"Though your dreams remain,
A sunlight surrender storms"


Track 2 from 2014 EP 'Afflict and Redeem'.

Buy the track or the whole EP: https://calmingriver.bandcamp.com/album/afflict-and-redeem

https://www.facebook.com/calmingriver

http://www.calmingrivermusic.com/



Overcome

https://youtu.be/AwiIC1H7RbU

"Inertia fire,
Shadows 'round,
Of untold times,
Ephemeral life,
Leaves red-dyed,
All that remains,
Blood-stained steel,
Eight times tonight,
The sound of waiting to land.

The ghost of mine,
Inertia fire,
Scars and bleeds,
Eight lives tonight,
It's shallow your high,
Remains to find,
The ghoul inside,
Inertia fire,
The sound of waiting to land."

https://www.facebook.com/Calmingriver/

Track four from 2015 EP 'The Ones That We Left Behind'. 

Buy the track or the whole EP: https://calmingriver.bandcamp.com/album/the-ones-that-we-left-behind

The Ones That We Left Behind

Inertia Fire

The first thing that came to my head,
Was when she said,
"Can you wash away all the flames that I made?"

And the first thing that came to mind,
Was the ones that we left behind,
Burning bright,
In the sea of yesterday.

This is the most beautiful fire, I have ever seen,
So try and swim to shore, 
But the anchor that you adore,
Was thrown overboard,
A long, long time ago.

And the first thing that burned away,
Were the pages,
That only you had seen.

This is the most beautiful fire, there has ever been,
This is the most beautiful fire, I have ever seen, 
This is the most beautiful fire, I have ever lit.

-----
The first track from the 2015 EP 'The Ones That We Left Behind'.
Buy the track or the whole EP: https://calmingriver.bandcamp.com/album/the-ones-that-we-left-behind

https://www.facebook.com/Calmingriver/

The Actress pt.II

Official video: https://youtu.be/FyXxL6o_Bhk 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6X5ePypuTigJRAB1BhHele

Went to the hilltop,
Looked out to life,
Saw your resting,
Realised that it's time.

The river of the desert,
The knife of deceit,
Doesn't cut a meaning,
Given more than you received.

I'll go to an island,
Where you surround all that is I,
To consecrate the hollow,
To subjugate the lie, of I.

Bridge overhead, 
For the echoes to see,
I know you'll be waiting,
But that's a land I'll never be.

That's a land I'll never be.

For The Echoes To See

Video: https://youtu.be/EjtM6kOLIp0

Electric guitar, organ and percussion: Rasmus Nielsen
Classical guitar, lyrics and vocals: Joshua Malcolm 

Audio mixer and producer: Rasmus Nielsen
Mastering: Carl Saff

The sad sounds at night,
Still silence surrounds,
The lost of feeling,
To a feeling of loss. 
So translate the grey,
And dark shadows of day,
But I came all this way. 
Need a place to stay,
But we're too far away.
We're from too far away.

Anniversary

Lyrics: 
Haunted by fairytales,
Covered in snow,
Covered in snow,
Ghosts will rise,
They're the friends that I hide,
To keep you warm,
And cold at the door,
Don't be afraid to let it in,
To let it win,
Covered in snow,
Haunted by fairytales,
Colour so bright,
A white of the fight,
Ghosts they tell me,
Run far from here,
But I'm tired of running,
From the things I held dear,
They're shouting out,
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid,
They're shouting out, don't be afraid,
Just run

Haunted pt. I (Fairytales)

A tribute to Jason. One of the finest.
__________________
Video: 
https://youtu.be/YdpCaOltvXo
___________________
Lyrics:
Country of the night,
Day has fallen,
Assail the blue skies, 
Without returning,
Homeless for the fight,
When the dreams vacated,
The impasse of the light,
Was there every break in?

Come back by our side,
Where we can hold you,
The anodyne of time,
A home to heal you,
Jason I won't lie,
Your songs they move me,
To tears I can't cry,
On a troubled mountain.

Haunted pt. II (Molina)

Cello: Johanne Andersson
Produced by: Rasmus Nielsen
Recorded in Aarhus, Denmark
Mastered by: Carl Saff (USA)
_________
Lyrics:
Counting, discounting, numbers in light,
A portrait of a shadow darkened by time,
His journey of an ending, 
Coloured by denial,
By her pictures, diluted, naked to define,
Emptiness,
Silence, 
A voiceless echo cries,
The flotsam of a burden, he vies to die,
Bound to a landscape her pictures don't show,
Away from the city,
Away from a home

08 March 2019

Portrait Of A Shadow

Official video: https://youtu.be/mW3tGqjGpwE
Released December 4th 2020. 
Produced by: Rasmus Nielsen
Mastered by: Carl Saff (Saff Mastering)


Lyrics:
Day one of the night,
Got caught up in needless,
Is that you right here?
Autumn to find,
Got lost in the meaning,
Is that you right here?

Late January I can even see your smile,
Coming in from the west,
And all the little light of yesterday,
It’s the winter that you left,
I’ll take this little box of empty shards,
To the ocean that I’ll go,
To wash away the scars today,
And bury them in the sand. 

Here we are late January,
Crowded to say goodbye,
And just like the boats the sail,
You go out into the night,
We’re all made of glass,
Brittle and break,
And we’re all made of glass,
Porous to the flame.

Boats

The evening comes,
My inhibitions they drift,
In violent ways,
Unknown horizons,
My inhibitions they drift,
A violent haze. 

Darling, I can take no more.

One by one, 
Feather by feather,
You're lost inside my maze,
Day by day,
Feather by feather,
Your dreams inside my cage.

Darling, I can take no more, 
Maybe I can take one more.

One by one,
Feather by feather, 
You're naked by design I made.

Darling, I could take one more,
Maybe I could take them all,
Darling, I can break them all.

Feather by Feather

From debut album 'Dead Bluebottle Supine'

____________________

Hawthorn tree
Despondent looking down
She sees the underground
Justice he
Shrapnel and shards
Refigure her look
But in this field of wood
She remains so desolate

Her call for sleep
Echoes from beneath
That will not
That will not lay low

Tired out by the rats at her feet
Who scour for days without need
Caught between
Their fate and hope

For her sons
The ones who have won
Who have all
But lost

Recoil
Recall

To take or to lose
To take all
To take all
Or to lose?

Hawthorn

Lammas

Released June 4th 2021.
Dendron Records (Copenhagen).
Produced by Rasmus Nielsen and Matthew Fleming. 
Mastered by Saff Mastering

Dead Bluebottles Supine

While Helsinki Sleeps

This track is on debut album 'Dead Bluebottles Supine'. 

Featuring Danish songwriter Own Road (vocals)
Recorded in Copenhagen
Mixed by Matthew Fleming
Mastered by Saff Mastering 

Fatea review: 
"...wonderful intricate guitar playing which is utterly entrancing throughout. Dead Bluebottles Supine is full of rich and inventive soundscapes which makes this a fascinating debut, and Calming River one to watch"

Lyrics:
Shoreline
Headlights to you
Time trials
Holding on into
The trials
When we breathed for two

Take time
Time takes
We choose
To stand or fly
To try for better
We lose

Breathe soft
Breathe softly on to

Dover feat. OwnRoad

Released June 4 2021 on debut album 'Dead Bluebottles Supine'.

Jinhai

Released March 26th as Double-A single alongside 'For Edward feat. Own Road'
From the album 'Dead Bluebottles Supine' (Spring 2021)

Keys: Tom Neill
Guitars, vocals, lyrics: Calming River
Artwork: Lasse Kruse Larsen
Lyrics:
If not now then when?
When it's holding you like never before
If not now then when?
When the autumn light turns to fall.

But what would you say,
To fall like the raindrops of May,
And where would you go,
'Been running since the day I learnt to tell,

These lies,
Lies like it will all be OK,

The place where we go 
When it all gets too much,
The place that turns the colour into dust.

But what would you say,
To wake up and it all burn away,
And where would we go,
I've walked the walk
Yet everything is unknown,

The light outside the window is yesterdays', 
Memory of August,
In the autumn flames.

Jejune

Track 3 from debut album 'Dead Bluebottles Supine', released on Dendron Records (June 2021)

Kaamos

Released: March 26th as Double-A single alongside 'Jejune' 2021 release.

Vocals: Own Road
Lyrics and guitars: Calming River
Violin: Maris Peterlevics

#Lyrics
I laid her down,
And let her weep,
I heard her words,
And let them sleep, 
To dust at sunrise,

Opened a box,
I tried to keep,
Closed for the night,
Callow youth seas, 
When secretly my mind, 
Drowning in view

Knives out, 
Heads shake, 
I’m thoughtless who never doubts,
And thoughtful but never acts

The knives are out,
My body aches,
It’s time to sleep again

I’m thoughtless who never acts?

For Edward feat. Own Road

Release June 4th 2021
Dendron Records (Copenhagen). 
Produced by: Matthew Fleming and Rasmus Nielsen
Mastered by: Saff Mastering

Calming River is the brainchild of UK-based songwriter Joshua Malcolm. Alt-folk and ambient debut album 'Dead Bluebottles Supine' was released in 2021. 

Thanks for listening. It's appreciated. 


BOOKINGS:
calmingrivermusic[at]gmail.com

RECENT APPEARANCES (selected): 
Green Note (London, 2019)
Folked Up! (London, 2019)
Slaughtered Lamb (London, 2019)
Melodica (Reykjavik, Iceland, 2018)
Worcester Music Festival (UK, 2018)
Fanø Folk Festival (Fanø, Denmark, 2018)
Spice of Life (London, 2018)
Moth Club (London, 2018)
Scaledown (London, 2018)
The Centre and The Circle (London, 2018)
Gladstone Arms (London, 2018)
Folking Around (London, 2018)
The Lucky Pig (London,  2018)
Radar(Aarhus, Denmark, 2017)
Cristiania (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2017)
Melodica (Nottingham, UK, 2017)
Rosemount Hotel (Perth, Australia, 2017)

REVIEWS
Ohestee:
A dissonance reverberates throughout like a calm river – tranquil, but with an opposing dormant force that rests with a somnolent fever. 

Sound of Aarhus:
IF you like alternative music such as Sun Kil Moon, Jose Gonzales or Bon Iver, you’re attention is needed here.

Nordic Music Review:
This is an artist we have not given enough attention to over the last 3 years.  Sometimes so much is thrown in our direction that we don't have time to stop, think and appreciate, and 'Calming River' is a songwriter that you just need to find that quiet 10 minutes to consider and enjoy. 

Overblown:
Captivating and possessing significant emotional heft.

We Love That Sound:
He plays guitar so incredibly well.

Destroy Exist
Indeed calming and indubitably enchanting.

Calming River

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