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

You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate - Zoey Van Goey

'North' by The Family Crest, a collaborative orchestral indie band with a core of 6 and over 250 'extended family' members. 

North

'Mass Trespass' is our debut EP, released on 25th July 2014 and available now on CD through our website or via iTunes, Amazon and other digital distributors! 

We recorded 'Mass Trespass' in the famous Crypt Studios in Crouch End, North London in February 2014, with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Ben Walker as producer. It's very much a statement of who we are as a band, and how we throw a wide range of musical influences into our song-pot, to make a tasty casserole of Ringlefinch!

Ringlefinch - Hunker Down

I just stepped on a plane, my bags on the shelf
I find my seat in the middle and plan to keep to myself
The pilot comes on, says: "there's been a delay"
and I sigh, buckle up, and prepare for the wait
There's a middle aged woman on my right by the window
no ring on her finger, maybe divorced or widow?
She's drafting an email and from where I am seated
I can side-eye that shit, so of course I'm gon' read it.

it said:

Dear McCracken... this is already great
dude's got a pen pal and a killer last name
she opens with an inside joke and she's hoping
to set a casual tone, her words carefully chosen
she was sure that her week spent in Houston would drag
but then a face from her past quickly changed all of that
the trip was for business, she's used to the travel
but this time she's not ready to head back to Seattle

Dear McCracken, I'd rather be off this plane
I can't admit the half of it that I want to say
Do I pretend, do I push you away?
I'm jet-laggin mcCracken and I'll give you, I'll give you your space

I can tell by the abuse of the backspace key
there's a heart balanced on how her words are perceived
she's retyped that fourth paragraph four times
swinging the tone back and forth until she's so satisfied
that he knows that even though their paths have diverged
there's an air of regret but not enough to reverse
and I am stunned, there I sit, completely convinced
that once you grow old you stop dealing with this
the uncertain, the hurtin', the feelin like dirt when
things don't work out by the fall of the curtain
she hits send, powers off, and we're ready to go
and I am sad for the passion that McCracken, he might never know

Dear McCracken, I'd rather be off this plane
I can't admit the half of it that I want to say
Do I pretend, do I push you away?
I'm jet-laggin mcCracken and I'll give you, I'll give you your space

Dear McCracken, I'm keepin this on my chest
I've said a lot of things but none of them what I meant
Do I pretend, do I try to forget?
I'm jet-laggin mcCracken and I wish you, I wish you the best

and I thought, I thought by that age
our broken hearts had seen their worst
and I thought that kind of heartache
was meant for the young but we're never too old to hurt

and I thought, I thought by that age
our broken hearts had seen their worst
and I thought that kind of heartache
was meant for the young but we're never too old to hurt

I just stepped off a plane, I've got one regret
I know I'll never get closure or ever see how it ends
I won't know his answer, what happens between them
why she kept her cards so close even she couldn't see them
what gave her such pause when she so clearly wanted
to tell you all the emotions she tried so hard to bottle
and I'll never know why she kept the honest truth from you
but Oh Dear McCracken... in the rough draft...

in the rough draft...

In the Rough Draft She Loved You.

Dear McCracken

tour dates here:
www.bandsintown.com/AirTrafficController

Follow Air Traffic Controller on Twitter: http://twitter.com/atcmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/atcmusic

Hurry Hurry

Bremen - PigPen Theatre Co.

Beneath the Brine was recorded by The Family Crest, mixed by Jay Pellicci at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, and mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Services.  These tracks are unreleased. Please refrain from sharing outside your team. 

I Am the Winter

'Romeo' by The Family Crest, off of 'The Village' (LP, 2012) 

Romeo

The Family Crest is a collaborative orchestral indie band from San Francisco. The band consists of 6 core band members and over 200 'Extended Family' members, who participate in recordings, live performances, audiovisual projects, and other artistic endeavors. The group puts forth a lush, dynamic sound - influenced by rock, folk, jazz, and classical - that is constantly growing and changing, like the foundation of the concept: The Family. www.thefamilycrest.net

Got Soul

The Headwinds EP was recorded by The Family Crest, mixed by Jay Pellicci at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, and mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Services. 

Marry Me

From the onset, Liam McCormick, the mastermind behind The Family Crest, knew that Beneath the Brine was an audacious project. But so is The Family Crest itself.

The brainchild of McCormick, The Family Crest was started as a recording project in 2009 with co-founder John Seeterlin (bass). “We were in another band and had become disillusioned,” explains McCormick. “John and I were actually planning on leaving music at that point because we wanted something that in ten years we could be proud of.”

Instead of leaving music, they set out to reinvent how it could be created, starting The Family Crest. “We always liked making music with people — getting a bunch of people together and singing. So we put ads everywhere,” says McCormick. “We posted on Craigslist and emailed old friends from school.” The outcome was greater than the original duo imagined, with 80 people credited on the first recording the band produced. From that a band emerged, at the urging of the guest musicians, who wanted to hear the songs performed live. “We’ve worked with a lot of conservatory students as well as people who just sing in the shower,” McCormick adds. “It became a lot about giving these people a chance to express themselves without being locked into a commitment.”

The result is a seven-piece core band boasting over 400 “Extended Family” members who have contributed to the music.  The Family Crest released its album Beneath the Brine in February 2014 and, just with its previous recordings, the San Francisco band set out to capture a plethora of instruments — including bassoon, vibraphone and French horn — in unique places, such as living rooms, churches and cafes across the West Coast.

Beneath the Brine shows that McCormick’s ambition was well placed. The expansive breadth of arrangements – from dark, classical romanticism (“Beneath the Brine”) to horn-laden sounds akin to the Roaring 20s (“Howl”) — are complemented by the incredible range of McCormick’s voice. Beneath the Brine also showcases The Family Crest’s ability to infuse pop into complex arrangements, with songs like “Love Don’t Go” and LIVE105 favorite “The World.” The album is a sweeping soundscape befitting the oceanic theme of the title and what SPIN notes as “ambition wide enough to swallow you whole.”

Named #13 on Paste‘s “Best New Bands of 2014″ list and proclaimed NPR Music’s “Favorite New Artist of 2014,” The Family Crest is looking ahead to its next set of audacious projects. Paste founder Josh Jackson notes that “Even with just seven people on stage, The Family Crest’s sweeping orchestral pop can hardly be contained…. It feels like bigger venues are just around the bend.”

Got Soul

The Family Crest

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