Twitter / decliningwinter

Thursday 27 January 2011

Home Assembly Music HALF PRICE SALE

As I write there are three days left in January. Thats three days to get any of our lovely Home Assembly Music records or any other on the label (bar Northerner 'The Ridings now sold out) for HALF PRICE. Move fast. Don't delay etc. I sound like a sofa salesman. Go HERE

Blow Up

Wow, its been some time since I last posted....or did anything really. I'm still on the go in any case so thats the main bit of news.

Otherwise we were really happy to see our last record 'Scenes from the Back Bedroom Window', reviewed in Blow Up which I'm told is the Italian version of The Wire. Here is the review below:-
The new EP by former Hood Richard Adams is a really nice surprise. The sound that spreads from these 4 tracks is reminiscent of the previous band's but without the intermission, the disturbed frequencies that made us love Hood. Here the sound is reduced to the bone, to an impalpable substance resting on everything and leaving a soft, permanent track, recalling the golden years of 4AD and Project. The choice might appear dated but is actually appropriate, if guided by the feeling of loss and melancholy that is Richard's most sincere link with the past (7/8) Roberto Canella 
Oh and its now available domestically in Japan care of Linus Records
Otherwise Secret Furry Hole, Norman Records 


Friday 14 January 2011

Leonards Lair Review

A nice review of our 'Scenes from the Back Bedroom Window EP from the ever reliable and perceptive Leonards Lair


"As a member of Hood, Richard Adams has played a major part in leading a group of British artists who bring the sounds of the environment in to their music, whilst also incorporating hip-hop and electronica in to their peculiarly brilliant vision. With Hood still on hiatus, Adams has led The Declining Winter through a couple of albums and singles which have even encompassed an alternative (and pretty decent) World Cup theme. ‘Scenes From The Back Bedroom Window’ is their latest EP and one which epitomises Adams’ skills and wilfully subervise approach to music."

"The EP begins with doomy church organ straight from the Talk Talk school of misery as Adams sighs dejectedly. It’s a strange choice for a lead-off track since what comes after it is far more involving. As you’d expect from its title, ‘Killer’ is a instrumental that demands to be noticed. Adams sings in a distant whisper but the distorted guitars circle round in hypnotic fashion. ‘Nobody Else’ features the rustic-sounding guitars which will be familiar to those who have appreciated Hood’s Northern take on post-rock over the years. This leaves the despairing ‘Rachel’; a song so tender and sad and reminiscent of July Skies at his lovelorn best."

‘Scenes…’ takes the unusual step of each track being better than the last one. However, since The Declining Winter don’t have the pressure of front-loading their releases, this is a good move as the listener gets rewarded the more he/she listens. Best of all, Adams proves that rather than distancing himself from his parent band, he celebrates those influences to produce a brief but moving selection.

Tuesday 4 January 2011

In Love With These Times, In Spite Of These Times

One of our favourite blogs has re-appeared of late. Much love for our World Cup Theme. No 8 out of their top (yikes!) 100

8. The Declining Winter "Official World Cup Theme 2010" (Home Assembly Music, CD single)

Comfortably the best World Cup record since Jules Rimet's prize comp kicked off in Uruguay eighty years ago (incidentally, does anyone else agree that Uruguay's rather pretty national anthem knocked spots off the dirges of most other teams in the summer ?) Anyway, Richard Adams' plaintive half-whisper optimistically implores our overpaid timewasters to "bring back the old silverware" over a typical Declining backdrop, an exquisite rustic knit of gently tumbling guitars and aching violin, all broken twigs and twisted bracken underfoot, with production stalwart Choque Husein serene at the controls. This, and last year's wonderful "Haunt The Upper Hallways", remind us a little of the former Creation Records band, the mysterious Pacific, who despite being rather maligned in their day managed to release two excellent, multi-instrumental singles that straddled traditional and modern rather acely. Indeed, "Official World Cup Theme 2010" is *such* a tizzingly beautiful record that the obligatory sampled commentary (in this case of John Barnes' mazy run in Rio), however tongue-in-cheek, rather takes the edge off the magic. Still, a further demonstration - along with the gorgeous second track, "Red Kite", as majestically rare as the endangered bird that's its subject - that the Declining Winter have flowered, with typical pastoral grace, into being one of England's very finest bands. In sharp contrast to the England team, they deserve our (and your) support.