LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ Triad Publicity) "keeping it simple and keeping it clean, can't you see that harmony springs?"
SNOWGOOSE - Anna Sheard, Jim McCulloch, Raymond McGinley (Teenage Fanclub), Dave McGowan and
Stuart Kidd - are pleased, and a little surprised, to present their debut album Harmony Springs (Open Hearth OPHTH01)
The vinyl version of the album will be available at a selection of key shows and on April 21st 2012 as part of Record Store Day, before the full release of the album (vinyl, CD and download) on May 28th.
Two shows with Lightships (Gerry Love from Teenage Fanclub) have been confirmed for MAY:
4th - CCA Glasgow
8th - Lexington London
Snowgoose is a band from Glasgow comprised of newcomer Anna Sheard on vocals and a selection of Scotland's key musical players: Jim McCulloch, Raymond McGinley, Dave McGowan and
Stuart Kidd.
The members of Snowgoose share a passion for 1960s British folk music and West Coast American sounds, and Jim McCulloch's original songs reflect the earthiness of the former and the melodic playfulness of the latter. Despite only a handful of Snowgoose shows Anna Sheard has held audiences spellbound by the quality of her singing, drawing comparisons to Shirley Collins and Pentangle's Jacqui McShee.
In the beginning... Call it fate, destiny or pure good luck but when Dave McGowan overheard his then flatmate Anna Sheard singing at home he knew he'd happened upon something special. He couldn't let her pure, unjaded voice go unrecorded so a little cajoling produced a short demo, a version of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart; by happy coincidence Jim McCulloch was looking for a female singer to record some of his new songs.
Jim McCulloch and Dave McGowan both have a history of making a lot of music with a lot of different people, both together and separately, including Teenage Fanclub, The Soup Dragons, Isobel Campbell, and Belle & Sebastian. As well as being an exquisitely tasteful guitarist, Jim is also a prolific songwriter, and amongst other places his songs have appeared on the Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan records, a project in which Dave was also involved. Dave is Glasgow's go-to multi-instrumentalist. He can play just about anything. Jim and Dave were soon joined by Teenage Fanclub's Raymond McGinley on production duties and guitar, then
Stuart Kidd (The Wellgreen / Stevie Jackson) on drums.
Recorded at Raymond McGinley's home studio in Pollokshields, Glasgow and Leeders Farm in Norfolk, Harmony Springs features a stellar cast of additional musicians, including John McCusker (uber-folkmeister) on fiddle, Norman
Blake (Teenage Fanclub) on vocals, Dave McCluskey (Bluebells, McCluskey Bros) on hammer dulcimer and
Peter Dombernowsky (Giant Sand) on percussion.
"Catching fire right out of the box" Snowgoose release their debut album Harmony Springs on May 28th 2012.
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