DEAD FLOWERS
''MIDNIGHT AT THE WHEEL CLUB''
NOVEMBER 11 2013
34:13
01 - Make It Bright/5:35
02 - The Beach/3:53
03 - Wonderwheel/3:33
04 - Fences/3:44
05 - Supernova/3:26
06 - Pan/5:38
07 - In The Dark/4:01
08 - End Of The Road/4:19
REVIEW
By Paul Kerr
Leeds promoters Hee Haw Sessions launch their own record label with this release from London based Dead Flowers and it looks like they've pulled out a winner on their first go. Dead Flowers are the brainchild of Ian Williams, a man with a voice so deep he has a bright future in recording portentous movie trailer voiceovers if the band ever pack it in. Williams wrote the songs while in the States and Canada with a spell in Coney Island providing inspiration for his song Wonderwheel (along with the artwork) back in 2011 with recording taking place in the UK on his return before finishing it up back in Montreal.
Comparisons to Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen and Mark Lanegan abound online due to Williams' impressive baritone but he's enough of an individual to stamp his own presence here and while there is an undoubted Cohen influence on some of the songs overall the album rises above mere copyist status. While the majority of the songs are dark ballads Williams open with the almost sprightly 'Make it Bright' with his acoustic guitar picking leading and Lee Hazlewood like burr leading the way until a fiddle led break steps the song into a higher gear. Despite this jauntiness the lyrics are bleak and, well, Cohanesque, as Williams sings "we must dance until are feet are sore/we must sing until our voices are worse/and pretend all along that we don't miss each other that much." It's an impressive start and Williams offers another toe tapping number on the mid tempo string laden Wonderwheel which recalls the work of early Lambchop although once again the lyrics are dark with a hint of menace at the end. For the remainder the listener is staring into the dark abyss of Williams' doom and gloom as he adopts a sea shanty mode with haunting pump organ on The Beach with the opening lyrics "If I should die before I awake/Don’t burn my body and bones/Bury me not in the centre of this town/Bury me down by the coast."
'Supernova' summons up the ghost of Lou Reed with a wonderful and shimmering arrangement that sends shivers down the spine on a lyrically spare but poetic account of the end of a relationship. This pining for a return to better days reaches its apogee on the stark 'In The Dark' while 'End of The Road' appears to nail the thought that much of this album is a howl against the loss of a lover with only its relatively relaxed delivery offering any hope that the singer might recover from his lover's malaise. So all in all a sparkling dark star to kickstart both Dead Flowers and Hee Haw's adventures. Do give them both a shot.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
DEAD FLOWERS ARE A LONDON BASED ALT.COUNTRY / AMERICANA BAND FORMED AROUND THE SONGS AND VOICE OF IAN WILLIAMS. THE DEBUT ALBUM FEATURES A COLLECTION OF SONGS WRITTEN WHILST TRAVELING FROM NEW YORK CITY TO MONTREAL.
THE WRITING STARTED IN THE WINTER OF 2011 UNDERNEATH CONEY ISLAND’S WONDERWHEEL, AN ANCIENT FERRIS WHICH STILL SPINS TO THIS DAY. AND THE SONGS KEPT ON COMING AS IAN WORKED HIS WAY UP THE EAST COAST, FINALLY PULLING INTO MONTREAL, WHERE HE SPENT LONG NIGHTS AT THE WHEEL CLUB UNTIL THE SPRING CAME AND THE SNOW MELTED.
RETURNING TO THE UK WITH DEMOS AND TALES TO TELL, IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE A BAND FORMED AROUND THE SONGS AND DEAD FLOWERS WAS BORN. OVER SEVERAL MONTHS, IN STUDIO SESSIONS IN LONDON & BATH, THE BAND RECORDED THE SONGS WHICH WOULD FORM DEBUT ALBUM ‘MIDNIGHT AT THE WHEEL CLUB’.
IN AUTUMN 2012 THE BAND TRAVELLED TO MONTREAL FOR A BREAK FROM THE RECORDING. BUT A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRISTOPHER FOX (FOLLY & THE HUNTER) SOON LEAD THEM TO HIS MONTREAL STUDIO, RECORDING PUMP ORGAN FOR ‘THE BEACH’ AND FORGING A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIS WHICH WOULD LEAD TO HIM MIXING THE ALBUM OVER THE WINTER.
THOUGH THERE IS AN UNDENIABLE DARKNESS TO THE SONGS, SOMETIMES THE LIGHT BREAKS THROUGH, BUT NEVER FOR LONG ENOUGH TO BREAK THE SPELL. THINK OF A SLOW TRAIN CRAWLING THROUGH A COLD WINTER AND AN UNENDING SUPPLY OF WHISKY.
''MIDNIGHT AT THE WHEEL CLUB''
NOVEMBER 11 2013
34:13
01 - Make It Bright/5:35
02 - The Beach/3:53
03 - Wonderwheel/3:33
04 - Fences/3:44
05 - Supernova/3:26
06 - Pan/5:38
07 - In The Dark/4:01
08 - End Of The Road/4:19
REVIEW
By Paul Kerr
Leeds promoters Hee Haw Sessions launch their own record label with this release from London based Dead Flowers and it looks like they've pulled out a winner on their first go. Dead Flowers are the brainchild of Ian Williams, a man with a voice so deep he has a bright future in recording portentous movie trailer voiceovers if the band ever pack it in. Williams wrote the songs while in the States and Canada with a spell in Coney Island providing inspiration for his song Wonderwheel (along with the artwork) back in 2011 with recording taking place in the UK on his return before finishing it up back in Montreal.
Comparisons to Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen and Mark Lanegan abound online due to Williams' impressive baritone but he's enough of an individual to stamp his own presence here and while there is an undoubted Cohen influence on some of the songs overall the album rises above mere copyist status. While the majority of the songs are dark ballads Williams open with the almost sprightly 'Make it Bright' with his acoustic guitar picking leading and Lee Hazlewood like burr leading the way until a fiddle led break steps the song into a higher gear. Despite this jauntiness the lyrics are bleak and, well, Cohanesque, as Williams sings "we must dance until are feet are sore/we must sing until our voices are worse/and pretend all along that we don't miss each other that much." It's an impressive start and Williams offers another toe tapping number on the mid tempo string laden Wonderwheel which recalls the work of early Lambchop although once again the lyrics are dark with a hint of menace at the end. For the remainder the listener is staring into the dark abyss of Williams' doom and gloom as he adopts a sea shanty mode with haunting pump organ on The Beach with the opening lyrics "If I should die before I awake/Don’t burn my body and bones/Bury me not in the centre of this town/Bury me down by the coast."
'Supernova' summons up the ghost of Lou Reed with a wonderful and shimmering arrangement that sends shivers down the spine on a lyrically spare but poetic account of the end of a relationship. This pining for a return to better days reaches its apogee on the stark 'In The Dark' while 'End of The Road' appears to nail the thought that much of this album is a howl against the loss of a lover with only its relatively relaxed delivery offering any hope that the singer might recover from his lover's malaise. So all in all a sparkling dark star to kickstart both Dead Flowers and Hee Haw's adventures. Do give them both a shot.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
DEAD FLOWERS ARE A LONDON BASED ALT.COUNTRY / AMERICANA BAND FORMED AROUND THE SONGS AND VOICE OF IAN WILLIAMS. THE DEBUT ALBUM FEATURES A COLLECTION OF SONGS WRITTEN WHILST TRAVELING FROM NEW YORK CITY TO MONTREAL.
THE WRITING STARTED IN THE WINTER OF 2011 UNDERNEATH CONEY ISLAND’S WONDERWHEEL, AN ANCIENT FERRIS WHICH STILL SPINS TO THIS DAY. AND THE SONGS KEPT ON COMING AS IAN WORKED HIS WAY UP THE EAST COAST, FINALLY PULLING INTO MONTREAL, WHERE HE SPENT LONG NIGHTS AT THE WHEEL CLUB UNTIL THE SPRING CAME AND THE SNOW MELTED.
RETURNING TO THE UK WITH DEMOS AND TALES TO TELL, IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE A BAND FORMED AROUND THE SONGS AND DEAD FLOWERS WAS BORN. OVER SEVERAL MONTHS, IN STUDIO SESSIONS IN LONDON & BATH, THE BAND RECORDED THE SONGS WHICH WOULD FORM DEBUT ALBUM ‘MIDNIGHT AT THE WHEEL CLUB’.
IN AUTUMN 2012 THE BAND TRAVELLED TO MONTREAL FOR A BREAK FROM THE RECORDING. BUT A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRISTOPHER FOX (FOLLY & THE HUNTER) SOON LEAD THEM TO HIS MONTREAL STUDIO, RECORDING PUMP ORGAN FOR ‘THE BEACH’ AND FORGING A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIS WHICH WOULD LEAD TO HIM MIXING THE ALBUM OVER THE WINTER.
THOUGH THERE IS AN UNDENIABLE DARKNESS TO THE SONGS, SOMETIMES THE LIGHT BREAKS THROUGH, BUT NEVER FOR LONG ENOUGH TO BREAK THE SPELL. THINK OF A SLOW TRAIN CRAWLING THROUGH A COLD WINTER AND AN UNENDING SUPPLY OF WHISKY.
