Armellodie Records is proud to present Dunfermline’s Dan Lyth and the Euphrates with their new album, Benthic Lines, released as a Deluxe book (that’s right, we said book!) with CD and/or download on Monday 12th May 2014.

Dan Lyth was born in the Middle East but has lived most of his life in Dunfermline, Fife. A sound designer by day, Lyth began work on Benthic Lines some five years ago, his intention to record an album entirely outdoors. On rooftops and rowing boats, in forests and high streets, mountains and quarries, ruined churches and beaches, car parks and peat bogs. Anywhere really, as long as it was outside!

Having first had the idea while on a trip to Sierra Leone, Lyth quickly realised that it's one thing to daydream of such a plan whilst in the tropics and quite another to actually attempt it back at home in Scotland. 

“I think some part of me took perverse pleasure in the thought of having to undergo some real physical exertion to make this record. I have also always been drawn to creative work that has taken a considerable amount of effort, and recording an album outdoors whilst living in Scotland with its devious climate seemed to fit the bill.”

In an age when it seems anyone can produce an album in their bedroom, Benthic Lines attempts to re-explore the relationship between music and the environment in which it is created. What happens to a recording when you have no control over the surroundings? What anomalies and accidents may occur? And would it be possible to weave together the unpredictable sounds of these environments with more traditional performances to create a cohesive whole?

As Lyth’s fondness of field recording has grown more ambitious, so too has his talent as a songwriter. Album opener ‘All My Love’ is testament to this, merging the mythological with the reality of the uncertainties that are brought when becoming a father for the first time. The vivid imagery of ‘Four Creatures’, written from the perspective of someone living in Syria, draws upon Islamic and Christian eschatological imagery to startling effect.

The influence of Steve Reich is worth noting, from the repetitive female vocal sounds on ‘Standing Start’ to the cyclic piano and accordion patterns of ‘Super Nature’ and ‘Earth Broke Its Vow’, Lyth is the first to admit of his affection for Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. 

“A big chunk of inspiration came from Steve Reich’s work and one of the main aims of the album in terms of the arrangements was to try and make music that sounds electronic or programmed but is actually all live acoustic instruments.” says Lyth. 

Benthic Lines are the deep sea communication cables through which the world is now connected, and communication is a recurring theme throughout the record ("the cables installed along ocean floors is where we had lived too long for sure" sings Lyth on ‘How It Happened’). How our constant use of communication technology can affect our thought processes and relationships (“We shot some video, scenes that would not be shown, think what you will but the devil’s in the pixels on my phone”, sings Lyth on ‘Four Creatures’).   With recording having taken place in locations as far afield as Morocco, Australia, Turkey and Uganda, Dan is also exploring the lines of human connection and lines of ancestry.

Designed with love by graphic artist Sarah Lyth, the album arrives in a beautifully bound 60-page book and includes photos from the array of recording locations. Cover art from celebrated New York artist Matthew Cusick and an accompanying short story, Already Here, by talented Fifer Craig Rennie complete the desirable artefact that is Benthic Lines. So what has Lyth got to say for himself now that his affair with the great outdoors is almost over.

“After travelling, listening, recording and being constantly surprised over the course of the five years and four continents that I’ve made Benthic Lines, what will really stay with me is not only all the wonderful sounds we heard but also the many inquisitive, open-minded and generous people we met along the way. But it wasn’t all romantic. It’s quite hard work transporting a drum kit to a remote derelict church or dragging a piano out of a small flat. There were broken mic stands, bleeding fingers and failing batteries. And there was rain, a lot of rain.”


DAN LYTH & THE EUPHRATES - All My Love

Carnival

gregor samsa – young and old

Written by Sean O'Brien.

Recorded and Mixed by Declan Legge (Big Space Studios)

Mastered by Pete Maher.

Artwork by Brendan McCarey Design

Buy on iTunes

Nothing Left To Lose

Siv Jakobsen - Not Alone
The third single from the upcoming debut album The Nordic Mellow, out August 25th 2017.

Label: The Nordic Mellow
Release-date: July 14th 2017.
ISRC: 

Management/contact: Glenn Larsen - glenn@indianer.nu

Written by Siv Jakobsen
Produced by Matt Ingram at Urchin Studios in Hackney, London, UK
Mixed and engineered by Dan Cox
Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering in London, UK

Arranged by Siv Jakobsen and Matt Ingram
Voice and guitars: Siv Jakobsen
Drums, keys: Matt Ingram
Guitaron: Nick Pini

c & p 2017 The Nordic Mellow / Siv Jakobsen

Photo and graphic design by Jørgen Nordby (jorgenordby.com)

www.sivmusic.com

Not Alone

Lay me down on
shores of the whitest sand
soft like that woman
with the fight of a thousand men

and if you hold the key
would you set me free?
if you hold the key
would you set me free?

I’m screaming to God
‘would you come and save
what you’ve either forgot
or you’re strengthening 
I’ve finally paid the toll
and it’s all open road
just trying to find a home
take me home’

Violet iris
and lilies in bloom for spring
enticing—the silence
a song that we all can sing

and if you hold the key
would you set me free?
if you hold the key
would you set me free?

I’m screaming to God
‘would you come and save
what you’ve either forgot
or you’re strengthening 
I’ve finally paid the toll
and it’s all open road
just trying to find a home
take me home’

We’re tired and changing
heartbeats are fading
our days are numbered
the clocks, they keep ticking
I’ve been deserted,
my feelings perverted
by a pissed off and ripped off machine cycle circus
when we look in the mirror
it shatters with shame
our faces are bloody 
and sour with distain
I have seen what you are
and  I have seen who I am
and  we are desperate, we’re desperate, we’re desperate
for home…
home….

lay me down on
shores of the whitest sand
soft like that woman
with the fight of a thousand men


Open Road

as the end approaches
and i lie here in wait
as they watch with disappointment 
at the mess that i've made
i'm just another mistake
with all this hate i create
and if there is a god above me
there's a lot  on his plate

breathe
no im damned on this earth
breathe
to hurt and to hurt
and if there is a god above me that's been watching since birth
then give me one good reason, tell me what it's worth.
if there's just one good reason, tell me what it's worth

bed-ridden, tears dripping, locked in my room
downswing, aching flowers dont bloom
there's not much i can take if i take it at all
leave me alone now im crying in blue

i used to be a dancer yeah i used to swing
i used to comfort people yeah i used to sing
but now my voice is the devil
my music his horns
and my friends are dead
from this world we are torn

wont you take me away 
----------------------------------------
im writing disease till the day im deceased 
begging you please wont you listen at least
love in decrease heeding the priest's decrees
with ease is the only way to feel peace

but nothing makes sense no more,
my eyes, heart and brain are sore.
love's a bitch love's a whore
cant take this anymore

oh lord take me in, 
wash away all my sins
and deliver me from evil
and let me begin

the end

Lyrics: 

Walking down the old rails,
Ur hands are holding mine.

Moving with the wind wave,
Ur head is close to mine.

Dancing at a slow pace,
Am hopeless when am thinking.

Call me by your own name,
My plastic heart was singing.

photography art by: https://www.instagram.com/laith.sr/

Plastic Heart

A collaboration between Glitch, Sarah Khalaf and Amir Ranjbar 

Stream for free or buy it for a small contribution to support us on bandcamp :  https://glitch7.bandcamp.com/track/just-life-glitch-ft-sarah-khalaf-amir-ranjbar

Sarah Khalaf: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEy9e8b-_GJ6j1I7HvFp4qQ

Amir Ranjbar: https://www.facebook.com/ranjbarproductions/

Cover artist: https://www.instagram.com/a_2hul/

-----------------------------------
lyrics: 

Wake Up

wash the make up of ur face and go outside

Pull ur hair up

I know it's hard, but give ur self sometime

And the sun seems to always wash our fears away

U got a big heart don't let it fade away

And if it rains let the rain wash away

Don't take it so hard

it's just life

mmMmmMmm ^.^

get up

You're bored with the pain u just wanna feel alive

You're fed up

smell the trees and breeze put ur problems aside

every time you fix ur self u break away

and u feel so down always stray

use the flames in ur heart and fire away

you have a sweet smile :) u will be alright.


look up in the skies the stars look so different now

your eyes got a spark that took my breath, I cant deny!

-----------------------------------------------------

One: Fire

Salma Barakat