Cold Specks

Signs To Mute – Album Out May 22

February 15, 2012

New York, NY

 

SIGNS TO MUTE

DEBUT ALBUM I PREDICT A GRACEFUL EXPULSION OUT MAY 22^ND

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “HOLLAND” NOW!

SXSW & SPRING NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ANNOUNCED

“Haunting doom-laden soul” Vogue

“Positively spellbinding and downright possessed” NME

 “Haunting and healing in equal measures” The Guardian

Cold Specks will release their debut album I Predict A Graceful Expulsion through Mute on May 22^nd. The band have signed to Mute and release a video for Cold Specks’ track “Holland”.

Cold Specks is headed to Austin, TX this year for SXSW 2012 and will tour the US and Canada this May with Great Lake Swimmers. See below for a full list of dates.

Cold Specks is songwriter and vocalist Al Spx from Etobicoke, Canada, who now lives in London. The band’s name is taken from a line in James Joyce’s Ulysses:

“Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil, lights shining in the darkness”.

Describing her sound as ‘Doom Soul’, Cold Specks’ music is steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South. No wonder then that Al cites the Lomax Field Recordings and James Carr as influences along with Bill Callahan and Tom Waits. With a voice that evokes the ‘spirit feel’ of Mahalia Jackson and the visceral tones of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cold Specks’ sparse arrangements and chain gang rhythms stop you dead in your tracks.

“My little brother, who was spending his summers with our mother in Toronto, had always told me of this girl he was friends with that had this amazing voice,” recalls Cold Specks’ manager, Jim Anderson. “As a producer I’d heard that so often that I didn’t take too much notice. Then I came in one night to find him and a few friends drinking in the flat and playing a CD of her demos. I was completely transfixed and just kept pressing repeat. I knew I had to work with her. I eventually persuaded her to come over. At that point she had never played with another musician and was completely self-taught with her own unique tuning and timings, which we had to decipher.”

“Jim convinced me to fly out and work on the record for a few months,” explains Al Spx. “That was a year and a half ago. I guess I’m permanently based here now. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here. We needed musicians and Jim knew a bunch. Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey’s regular collaborator) has been helping out with some arrangements and percussion and Jim’s old friends Pete Roberts (guitar), Thomas Greene (piano) and Tom Havelock (cello) also play on the record.”

The band recently performed two songs on Later With Jools Holland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MD4ju12APwCold

 

Tour Dates:

March 13^th-18^th – SXSW – Austin, TX

March 21^st – Co-operators Hall at River Run – Guelph, ON

March 22^nd – The Music Gallery – Toronto, ON

May 1^st – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL

May 2^nd – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI

May 3^rd – Cedar Cultural Centre – Minneapolis, MN

May 4^th – West End Cultural Centre – Winnipeg, MB

May 6^th – McDougall United Church – Edmonton, AB

May 7^th – Central United Church – Calgary, AB

May 8^th – Southminster United Church – Lethbridge, AB

May 9^th – The Royal – Nelson, BC

May 11^th – The Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC

May 12^th – Alix Goolden Hall – Victoria, BC

May 13^th – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA

May 14^th – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR

May 16^th – The Independent – San Francisco, CA

May 18^th – Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA

May 19^th – The Compound Grilll – Phoenix, AZ

May 20^th – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ

May 22^nd – The Prophet Bar – Dallas, TX

May 23^rd – Stubb’s BBQ (Indoor) – Austin, TX

May 24^th – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA

May 25^th – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA

May 26^th – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC

May 27^th – Rock and Roll Hotel – Washington, DC

May 28^th – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA

May 30^th – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY

May 31^st – Middle East Downstairs – Cambridge, MA

June 2^nd – The Music Hall, Toronto, ON

 

www.facebook.com/coldspecks

http://twitter.com/coldspecks

www.coldspecks.com

 

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