Our new single! Launched on Friday 30th August 2013 at Yarra Hotel, Abbotsford, Melbourne, with support from The Migrations. 
Jonathan Shaw: vocals, acoustic guitar, synth
Peter Woodlands: bass, backing vocals
Tim Clarke: electric guitar
Kris Arrowsmith: drums
Recorded by Evan Lorden
Mixed by Peter Woodlands
Mastered by Dave Nelson

Digger

Summon the Birds flash out the shadows of the sky, spinning tales of fallen kings, dissected criminals, Arctic exploration, cloud riding and London rain. The canvas weaving these disparate threads together is the ornate musical setting in which the song-stories become an unflinching and expanding whole. Imagine latter-day Talk Talk picking the locks to Spoon’s basement as The Drones circle, restless... 

The seeds of Blood Love were sown back in 2009, with song sketches massaged into shape in the band’s rehearsal room. Labyrinthine pieces like ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ – based on the famous painting by Rembrandt – nine-minute opus ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ and instrumental tracks ‘Tactile Hallucination’ and ‘Cloud Cars’ realise the reach of the band’s ambition. Bookended by singles ‘Funeral for a King’ and ‘London Tap Water’, this six-track epic is testament to how powerful music can become when story and song interweave. 

"a slightly woozy, somewhat proggy, little bit folky sound... They’re not afraid to give a song room to breathe, to let the lyrics tell a story, to create an epic sound... worth checking out" – Half-Life Music 

“a fine exponent of Brit-infused prog rock... Radiohead are a clear marker here... They create their own rich universe with narrative character and personality in abundance” – [sic] Magazine on single ‘London Tap Water’ 

Summon the Birds began in 2007, when singer-songwriter Jonathan Shaw and bassist/producer Peter Woodlands kicked up an idea for a record called 48, based on the iChing. Kris Arrowsmith joined on drums, with guitarist Tim Clarke seduced into the fray after the dissolution of instrumental shoegaze band Bury the Sound. 48 saw release in 2012, closely followed by single ‘Digger’ in 2013. In 2014, bassist Drew Corby replaced original member Peter Woodlands, and the recording of second album Blood Love began, bolstered by Paul Spurling on keyboards, Marlene Samson on backing vocals, and Adrian Perger on horns. Producer and engineer Tim Johnston (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dandy Warhols, The Drones) oversaw the sessions and lent his golden ears to the mixes, and the album was mastered by John Ruberto (Courtney Barnett, The Drones, Electric Mary).

Tactile Hallucination

The Anatomy Lesson

Funeral For A King

Cloud Cars

London Tap Water

'London Tap Water', 'The Anatomy Lesson' and 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth pt 1' played live and stripped-back on Triple R's The Party Show, Saturday 10th March 2018

Live on Triple R's The Party Show 10.3.18

Jon and Milky had a chat about Jon's solo album Waa.

Waa chat with Milky

Jonathan David Shaw talks about his 2017 solo album Waa

Summon the Birds flash out the shadows of the sky, spinning tales of fallen kings, dissected criminals, Arctic exploration, cloud riding and London rain. The canvas weaving these disparate threads together is the ornate musical setting in which the song-stories become an unflinching and expanding whole. Imagine latter-day Talk Talk picking the locks to Spoon’s basement as The Drones circle, restless, looking for the pink pill...

SummontheBirds

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