Klaatu barada nikto

The Dark Dog

In the clearing where you wait
There’s no love and there’s no hate
Only he can know your fate
He is seated at your gate
The dark dog

On the blackened snowy street
There’s no light and there’s no heat
All your paths now obsolete
He is snarling at your feet
The dark dog

Now your mind comes to the boil
And a fog descends on all
Ice is forming on your wall
He is scratching in the soil
The dark dog

‘Last Night I Dreamt Of Hibrihteselle’ by Richard Moult

Composer, painter and poet Richard Moult‘s new solo album Last Night I Dreamt Of Hibrihteselle, a Loegrian dream sequence, can now be purchased from Delphine Dora’s exquisite label Wild Silence. The album comprises of song settings to poems by Mary Webb, Ivor Gurney and Gladys Mary Coles, and includes guest appearances from members of United Bible Studies, as well as artists such as Delphine Dora, Adam Leonard, Amanda Feery and Sophie Cooper.

 

I am honoured to sing on this album. It has been an immense labour of love for Richard, a friend and true artist, and I believe the finished album to be a triumph.

Download or buy the release via the Wild Silence bandcamp page:
https://wildsilencelabel.bandcamp.com/album/last-night-i-dreamt-of-hibrihteselle

 

It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy

The debut single was born noisily yesterday on Record Store Day 2015.

Buy the digital single (£1), the CD single with b-side (£3.50) and/or T-shirts (£15 – all sizes) on the new bandcamp merch page here:
https://adamleonard.bandcamp.com/album/the-implausible-man-single

We did a single launch show last Saturday (11th April) and it was the best gig we’ve ever done. Here’s a couple of performances from the gig including new song Handcuffed Man Shoots Himself:

 

More UK gigs in August will be announced soon…!

Follow us on the Facebook page to keep up to date:
https://www.facebook.com/invaderbandmusic

Trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro

A review of Octopus Part 8 from Nathan Ford at The Active Listener.

Adam Leonard’s lengthy and exhausting rarities trawl comes to an end with “Octopus Part 8”. For those who haven’t been keeping up, the “Octopus” series has seen him release an eight track E.P of rare and unreleased material every month, for the last eight months. “I’ve saved the best ’til last” Leonard boldly claims, and that sure is saying something. I reviewed the first couple of volumes on their release and they were more often than not outstanding.

What to expect then? Readers who regularly check out our samplers (number 29 in this case) will already be familiar with the terrifying post-punk drone of “Elbow of Termites”, in which Leonard seems unable to decide whether he is Robyn Hitchcock or Dave Brock – rarely has an identity crisis sounded so good! Elsewhere his version of the Beatles’ “Good Morning, Good Morning” is a noisy beast with an odd far-away sound which makes it sound like that annoying neighbor who decides to blast their stereo at 6 a.m. Only, that neighbor has suddenly developed immaculate taste, so you really don’t mind. More often than not though, this is acoustic based, taking in everything from subversions of traditional folk form (a hypnotic radio session version of “Nature Recordings” highlight “The Eighth Tower”),to quirky pop (“Napolean”).

He’s unfairly adept at all of these styles, and defies both logic, and conventional form in his ability to construct a convincing, detailed tapestry from materials which should result in a patchwork outcome at best. I’m not sure if I’d agree with the ‘best ’til last’ statement – that would suggest weaknesses earlier on that just aren’t there – but there’s certainly no signs of a quality drop.

“Octopus Part 8” can be had for free / name your price right here, but only for a month, after which it will revert to £4.00 – still a bargain for a feast such as this. And keep an eye out for the debut release from Invaderband, Leonard’s new quartet, who are making music that he is confident enough to call “the best thing I’ve ever done”. Here at the Active Listener, we’re looking forward to hearing if he’s right – the early stirrings that we’ve heard are pretty flash.

http://active-listener.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/adam-leonard-octopus-part-8.html

BBC Radio Foyle appearance 26/02/15

I appeared on BBC Radio Foyle’s Electric Mainline show last week. I played a new song, had a chat with DJ & host Stephen McCauley and he played a track from the final release in the Octopus series, part 8.

Keeps out invaders who come but still can’t control the violent side

Photograph: Lisa Byrne

My plan is for 2015 to be the year Invaderband spreads its wings. The following things should become reality this year: Releases, local(ish) Irish gigs as usual but also UK dates (I know, great!), some in my birthplace and spiritual flat-capped home of Manchester. Current plans for UK are early August, but a new website is being developed right now (invaderband.com) so keep your eye on that and you will be able to sign up to a mailing list to stay bang up-to-date, and get one of our super-shiny new recordings for doing so – taken from sessions at the end of 2014. There are lots of plans (videos, festivals, blah & blah) and I am very excited because I believe these new recordings to be the best thing I have ever been involved with musically.

As for the solo stuff, the Octopus project will end in a couple of weeks with Octopus Part 8 released on – gosh you’re clever – the 8th March. I believe I have saved some of the best music until last there as well, with the usual mix of covers (Beatles again this time!), previously unreleased songs/recordings and a great BBC session track of a ‘Nature Recordings’ song, so it kind of brings it up to date with my solo releases too. I only realised recently – this was genuinely an accident – that the 8th song on the 8th release is ‘The Eighth Tower’. There are 8 Invaderband recordings, I have 8 songs written for my new solo album and I live at No. 8 on my street, so that mystical digit is clearly relevant to me in a universal sense. Richard Dawkins would say that it was coincidence & random, but he’s a bit of a bore. The lovely art for Octopus 8 is here, kindly created by my friend and brother-in-song, Chris McConaghy:

Free download for 1 month, then I think I will bundle up all 8 releases into 1 and sell it for £20 or something extremely reasonable indeed for 64 songs. I might even press up some physical copies with extra songs if there is a demand for that, but I don’t want to fall into the double pack with a photograph extra track and a tacky badge trap, which there is a real danger of. Maybe I’ll just make 8 and put them on eBay.

That’s all I can think of for now. MASSIVE thanks to BUYERS of the Octopus releases which are always available for free originally. I know who you are and I’ll hug & kiss you all if we ever meet…

Bye for now!
+A x