For Folk's Sake » Darren Hayman

Album | Darren Hayman – January Songs

For Folk's Sake — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:55 +0000

Just over a year ago, Darren Hayman embarked on an ambitious songwriting project – a new song every day for a whole month, original compositions – written, recorded and online by midnight or he’d turn into a pumpkin and calamity would ensue. Okay, probably not the last bit, but it was still a pretty big commitment and one that helped cement the immediacy and closeness that singers like Hayman increasingly cultivate from behind a computer screen.

Now the songs are getting a much deserved physical release, on a limited edition two-disc set. What’s more, in the spirit of the project’s original urgency and relative uniqueness, each one will come with an individual cover hand-drawn by Hayman himself. Workaholic much? As the For Folk’s Sake writer informally labelled “our unofficial Hayman correspondent”, I’ve been asked to review the package and, as that label might already hint, I’m predisposed to really rather like it.

As with most albums when they stray beyond the two dozen song mark, not every song is going to be a classic – just as Coleridge said that a long poem “neither can be, nor ought to be, all poetry”. And besides, the point of the project was to see what could be written under certain conditions, with certain limits – to let us reach the dead ends of the maze amongst all the (many) triumphs is to show fidelity to a project that is more than the simple sum of its parts.

And what triumphs there are – the slow spoken word of ‘The Return’, reminiscent of James Yorkston’s ‘Woozy with Cider’ is one of my favourites, along with the luscious acoustic pop of the track that follows it, ‘No Different for Girls’, with vocals from Valentine Leys who joins a host of guests collaborators (including members of The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’ and Ballboy) on a 31-song cycle is remarkably consistent. It’s more archive than album, such is its extensiveness, and you’re guaranteed to find something interesting wherever you dive in.

It’s often said that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Obviously they weren’t trying hard enough.

Words: Tom Moyser

Film about January Songs Cover Art from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

A video of Darren Hayman drawing some of 1500 copies of January Songs from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

News | Butcher Boy play Cecil Sharp House + Free MP3

Helen True — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:33:25 +0000

FFS’s have whole-heartedly resolved to help you see more magnificent music in 2012, and what better time to start than the middle of January?

This Saturday, the beautiful Cecil Sharp House will play host to two acts we rate very highly indeed (both were Schmercury Award nominees in 2009) and there are still tickets available to buy for what is sure to be a lilting little heart breaker of a show.

Butcher Boy are not only headlining in the home of the English Folkdance and Song Society, they’re also being enormously kind by giving away a tempting tidbit in the form of ‘The Day Our Voices Broke: a highly effective form of inducement if ever we heard one (click the title to download).

Support comes from king of the quotidian, Darren Hayman, who will be playing songs from new album The Ship’s Piano on Cecil Sharp’s resident baby grand. If you’ve not yet seen “London’s laureate of sexual dysfunction, discomfort, and dog-eared under-achievement” (as The Guardian like to call him), this is an opportunity to do so in thoroughly pleasing surroundings. His new album, January Songs, will be receiving the FFS review treatment next week, so stay tuned if you like the sound of dog-eared sexual dysfunction. We sure as hell do.

Doors for the gig at Cecil Sharp House on 21st January are at 7pm, tickets are £12.50, and you can get them here.

Blog | The making of our charity compilation It’s Christmas 2011

Lynn Roberts — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:39:02 +0000

First of all, MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLK FANS! I hope you’re reading this full up and content.

Secondly, I’d like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has contributed to, bought and supported For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011. It’s been brilliant. We’re so stoked to have so many of our favourite bands on the album, we’ve had an overwhelming reaction from loads of kind people, and we’ve raised far more money than we’d dared hope for the Integrated Cancer Centre. But it’s not over yet, and the grand total will be released after Christmas.

We’ve got a real mixture of acts on the album, some you’ll definitely have heard of, and some you definitely won’t have (because they named themselves just in time for the record sleeves to be printed). So for your perusal on this festive day, here’s some inside info on the tracks and artists.

1. Howard Carter – Christmas Blues

Cerys Matthews singled it out as one of her favourites from It’s Christmas 2011 and said she thought the pianist sounded like a cynical drunk santa!

I’ve known Howard since university, and always thought he was a jolly nice chap. I knew he was a musician and producer, but to my shame I had no idea just how blimmin’ talented he is. What a joy, then, to be presented with this incredible track, which Howard played and recorded especially for the record. Not only is it a brilliant stand-alone song, and the perfect start to the album, but it turns out I’m pretty much pals with a young Jools Holland. Cool.

You can listen to Howard’s soundtrack for Dark Light here.

2. The Leisure Society – Christmas Mistakes

FFS favourites The Leisure Society need no introduction for readers of this website. They won our first Schmercury best album poll in 2009 with their debut The Sleeper.

When I interviewed Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy from the Leisure Society around the release of their brilliant second album Into The Murky Water (buy it buy it buy it!), Nick asked if we’d be doing another Christmas record this year, and mentioned they’d be up for doing a song. So it was decided. We were doing another record.

The Leisure Society squeezed the recording of this track in between touring cathedrals with Laura Marling and their own European tour, pulling all-nighters to get it finished. But faced with time pressure they certainly didn’t do things by halves. When I asked Nick how the track was coming along he said “It’s fine. We’ve just got to get a harp player and brass section in.” And that’s on top of the strings and woodwind that come as standard with the band.

I’m sure you’ll agree it was worth it – you can hear the Brian Wilson-like perfection and precision that make this song just incredible.

3. Caitlin Rose & Keegan DeWitt – You Never Come Home For Christmas

Caitlin Rose is a Nashville singer and songwriter who’s on the thoroughly excellent Names Records in the UK (also home to Alela Diane. See? Excellent.) She played an Allotment night back in 2010, which we organised with promoter, artist and blogger Anika in London. Caitlin donated this ‘depressing Christmas song’ that she recorded with her friend Keegan De Witt for a Rough Trade bonus EP. Caitlin’s debut album Own Side Now is country at its most down-to-earth and marks her out as a songwriting force to be reckoned with.

4. Cocos Lovers – Christmas Is Coming/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

We first came across the brilliant Cocos Lovers at London club A Folking Good Night and were instantly charmed by their laid-back and rustic folk. They won our best album poll in 2010 with their debut album Johannes. They laid down these gorgeous layered vocals for us around the table after Sunday lunch. The band are based by the seaside – in Deal in Kent – and this cosy recording only makes their lives sound more lovely.

5. Devon Sproule – Send Me To Coventry

Completing the set of our best album poll winners, Devon Sproule took the (imaginary) trophy with I Love You, Go Easy this year. She and her husband, musician Paul Curreri, have recently moved to Berlin from the US, and Devon wrote this lovely song about spending Christmas with her friends in Coventry. And Devon’s label – the lovely folk at Tin Angel Records – have launched a competition to make a video for Devon’s song. Enter here.

6. Darren Hayman – Lost In The Snow

Ex-Hefner frontman Darren Hayman is another one of our favourite UK artists, so we were delighted when he & Fika Records allowed us to use this song from his new EP Christmas in Haworth. Also check out his advent calendar with songs, videos and stories contributed by Darren’s creative friends. There’s an especially amazing picture of Darren with his real dog and a remarkably lifelike lego model.

7. Paper Aeroplanes – In The Bleak Midwinter

Harmony-laden folky pop band Paper Aeroplanes is Sarah Howells and Rich Llewellyn. I first came across Sarah singing with fellow Welsh songwriter Al Lewis on their EP Skin & Bones, and fell in love with her vocals. Sarah’s been a friend of us at FFS for a while – contributing a lovely jingle with which we open our London Fields Radio show, and we’re delighted that she and Rich could record this gorgeous version of ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ for the compilation.

8. Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl – Christmas In Hell

Tom McCrae suggested I ask Kathryn Williams if she’d be interested in writing a song for the record. Kathryn was nominated for the Mercury prize for her second album Little Black Numbers in 2000. Neill MacColl is folk music royalty – his father is Ewan MacColl, his mother is Peggy Seeger and Kirsty MacColl was his half sister. And Neill’s son Jamie is in Bombay Bicycle Club. Neill has had an illustrious career himself as a guitarist, singer and producer working with Steve Earle, David Grey and Eddi Reader among many others. The pair also released an album Two together in 2008.

9. Fiona Bevan – Love In A Cold Climate

I’m very grateful to Rockfeedback man Kev Molloy for putting us in touch with Fiona Bevan. Her bright and upbeat music is perfect for a crisp winter day. Find out more at www.fionabevan.co.uk.

10. Hollows – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Hollows are a new East London-based choir of folk lovers, taking well-loved and little-known songs and adding layers of female harmonies. This is their first recording.

11. Adam Killip & Mi Mye – O Come All Ye Faithful

Adam Killip was the singer and songwriter of London-based band the Tailors. He teamed up with his pals in Wakefield band Mi Mye for this brilliant rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful. Us FFSers particularly like the bit where he sings “Chriiiiist” and misses off “the Lord’. It’s the little things.

12. Laura Boyle – Silent Night

Seventeen-year-old Laura Boyle is a new act on the London acoustic circuit. Her debut release The Nightengale EP was released this month in postcard format via Turf Records. Find out more here.

Thanks again to everyone involved in the record. And have yourselves a merry little Christmas evening!

Lynn x

Need last minute Christmas presents? Make your own ‘It’s Christmas 2011′ CD

Lynn Roberts — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:06:46 +0000

In need of a last-minute Christmas present for a music lover? We’ve made the cover of our festive compilation album For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 available to download so you can make your own copies.

Here’s the plan…

1. Go to www.forfolkssake.bandcamp.com and download For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 for a bargainous £5. (All proceeds to the Integrated Cancer Centre).

2. Burn the 12 EXCELLENT tracks onto a disc.

3. Download the artwork & tracklisting here by right clicking & selecting ‘save as’.

4. Wrap up the CD and make someone’s Christmas folkily brill.

The For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 compilation album is being sold to raise money for the Integrated Cancer Centre. The compilation features original recordings from Devon Sproule, The Leisure Society, Cocos Lovers, Howard Carter, Fiona Bevan, Laura Boyle, Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl, Paper Aeroplanes, Adam Killip & Mi Mye and Hollows. As well as songs from Caitlin Rose and Darren Hayman. The artwork & illustrations are by Amber Cassidy.

For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas – physical copies selling out!

Lynn Roberts — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:43:06 +0000

Our charity compilation, For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011, featuring original tracks from loads of our favourite artists was released a couple of weeks ago. The physical copies are close to selling out so we wanted to show you, our lovely readers, just how nice they are so you don’t miss your chance…

The artwork is by Amber Cassidy who you can find on twitter @amber_cassidy should you want to say hello/tell her how CLEVER she is. Here’s what the inside of the digipak looks like…

You probably know all about it, but in case you don’t, the tracklisting is:

1. Howard Carter – Christmas Blues

2. The Leisure Society – Christmas Mistakes

3. Caitlin Rose with Keegan DeWitt – You Never Come Home For Christmas

4. Cocos Lovers – Christmas is Coming/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

5. Devon Sproule – Send Me To Coventry

6. Darren Hayman - Lost In The Snow

7. Paper Aeroplanes – In The Bleak Midwinter

8. Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl – Christmas In Hell

9. Fiona Bevan – Love In A Cold Climate

10. Hollows - Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

11. Adam Killip & Mi Mye – O Come All Ye Faithful

12. Laura Boyle – Silent Night

The record is being sold to raise money for the Integrated Cancer Centre. And it’s available over at forfolkssake.bandcamp.com.

EP | Darren Hayman – Christmas In Haworth

For Folk's Sake — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:32:02 +0000

The Christmas album comes with all sorts of pitfalls in which to fall headfirst or to stand in proudly, arms akimbo. Even the most earnest of performers can put out some jingly-jangly tune to suit the season of merriment. But the best Christmas records to my mind are the ones that, although the seasonal theme is still essential, are driven by the need to tell a good story and sing a good tune – from classics such as ‘Fairytale of New York’ to cult numbers like John Prine’s ‘Christmas in Prison’ (and its fantastic Emmy the Great cover).

The songs on Darren Hayman’s Christmas in Hayworth might not quite stack up along side those all-time classics but it’s in the same camp – personal, heart-felt, uncommercial (The Pogues’ popular success is, of course, just an accident of history). Christmas in Haworth is a bespoke effort, put together (it seems) both quickly and lovingly, the sort of gift you wrap hastily on Christmas Eve but nonetheless choose wisely and with a loving eye.

Of course, as with Hayman’s January Songs project at the start of the year, it is this bespokeness that is central to the record’s charm. A lot of this relies on Hayman’s relationship with his audience. His music has felt very personal and very direct for a long time now, which has given him the space to release material like this – the sort of set he could have written for the seasonal gathering of a folk club and performed under some tokenistic Christmas lights in the band room of a London pub. Indeed maybe that’s just the sort of setting he’ll use to perform these songs over the coming month or so.

Where there’s a story in these songs, that story seems personal and low key. Darren Hayman has made his music in the same mode. It’s an unusual move for a Christmas album and is not for those seeking a party soundtrack. I might even reluctantly call it an antidote to the typical Christmas record – no bells, no whistles, no tinsel-covered snowflakes. But full of Christmas nonetheless.

Words: Tom Moyser

Darren Hayman’s ‘Lost In The Snow’ from this EP features on our For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 compilation, which is being sold to raise money for the Integrated Cancer Centre at King’s College. You can find out more, click here. The video for the track is below.

Lost in the Snow from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

Video exclusive | Darren Hayman – Lost in the Snow

Lynn Roberts — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:53:37 +0000

Hefner frontman Darren Hayman is a man of many projects. In January it was writing, recording and releasing a song a day, this summer an EP and art exhibition about dogs and people in space, and now he has teamed up with Fika Recordings to present Christmas in Haworth, a six-track EP available as a 10″ vinyl.

As well as the EP Darren and Fika have put together a musical advent calendar. A free song from Darren and his vast pool of musical friends every day of December in the lead up to Christmas. Contributors include The Wave Pictures, Tigercats and even a song from comedian Josie Long.

Darren kindly donated ‘Lost In The Snow’ from Christmas in Haworth to our compilation For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011, which is being sold to raise money for the Integrated Cancer Centre. It also features songs from The Leisure Society, Kathryn Williams, Devon Sproule, Caitlin Rose and many more. For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 is available to pre-order now from Bandcamp.

>> Visit the Christmas in Haworth website

>> Find Darren on Hefnet

>> Buy Christmas in Haworth

>> Visit the Fika Recordings site

>> Listen to For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011

News | Allo Darlin’ announce UK tour ahead of new album

Ian Parker — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:37:31 +0000

Allo Darlin’ will be making a most welcome return in early 2012 with a lengthy tour preceding the release of their second album Europe. Elizabeth Morris and her crew, Paul Rains, Bill Botting and Michael Collins, will play a show in London early in the new year as part of the Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter before hitting the road properly in February.

The second LP, follow up to 2009′s self-titled debut, has been recorded and is now due in the spring. Morris has revealed fans can expect a different kind of sound this time around. “I wanted to make beautiful songs and end up with a beautiful album, not necessarily an album full of three minute pop song,” Morris said.

“I suppose the songs have an awareness of a darker place but end up coming out the other side. We wanted to make the best album we possibly could and I think we’ve ended up with that.”

It’s a little too early to hear any of the new record just yet, but you can stream their non-album single ‘Darren’ – written about the incomparable Darren Hayman – one of the many contributors to the For Folk’s Sake Christmas album this year – below.

Darren by Allo Darlin’

TOUR DATES:
5 Jan London, Lexington (Fortuna POP! Winter Sprinter)
20 Feb Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
21 Feb Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
22 Feb Newcastle, Star and Shadow Cinema
23 Feb Manchester, Deaf Institute
24 Feb Sheffield, Shakespeare’s
25 Feb London, 100 Club (London Pop Fest)
26 Feb Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
27 Feb Leicester, The Musician
28 Feb Bristol, The Fleece
29 Feb Cardiff, Buffalo Bar
1 Mar Oxford, The Cellar
2 Mar Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre
3 Mar Brighton, The Haunt

News | For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 – available now!

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:00:19 +0000

Please forgive us for adding to the bit-too-early Christmas chat, but we’re SO excited to announce the release of our second Christmas compilation For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011, which is out on 28th November 2011 and available to pre-order now at forfolkssake.bandcamp.com.

Some of our very favourite artists have donated songs to the record, which is being sold to raise money for the Integrated Cancer Centre. Just look at who we’ve got for you…

Howard Carter – Christmas Blues
The Leisure Society – Christmas Mistakes
Caitlin Rose with Keegan DeWitt – You Never Come Home For Christmas
Cocos Lovers – Christmas is Coming/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Devon Sproule – Send Me To Coventry
Darren Hayman - Lost In The Snow
Paper Aeroplanes – In The Bleak Midwinter
Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl – Christmas In Hell
Fiona Bevan – Love In A Cold Climate
Hollows - Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
Adam Killip & Mi Mye – O Come All Ye Faithful
Laura Boyle – Silent Night

Some truly lovely physical copies, featuring more artwork from Amber Cassidy (there’s a wee preview below), are available to pre-order now from forfolkssake.bandcamp.com priced at £8 (+ postage). All pre-orders come with an immediate download of the album. There’s a very limited number of physical copies available (cos we have to post them out BY HAND) so get them while they’re still in our sitting room.

Then, on 28th November, For Folk’s Sake it’s Christmas 2011 will also become available as a download for £5. Or you can choose to give more if the Christmas cheer/sherry has got you feeling extra charitable.

All profits from the sale of For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas 2011 will be donated to the Integrated Cancer Centre at King’s Health Partners, a pioneering centre that combines cancer research with innovative treatment, trials and care.

A huge thank you to all the bands and artists who donated their time and talents so generously - we’ll be bringing you more from them in the coming weeks.

Album | Darren Hayman – The Ship’s Piano

For Folk's Sake — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:59:52 +0000

“On March the twenty-third, she said something so absurd, she said: you love to be in love but you never really love.” So Darren Hayman sang as lead singer of Hefner a little over ten years ago on their seminal album We Love The City. Hayman – or at least his persona on his early records – is a devotee to the idea of love. He’s in love with the city, maybe, but all he has for anyone else is young lust.

It’s with some audacity, then, that in 2011 Hayman releases The Ship’s Piano. It’s unashamedly an album of love songs and, what’s more surprising, an album of maturity, an album with the persona of someone that the Darren Hayman of Hefner probably never thought he’d become: an adult. It’s slow, delicate, piano-led (barely a guitar or banjo is sight), romantic, nostalgic and whimsical. And, above all else, it’s brilliant.

Like most of Hayman’s releases the thing that sets him apart from other writers of a similar ilk is the specifity of his lyrics: all the characters are named, they’re people with histories, with addresses, post codes. Take the album’s finale and title track, ‘The Ship’s Piano’. It’s a love song, sung to a piano. We hear how the piano was made, where it was played, how the people around it fall in love. We hear about the funeral from which it was absent, about the shed in which it gathers dust. It’s one of the best songs I’ve heard all year.

I’m going to resist the urge to finish this review by quoting all the stunning lines on this record. I’m discovering new ones every time I listen to it – and new meanings in the lines I liked the first time. I just noticed, for example, that there is a track, ‘No Children’, that must surely be a sneaky reference to the Mountain Goats song of the same name. And whilst writing I realised that there’s an even sneakier (maybe even unintentional) pun in the album title. “Piano”, from Italian, means ‘quiet’, it means hushed – the ship is piano, it is quiet, things are settling down, being brought to rest. It’s an image that I think sums up this album as well as anything could.

Words: Tom Moyser

You can grab a free download of the album’s title track here, while the video is below.

The Ship’s Piano from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

For Folk's Sake » Darren Hayman

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