Ballads of the Book
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Artist:
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Album:Ballads of the Book
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Track:War on the Love Song
There's an album coming out in a few weeks that i've been getting pretty excited about.
Thought up by Roddy Woomble of the band Idlewild, Ballads of the Book pairs lyrics by some of Scotland's best writers with music by artists like Vashti Bunyan, Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band, Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap, and King Creosote. Most thrilling to me is the inclusion of Alasdair Gray, the author of one of my favorite mind-bending novels, Lanark. Gray designed the cover as well as writing "A Sentimental Song", performed by Lord Cut-Glass (formerly of the band The Delgados.) Gray is not the only writer whose inclusion in this project gets me in a tizzy. Ian Rankin, Ali Smith and Edwin Morgan are just a few of the other incredible authors involved. Being stuck in California, I am still trying to figure out a way to see the documentary that will be broadcast on Scottish TV around the album's release. And any of you Glasgow moggers (are there any out there?), look out for a series of concert performances of Ballads of the Book. The concept of pairing musicians and authors is one that I hope gets replicated in other countries as well. I can think of so many U.S. partnerships that I would love to hear (Tom Robbins meets The Flaming Lips, Margaret Atwood and Cat Power, Charles de Lint and Vetiver.... I could go on and on).Read more about the release and see the full track listing here.
Thought up by Roddy Woomble of the band Idlewild, Ballads of the Book pairs lyrics by some of Scotland's best writers with music by artists like Vashti Bunyan, Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band, Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap, and King Creosote. Most thrilling to me is the inclusion of Alasdair Gray, the author of one of my favorite mind-bending novels, Lanark. Gray designed the cover as well as writing "A Sentimental Song", performed by Lord Cut-Glass (formerly of the band The Delgados.) Gray is not the only writer whose inclusion in this project gets me in a tizzy. Ian Rankin, Ali Smith and Edwin Morgan are just a few of the other incredible authors involved. Being stuck in California, I am still trying to figure out a way to see the documentary that will be broadcast on Scottish TV around the album's release. And any of you Glasgow moggers (are there any out there?), look out for a series of concert performances of Ballads of the Book. The concept of pairing musicians and authors is one that I hope gets replicated in other countries as well. I can think of so many U.S. partnerships that I would love to hear (Tom Robbins meets The Flaming Lips, Margaret Atwood and Cat Power, Charles de Lint and Vetiver.... I could go on and on).Read more about the release and see the full track listing here.
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