The forthcoming Grumbling Fur album ‘Glynnaestra’  will be released on 22nd July 2013 by Thrill Jockey records.

“As their history attests, this is a group unbound from the restrictions of traditionalism and unafraid to shed the pretence of pure abstraction. There’s a tradition of subterranean Englishness at play, harking back to This Heat’s Deceit and Eno’s Another Green World. In their first fully realised album as a duo, the process and texture ripple with a kind of electro-gnosis. Glynnaestra herself (an archaic goddess divined by Tucker and O’Sullivan) presides over the record, transcendent and sphinx like: an apt muse for an album of such lovely and powerful music.” Thrill Jockey

You can see them perform in Birmingham on Saturday 27th April with Barn Owl and Ex Easter Island Head at St Paul’s Church. We can’t wait. Tickets are available now via theticketsellers.co.uk

Here’s how we chose to introduce Barn Owl to the uninitiated in the lead up to Supersonic Festival in 2011.

“Supersonic 2010 attendees will perhaps need no introduction to the stunning dust-trails of sound that San Franciscan duo Barn Owl create. The band were so well received that we just had to get them back for Supersonic 2011. In the past year, the praise for their mesmerising drones and layered feedback has slowly built up into a huge wall of superlatives. It’s taking all our strength here at Capsule to avoid waxing lyrical about “hauntingly beautiful sonic waterfalls” and the like! Rock-A-Rolla even went so far as to say that their 2010 album ‘Ancestral Star’ on Thrill Jockey was “the most significant experimental drone album since [SunnO)))’s] ‘Monoliths & Dimensions’”.

What you definitely get with Barn Owl is a hugely powerful immersive experience. Frequently playing in front of modified super 8 footage, the twin guitars of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras intertwine instinctively, equal parts slow-burning twang and spaced-out feedback drone. It’s hard to stop those superlatives flowing. The band have just released a new EP ‘Shadowlands‘ that adds a devotional aspect reflective of artists like Popul Vuh (especially their soundtrack for the Werner Herzog film ‘Fitzcarraldo’) and Alice Coltrane, and their new full-length ‘Lost In The Glare‘ will be out on 13th September. (Free mp3 here.) Both Caminiti and Porras are solo artists releasing on labels like Root Strata and Three Lobed Recordings and Caminiti is also an established visual artist.”

They’re back in Birmingham on Saturday 27th April at St Paul’s Church with Grumbling Fur and Ex Easter Island Head. Tickets are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

More information on their Electric Totem site.

Barn Owl & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Live At The Cube (Bristol) from Fluid Radio on Vimeo.

Barn Owl – Light from the Mesa from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Ex Easter Island Head are a Liverpool based ensemble who usually perform as a trio but are known to expand to up to 30 players. An inventive and surprising group, their experimentation with rhythm and minimalism makes for a captivating live show. We’re thrilled that they’ll be performing at St Paul’s Church on Saturday 27th April, along with Barn Owl and Grumbling Fur. Tickets are available via theticketsellers.co.uk

“In the tradition of minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Rhys Chatham, Liverpool’s Ex-Easter Island Head draw a great deal of resonance from a stripped back set-up, consisting largely of guitars laid out horizontally and played as percussion instruments (hence the name of 2012’s Mallet Guitars Two). Their sound gradually ebbs and flows, building up to vast tropical storm clouds of rhythm and natural reverb.” The Quietus

Ex Easter

Island Head performing Mallet Guitars One:

Just came across this in depth interview with Ex Easter Island Head at The Quietus from last December, just after the release of Mallet Guitars Two (pretty much on constant rotation at Capsule HQ). They talk about their memorable live performances, and you can get a flavour of what to expect from their show at St Paul’s Church on 27th April.

“I take joy engaging an audience with something that’s hopefully a little bit out of the ordinary. Also I enjoy the physicality of the experimenting aspect of our setup. Because we’re not using any effects, there’s lots of physically messing round with guitars and other instruments which is just fun, really! With the sort of music we like to play as well there’s that locked groove, hypnotic feel that you’re striving for with certain parts and big, enveloping drones. When you manage to nail that in the right space with good sound and a good audience, you can really get lost in it – a bit of a cliché I know, but for good reason!” Read the full interview

Tickets for the show, which also features Barn Owl and

Grumbling Fur, are available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Thrill Jockey have released a second preview of the new Barn Owl record ‘V’. The track is called ‘The Long Shadow’ and is the perfect taster for their show at Birmingham’s St Paul’s Church in April.

“Similarly to ‘Void Redux’, our previous taster of the album, the track combines guitars with the duo’s new, more synth-heavy approach: a skeletal, baroque guitar line snakes its way through the track, while electronics tick and whirr beneath, underpinned by a mighty leviathan of an organ powering away in the lower reaches”. The Quietus

A playlist of tracks we’re currently enjoying, including Barn Owl, Lee Gamble and Drunk in Hell

You can now listen online to Adam Beckley’s performance at St Paul’s church in May last year, supporting Esmerine. Physical copies of the recording have now sold out but you can stream online or buy a digital copy. Click through to listen.

“This record came out of a recording where I was lucky enough to support Esmerine (featuring members of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames, Silver Mt Zion). It was made extra special by being able to play in the beautiful St Paul’s Church in Birmingham. Thank-you to Capsule for asking me to play, and all who came to the show!”

Our next event at the lovely St Paul’s church takes place Saturday 27th April and features Barn Owl, Grumbling Fur and Ex Easter Island Head. Tickets are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Grumbling Fur artwork by Alexander Tucker

In advance of our special event in April at St Paul’s church, check out Grumbling Fur who will be performing along with Barn Owl and Ex Easter Island Head.

The duo of Daniel O’Sullivan and Alexander Tucker will be familiar to any Supersonic fans, Tucker performed to a packed out Theatre space in 2011 and also performed in 2006 and 2008 (watch). O’Sullivan  has performed at the festival under various guises including Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses (watch), Guapo and Mothlite.

“The dual vocals of O’Sullivan and Tucker are a defining feature, but the masterful, metamorphosing fluidity of their instrumental play is just staggeringly attuned and requires your attention at the nearest possible opportunity if you’re into anything from Barn Owl to Æthenor or The Haxan Cloak.” Boomkat

Saturday 27th April
Supersonic Festival presents:
Barn Owl + Grumbling Fur + Ex Easter Island Head
St Paul’s Church, Birmingham
Tickets are £14 advance via www.theticketsellers.co.uk