Long time visitors to this site will remember that Ian Parker spoke a lot about his impending new release ‘The Stonehouse‘ when I interviewed him after his Harmonie gig last September.
“There’s a whole scene that’s emerged in Britain. A sort of Folk/Pop thing that’s come out in the last few years where you’re getting these artists that, probably in the same way I grew up with Blues, they grew up listening to traditional Folk but they’ve made it relevant and given it a Pop element so you don’t have to be a Folky to get it, and I started to get it…”
That’s how Ian described the new project last year. Finally it’s finished and advanced tasters suggest it is indeed a welcome nod to a British Folk/Pop style that goes back to the likes of Steeleye Span and has resurfaced of late in the form of bands like Show of Hands and Brothers & Bones. Here Ian explains why things took so long and what we can expect from ‘The Stonehouse’.
“Throughout 2011, I wrote and demoed lots of songs for a prospective new album. I really enjoyed this process. I have never before had the luxury of so much time to concentrate solely on being creative. Most of my days that year were spent doing what I’m supposed to be doing, developing my music by honing and crafting new songs.
In January 2012, I began recording them with my long time friend and collaborator, producer Matt Butler, whose CV reads like a roll call of many of the industry’s biggest names, including none other than Sir Paul McCartney – I am always humbled to work with Matt! We recorded much of the album – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, cello (Beth Porter) and piano (Morg Morgan) – at Matt’s house in Herefordshire. The album has a full band sound and the drums (Alex Thomas) and bass (Steve Amadeo) were recorded at the famous Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, in the middle of last year.
Ian Parker at the Harmonie last September
Once the recording stage was completed, Matt enlisted Jon Kelly, famed for his production work with Kate Bush, to mix the album. I was staggered by Jon’s wonderful contribution. It only remained for Dick Beetham to master the record whilst my good friend, the talented graphic designer Amanda Duffin of Eleven08, created another stunning cover incorporating, this time, the fantastic colour illustrations of Hannah Porter and the photography of Jesse Davey (The Hoax).
So why the delay? On listening back to the finished album, I was struck by how different it is from my previous recordings. It has a very English flavour to it, as opposed to the heavily American influenced sounds present on previous albums. As a consequence of this, I decided to release the album as an entirely separate side-project, under a different name. The project is called Kinver and the album, ‘The Stone House’. I am extremely pleased with it, and very proud of it. I really hope you are going to like it. You can discover more about Kinver at:
http://www.kinvermusic.com, http://www.facebook.com/KinverMusic,
http://www.twitter.com/kinvermusic.
Here is a link to a short promotional video for the album to whet your appetite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwrGC1CMdvk
‘The Stone House’ is officially released on Monday 19th August, but you can get hold of a copy of the album, priced at a very reasonable £10 plus p&p, right now:
http://www.kinvermusic.com/item/the-stone-house/
You may be aware that I have been touring with the latest incarnation of the ‘Ian Parker Band’ (Morg Morgan on keys, David Jenkins on bass, and Chris Finn on drums) this year, playing the Blues and Roots music I am best known for. I will continue doing this without any doubt. I am having a great time with it and I am very excited about the festival and club appearances we have coming up. In fact, we’re more than half way through recording a new Blues based album which is due out in 2014 – I promise!
I hope this all makes sense!
All the best,
Ian”
