. With the level of live recognition so far to simply pigeonhole Syd Arthur as an underground act is something of a mistake. This is an accomplished live band looking to make a further stamp on a music industry there for the taking.
As with all great live bands, capturing a definitive take on record is always a challenge, one that up until recently the band have neglected to take on. But in 2009 the band began the task of setting up Wicker Studios, their own self-funded studio space on the outskirts of southeast London. Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves, using an innovative hybrid of analogue and digital techniques.
Not alone in their plight, the band have found themselves at the heart of an exciting new music scene bubbling away in the Canterbury area. United by an encouraging spirit of cooperation and mutual support, together with a shared love of (among others) Soft Machine, electric Miles, Eno, Can, Zappa, Beefheart, Fela Kuti, King Crimson and Sun Ra, several bands have developed strong ties. The `Furthur Productions’ collective, of which Syd Arthur have been an integral part, has provided the ideal platform for this scene, forging a uniquely `organic’ aesthetic and experimenting with immersive audio-visual environments and hybrid analogue lightshows. Several of these new Canterbury bands were also brought in to record at Wicker Studios. And so a record label was born. On 28th March 2011, the Dawn Chorus Recording Co. will release its first creation, Syd Arthur’s Moving World EP.
Recorded in an intensively creative week at the end of 2010, the tracks on Moving World represent the most powerful possible expression of the band’s potential up to this point. To liken Moving World to the original `Canterbury scene’ artists like Soft Machine, Caravan, and Hatfield and the North is an easy starter, but this is what the Canterbury Sound artists might have come up with had they grown up with an extra 30-40 years of music history culture, WOMAD festivals and the entire world’s musical output at their fingertips rather than just blues, jazz and R&B records. Here, Syd Arthur exhibit a genuine merging of worlds, rather than a forced or contrived `world fusion’ music.
Raven Bush
And this is just the beginning! Syd Arthur’s debut album is currently being recorded. Dawn Chorus Recording Co. plans to release an album a month from artists including Zoo For You, Rae and The Boot Lagoon from April onwards. And each of the bands have their own busy live schedules to promote. The time for Syd Arthur to rise up and be taken notice of is now!
