Firestations + Melinda Bronstein + yer blooze
Firestations make shoegazey alt-pop, harmony-driven psychedelia, and stripped-back acoustic songs.
The new album ‘Many White Horses’ (out on Lost Map Records on 25th April) is a collection of weather-worn acoustic songs and instrumentals interwoven with field recordings and lyrics drawn from the immediate surroundings of a sailing expedition, all brought together with warm, textured production. It marks Mike Cranny’s first solo endeavour, playing a variety of instruments and self-producing, albeit one enriched by Laura Copsey’s contributions on flugelhorn, flute and vocals.
The album was conceived and largely written at the beginning of August 2024 on a sailing yacht (Sail Britain’s “Merlin”) in the Inner Hebrides. This was the location for a week-long art residency with seven fellow artist-explorers all keen to capture something of the essence of being at sea and viewing the land from the sea. The voyage, through high winds and waves, took in the mysterious Isle of Rum and the coastline around Arisaig, before Mike and Laura continued the journey for a further week; travelling around the Ardnamurchan peninsula, across the Isles of Mull and Ulva to end up off-grid on the remote Isle of Gometra.
While the music, with its focus on quietly hypnotic, hushed acoustic instrumentation, may at first appear something of a departure from the last five-piece band Firestations album ‘Thick Terrain’, it remains closely related and recognisable by Mike’s song writing style. It also occupies a similar space to their ‘Sunken Versions’ – quieter and slower songs (featuring on the ‘Automatic Tendencies’ EP series in particular) that focus on the more meditative, stripped back side of the band.
Firestations + Melinda Bronstein + yer blooze
Firestations make shoegazey alt-pop, harmony-driven psychedelia, and stripped-back acoustic songs.
The new album ‘Many White Horses’ (out on Lost Map Records on 25th April) is a collection of weather-worn acoustic songs and instrumentals interwoven with field recordings and lyrics drawn from the immediate surroundings of a sailing expedition, all brought together with warm, textured production. It marks Mike Cranny’s first solo endeavour, playing a variety of instruments and self-producing, albeit one enriched by Laura Copsey’s contributions on flugelhorn, flute and vocals.
The album was conceived and largely written at the beginning of August 2024 on a sailing yacht (Sail Britain’s “Merlin”) in the Inner Hebrides. This was the location for a week-long art residency with seven fellow artist-explorers all keen to capture something of the essence of being at sea and viewing the land from the sea. The voyage, through high winds and waves, took in the mysterious Isle of Rum and the coastline around Arisaig, before Mike and Laura continued the journey for a further week; travelling around the Ardnamurchan peninsula, across the Isles of Mull and Ulva to end up off-grid on the remote Isle of Gometra.
While the music, with its focus on quietly hypnotic, hushed acoustic instrumentation, may at first appear something of a departure from the last five-piece band Firestations album ‘Thick Terrain’, it remains closely related and recognisable by Mike’s song writing style. It also occupies a similar space to their ‘Sunken Versions’ – quieter and slower songs (featuring on the ‘Automatic Tendencies’ EP series in particular) that focus on the more meditative, stripped back side of the band.
Firestations + Melinda Bronstein + yer blooze
Firestations make shoegazey alt-pop, harmony-driven psychedelia, and stripped-back acoustic songs.
The new album ‘Many White Horses’ (out on Lost Map Records on 25th April) is a collection of weather-worn acoustic songs and instrumentals interwoven with field recordings and lyrics drawn from the immediate surroundings of a sailing expedition, all brought together with warm, textured production. It marks Mike Cranny’s first solo endeavour, playing a variety of instruments and self-producing, albeit one enriched by Laura Copsey’s contributions on flugelhorn, flute and vocals.
The album was conceived and largely written at the beginning of August 2024 on a sailing yacht (Sail Britain’s “Merlin”) in the Inner Hebrides. This was the location for a week-long art residency with seven fellow artist-explorers all keen to capture something of the essence of being at sea and viewing the land from the sea. The voyage, through high winds and waves, took in the mysterious Isle of Rum and the coastline around Arisaig, before Mike and Laura continued the journey for a further week; travelling around the Ardnamurchan peninsula, across the Isles of Mull and Ulva to end up off-grid on the remote Isle of Gometra.
While the music, with its focus on quietly hypnotic, hushed acoustic instrumentation, may at first appear something of a departure from the last five-piece band Firestations album ‘Thick Terrain’, it remains closely related and recognisable by Mike’s song writing style. It also occupies a similar space to their ‘Sunken Versions’ – quieter and slower songs (featuring on the ‘Automatic Tendencies’ EP series in particular) that focus on the more meditative, stripped back side of the band.