Lyrics, CDs and downloads are available at https://ringlefinchuk.bandcamp.com/album/tall-tales. 

Four years in the making and entirely self-produced, 'Tall Tales' is the first full-length album from London-based alternative folk band Ringlefinch. 

With dark-humoured, wittily introspective lyrics set to upbeat, offbeat earworm tunes and a strong folk-storytelling sensibility, 'Tall Tales' centres on themes of identity, exploring how we all tell ourselves stories of who we are to try and make sense of our place in the world. This sense of self-determination even extends to the production of the album - the band recorded and mixed it on equipment they built themselves.

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Coldwell Clough
 - I: A River Nearby
 - II: Halfway Down The Coffin Trail
 - III: Mam Tor
 - IV: Easter Eve At The Mermaid's Pool
 - V: Kinder Downfall
 - VI: Bleaklow Stones Part I
 - VII: Mass Trespass Part II
 - VIII: Bleaklow Stones Part II

A song cycle in eight parts, "Coldwell Clough" follows a day-long hike from Castleton to Hayfield, landmark by landmark over Kinder Scout - the heart of the Dark Peak, in England's Peak District. Steeped in the local folklore and history of the area, each part of "Coldwell Clough" explores a different aspect of the link between creativity and death, and how these links are shaped by our sense of our own identity. At its heart is one question - how does where we're from shape our stories about who we are? 

Coldwell Clough itself is a steep valley on the west face of Kinder, just up the road from where Ringlefinch singer Andy grew up. He walked the dogs there most days and used to spend hours sitting at the head of the valley, watching life move slowly on in the village of Hayfield below. For a small village, Hayfield has a truly impressive number of ancient ghost stories - from the Boggart of Highgate Hall to the Hayfield Witch - but Coldwell Clough also has an important place in more recent history. 

In 1932, hundreds of ramblers defied landowners, gamekeepers and police by hiking over Kinder in what became known as the Mass Trespass. This act of civil disobedience ultimately helped establish the right to roam across open land in England & Wales, and is celebrated by participant Ewan MacColl in his famous song "The Manchester Rambler". Andy was raised on stories of the Mass Trespass, of people taking to the moors for their belief that we all have a right to the wilderness. Coldwell Clough itself was part of their route, and "Coldwell Clough" is also a tribute to their courage.

Song: Logan (except part VII: Mass Trespass Part II, by Entwistle)
Music: Ringlefinch
©&℗ Ringlefinch 2021, all rights reserved
Released on Folkroom Records

Coldwell Clough

Lyrics, CDs and downloads are available at https://ringlefinchuk.bandcamp.com/album/tall-tales. 

Four years in the making and entirely self-produced, 'Tall Tales' is the first full-length album from London-based alternative folk band Ringlefinch. 

With dark-humoured, wittily introspective lyrics set to upbeat, offbeat earworm tunes and a strong folk-storytelling sensibility, 'Tall Tales' centres on themes of identity, exploring how we all tell ourselves stories of who we are to try and make sense of our place in the world. This sense of self-determination even extends to the production of the album - the band recorded and mixed it on equipment they built themselves.

---
"Gone South"
A simple tale about the tense relationship between one man and winter. Beguiled by his own idea of the season and what it represents, but well aware of what really awaits, he slowly comes to find that the choice to leave isn’t necessarily as clear as he first thought.

Song: Logan & Briggs
Music: Ringlefinch
©&℗ Ringlefinch 2021, all rights reserved
Released on Folkroom Records

Gone South

Purchase this album as a CD or digital on our online store!: https://www.spgiraffestore.com/collections/music-albums/products/quintessential-2016

The Albumest Album to Ever Album!
Steam Powered Giraffe’s fifth studio album QUINTESSENTIAL!

The antique robot musicians are back from their interstellar adventures in The Vice Quadrant with a brand new 12-track album for your listening pleasure!

Quintessential

Malfunction

Robbin' a Bank

06 Everybody's Fucking With My Mind

Tomorrow, Tamara!

[It’s definitely not a Christmas song, but the mood should feel acceptably Christmassy].

A few years ago I tried setting this text to music; it’s very well known here among students because it is considered one of the earliest attestations of the Italian language. Discovered on an inner leaf of a liturgical codex preserved in Verona, it was written between the 8th and 9th centuries by an anonymous hand. It is regarded as a “riddle” (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronese_Riddle), generating an enormous amount of scholarship. 
To me, its musicality is evident. 

Compared to the version I recorded in 2018 (I had posted it on YouTube, where it still is), based on the Washburn and the sounds of my old Yamaha, I added some VSTs and re-equalized the vocals. Back then, multiplying the vocal tracks was the most fun part, in order to obtain a choral effect. What came out is what I would call a “false traditional folk song".

The cover illustration is found on one of the opening pages of an 11th-century manuscript preserved at the British Library (Cotton MS Tiberius B. V — see here: https://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/12286/).

Text (original / english translation)

Se pareba boves
alba pratalia araba
et albo versorio teneba
et negro semen seminaba

He led oxen in front of him
ploughed white fields
And held a white plough
And sowed black seed

Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, December 16.

The Riddle*

Eleisha Eagle - Hooked (Bass & Kazoo)

Land in my mind 
Crawling through the sound 
I found it 
Now I recognize it 
Everywhere 
Everywhere it's aground

Swimming up a concrete river 
Paddling through pine and pavement 
I melted 
Blent in and then 
Recemented

Inside an unprotected 
Hostel suite 
Astride a bicycle 
Defrosting wheat 
Atop a tower with an 
Unrevolving view 
Of illuminated sails

Grey and green 
Grey and green 
The brightest blue could 
Never come between 
Grey and green and 
Amber

Rowing toward a lowered drawbridge 
Clambering onto the Seawall 
Confecting cloud-covered cinnamon rolls 
Wowed by crowds of 
Glaucous-winged Gulls

See? 
No sea. 
Look at the harlequins! 
—I wish you'd said to me. 
Over a decade I discerned 
A path 
My passport went defunct 
Now that junket's out of reach

Grey and green 
Grey and green 
The reddest flags 
Forever come between 
Grey and green and 
Amber

Everybody's body sways 
In unfamiliar funny ways 
Traveling on rainbow 
Wheels of color down below 
The crows pecking suet-surfaced streets 
The subway sounds resounding beats 
Beckoning me to retreat 
On the heels of mighty feet!

But where there's a will 
There's a way 
And I will 
Every day 
Until I dry 
Every day until I dry—

Wait 
Wait 
Don't tell me 
Blare the Heritage Horns 
But I won't leave

I haven't heard firstear 
The 9 o'clock gun 
Or the steam chimes

I've yet to feel firstfoot 
The boom of the Sooty Grouse 
In the mountain woods

I have more notes to take 
On the colors of the 
Land in my mind

I have a wish 
To blow through the mist 
Of the dandelion fountain

I have a truth 
To seek in the xeriscape 
Of the hill on the hill

I have 
a past, a present, and a future 
In this city

Maybe no more than moments 
But there's still a possibility.

Stephan Nance - vocals, piano
Jon Caponetto - trombone
Amy Kappeler - flute
Tim McLaughlin - trumpet
Nehemiah Nance - trumpet
Additional vocals - Adam Caswell, Amy Kappeler, Lyle Nance, Rebecca Waterman
Arrangement - Adam Caswell & Stephan Nance

Grey & Green

Razia's Shadow: A Musical (Deluxe) iTunes Exclusive

Toba The Tura ft. Chris Conley

The Owl & The Elephant

When Heaven Closes

***Debut album 'Tall Tales' out now!***

A core part of the scene built around boutique label Folkroom Records, London-based alternative folk seven-piece Ringlefinch have been described as "Like Bellowhead before them... just one appearance on ‘Later With’ away from becoming nationwide favourites". 

With scores of gigs under their belts since forming in 2012, and over two million streams on SoundCloud alone, they released debut album 'Tall Tales' in summer 2021 to widespread critical acclaim (and a Fatea 'Debut Album Of The Year' award nomination!).

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Featuring:
Andy on vocals, banjo, ukulele, guitar, charango, melodica, etc
Arun on guitar, vocals
Graham on bass, vocals
Emma on cello, vocals
Nicole on violin, vocals, kazoo
Philip on mandolin, vocals, kazoo
William on cajon & percussion