A Spoonful Of Sugar

(from GINKGO by Field Guides — out June 24, 2022)

Pre-order here: https://fieldguides.bandcamp.com/album/ginkgo

Taylor Bergren-Chrisman: electric & upright bass
Julian Cubillos: electric guitar
Rachel Housle: drums, percussion
Benedict Kupstas: voice, nylon-string & electric guitars
Jesse Perlstein: voice, field recordings
Adam “Bones” Robinson: tenor saxophone
Aaron Rourk: saxophones
Alena Spanger: voice, keys

Music & words by Benedict Kupstas  /  Produced by Shannon Fields, Nico Hedley, & Benedict Kupstas  /  Arrangement by Benedict Kupstas, Nico Hedley, & Shannon Fields, with all the musicians  /  Engineered by Julian Cubillos  /  Additional remote recording by all the musicians  /  Mixed by Eli Crews at Spillway Sound in West Hurley, NY  /  Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL  /  Layout & design by Benedict Kupstas

Ginkgo

Field Guides - "Salmon Skin"

Leeds quartet Crake have today announced their debut album, ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’. It arrives via Fika Recordings on April 8th. The band have also shared the album’s lead single, ‘Winter’s Song’. 

Led by enigmatic songwriter Rowan Sandle, Crake is driven by her endless curiosity. Armed with her gently cracking vocal, and inspiration from writers like Shirley Jackson and Nan Shepherd, she sings of crinoids, slime mould and pussy willow. When they supported Buck Meek at Brudenell Social Club, Buck found himself so beguiled by Sandle and her band that he invited them to support Big Thief on their UK and EU tour in 2019. Crake duly obliged and have been building towards their debut full-length ever since. 

Much of the forthcoming album revolves around the death of Sandle’s friend Anna, who died in Syria after being hit by a Turkish air strike. Anna was working for a woman’s liberation group in the war-stricken country when the tragedy took place. ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ explores the grief that followed and the lessons learnt from dealing with such a significant loss. 

Sandle does, however, find space to explore more themes alongside this grief, such as cruelty and queer nature. On lead single ‘Winter’s Song’ she acknowledges the cruelty and coldness that exists within us all, and questions how we can continue to grow and love whilst remaining true to that. 

Speaking about the track, she said: “Winter’s Song is about the absolute mundane beauty of being fallible. It's a true story, I saw the moon rise but swore it was the sun setting. I think about this line a lot: “keep a little coldness in you, just wear it soft and gentle” Be soft, be kind, be honest. Being unremarkable has its own beauty.” 

Sandle’s love for queer nature is so fervent that it makes the experience of listening to Crake akin to that of stumbling on an entirely new world. Sandle believes that life isn’t as black and white as we’ve been taught, and thinks nature holds the key to revealing the true nature of human experience. The appearances of things like slime mould - single-celled organisms that form a single body when in search of food  - brittle starfish - a type of starfish whose awareness isn’t concentrated in one place - and other such oddities furnish ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ with a folklore all of its own. 

‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ will send you down multiple rabbit holes and you’ll emerge from each with a newfound appreciation for the complexities of the world. Perhaps even more important than this though is the humanity that lies at the very heart of this debut full-length. Whether it’s in the sensitivity in how she portrays the loss of her friend, the depiction of our most base instincts - namely cruelty, passion and love - or the sincere, pure quality of the songwriting itself, it’s this that makes ‘Humans’ Worst Habits’ essential, and invaluable listening.

Winter's Song

Crake - Winter's Song

Find a Pleasure

"Amour Fou" is the second single from our debut album, coming this fall. Out now on Welfare Sounds & Records.

Produced by Per Stålberg and Kalle Lilja. Mixed by Kalle Lilja. Mastered by Esben Willems. Artwork by Jakob Ekvall.

Amour Fou

Neptune

All This Noise

TAKING DRUGS IN SPACE

Written by Thomas James.

Performed by Lupine.

Recorded, mixed & mastered by Nick Herrera.

Tell-Tale Heart

Written and performed by The Golden Age of TV

Recorded and mixed by Greenmount Studios 
Mastered by Felix Davis at Metropolis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhuuVz9xrq4&t=3s&ab_channel=TheGoldenAgeOfTV

A Spoonful Of Sugar

Conor Clements

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