{"id":1702,"date":"2011-09-05T03:50:19","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T10:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/blog\/?p=1702"},"modified":"2015-04-29T11:25:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T11:25:26","slug":"pete-astors-songbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/?p=1702","title":{"rendered":"Pete Astor’s Songbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Astor Songbox now out includes artwork by myself and Adam Sutherland who both did original Weather Prophets artwork in a lovely package \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"SL012\"<\/p>\n

PETE ASTOR ‘SONGBOX’ AVAILABLE NOW (8\/8\/11)<\/p>\n

Songbox, hospital<\/a> Pete Astor\u2019s sixth solo album and his first record outing for four years, marks a welcome return for a significant, if under-heralded, British underground musician finally getting his due partly thanks to a prominent role in the acclaimed Creation Records documentary Upside Down. His return is accompanied by a new album, which surely ranks among Astor\u2019s finest recorded work since those heady \u201980s heydays.<\/p>\n

The new album marks a change in direction from Astor\u2019s more experimental, post-Creation work in groups such as Ellis Island Sound and the Wisdom of Harry. Backed by the woodwinds of Keiron Phelan (State River Widening, Phelan-Sheppard) and Jenny Brand (Kluster Ensemble), together with layers of guitars, drums and keyboards from David Sheppard (State River Widening, Ellis Island Sound) and supported by the harmony vocals of Ang\u00e8le David-Guillou (Piano Magic, Klima), the eleven essays on Songbox offer an abundance of lushly arranged, timeless chamber-rock, brimming with wry lyrical insight and haunting melodic hooks.
\nA potent synthesis of very British songwriting, Europhile sensibilities and a stateless cosmopolitanism, Songbox serpentines between the diseased Jacques Brel-meets-Alex Harvey monlogue of \u2018Dead Trumpets\u2019, to the baroque, Bill Fay-like murder mystery of \u2018The Perfect Crime\u2019, via chiming, nostalgia-soaked folk-pop nuggets like \u2018The Ride\u2019 and \u2018Tiny Town\u2019, and is concluded with the heart-wrenching, Leonard Cohen-like artistic hymnal \u2018Mistress Of Song\u2019.<\/p>\n

Presented, in the Second Language label\u2019s customary bespoke style, in a limited edition box package, the aptly titled Songbox is accompanied by an additional album of cover versions of the album songs by an eclectic lineup of illustrious fellow artists including Let\u2019s Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, Dollboy and Pastourelle, alongside 12 exquisite, especially commissioned fine-art postcards which illustrate the songs\u2019 lyrics.<\/p>\n

An \u201980s indie chart-topper with his band The Loft (and later The Weather Prophets), Astor brought considered, literate songwriting craft to Creation, a label more characteristically in thrall to less cerebral \u201960s pop thrills; none of which prevented him gracing the cover of the NME, the main stage at Glastonbury and the BBC\u2019s legendary music TV showcase, Whistle Test. Astor went on to release a series of critically-lauded solo albums, touring extensively in France and across Europe, receiving Les Inrockuptibles\u2019 \u2018Album of the Year\u2019 accolade in 1992 for the album Paradise before a fin-de-si\u00e8cle \u2018second coming\u2019 with Matador recording artists The Wisdom Of Harry (who recorded three albums for the label) and instrumental duo Ellis Island Sound. A solo folk covers album Hal\u2019s Eggs (Static Caravan, 2004) and EIS\u2019s The Good Seed (Peacefrog, 2007) were his most recent releases.
\nThese days, Astor divides his time between songwriting and a career as an academic at the University of Westminster and London\u2019s Goldsmith\u2019s College, lecturing on and researching popular music cultures.<\/p>\n

Pete is undertaking a series of rare live appearances, backed by his band, The Souls, to support the release of Songbox.<\/p>\n

Songbox comes in a bespoke cardboard box with 12 individual artist postcards (artwork by Neil Brown, Kerry Stewart, Darren Hayman, Eve Gonzalez, Louise Clarke, Tony Veritas, Shaun Belcher, Merida Richards, Wes Gonzalez, Mathew Sawyer, Adam Sutherland).<\/p>\n

First 300 copies also come with a bonus CDR album of alternative versions of the album tracks by Dollboy, Let’s Wrestle, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, Pete Greenwood, The Raincoats, Patrick Fitzgerald, The Proper Ornaments, Pastourelle, Mathew Sawyer and Piano Magic whilst stocks last.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is SL012. http:\/\/www.secondlanguagemusic.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Peter Astor \u2013Second Language artwork<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

I have created an illustration illustrating a track on Peter Astor\u2019s new CD for Second Language.<\/p>\n

Here a link to his blog and a cool video of Pete and Darren Hayman playing together.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/peteastor.tumblr.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Second Language website<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.secondlanguagemusic.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Artwork:
\n\"IMG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lyrics:
\nSLEEPERS<\/p>\n

Going back through blood and years
\nBranches,histories and tears
\nGoing back to where time won\u2019t move
\nAnd day comes down and there\u2019s nothing to do<\/p>\n

Sleepers don\u2019t have anything to say
\nThey just cradle they just wait
\nThey hold the track that takes the train
\nThat takes me back again<\/p>\n

Sleepers,why do I sing my song to you?
\nSleepers,why do I sing my song to you?
\nWith your metal hands and your wooden shoes
\nLying still,forever mute
\nSleepers,there\u2019s nothing you can do<\/p>\n

Going back to cold-eyed ways
\nYou end up here you can\u2019t escape
\nThe ladies wait under light and dust
\nThe salt sea turns the town to rust<\/p>\n

Sleepers,why do I sing my song to you?
\nSleepers,why do I sing my song to you?
\nWith your metal hands and your wooden shoes
\nLying still,forever mute
\nSleepers,there\u2019s nothing you can do<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Astor Songbox now out includes artwork by myself and Adam Sutherland who both did original Weather Prophets artwork in a lovely package \ud83d\ude42 PETE ASTOR ‘SONGBOX’ AVAILABLE NOW (8\/8\/11) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2332,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702\/revisions\/2332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}