New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ The Agency Official Website) Following the release of their debut album "For the Brave and Troubled" in
Spring 2012, the Agency… have gone global with their tracks receiving airplay on radio stations across the globe. Stations in the France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and US have been playing a variety of the songs from the critically acclaimed long player.
Reviews for the album have also been very favourable with the Crack Magazine describing the record as:
…rather fabulous. The Agency… are a Newcastle based band, trading, nominally in folk/rock, but such a label is a tad reductive in this case. They have the kind of listen-to-me intensity that
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds manage to conjure up…and the instrumentation is exemplary throughout. Incredibly rich, and with plenty of sweet melodies to boot, this is like setting down with your favourite bar of quality dark chocolate.
Whilst AmericanUK awarded a rating of 7/10:
…it is a very enjoyable record if you put a little time in. There's craft here, articulate and often humorous lyrics, great playing and superb execution and, in chief songwriter Steven K Driver, a chameleon like vocalist. The songs themselves are essentially folk songs, but filtered through post-rock, country and psychedelia and with "Carnivale" even a possible
Grandaddy influence…
Not for resting on their laurels, the Agency… are now working hard preparing for live shows, a second album and even have a video shoot in the pipeline. Plans for a live tour have been postponed while singer, Steven K Driver, recovers from recent surgery. However, the band will be supporting the excellent and ascendant Allo Darlin' at Newcastle's Star and Shadow on the 5th of
September as part of a three band bill including Pale Man Made https://www.wegottickets.com/event/174758 . Last time Allo' Darlin played in the North East it was a near sell out and at this outing already looks like it could supersede that. An official album launch is also in the planning stages.
The first video from 'For the Brave and Troubled' comes in the form of the albums intermission track; the haunting Noir. It was put together by producer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Beyer, who used footage from the early fifties noir thriller "The Man Who Cheated Himself", which was also sampled on the recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecYwuMTNUsc . Next up is a video for first single 'Wolfman', with the transformation scene already in the can. The download only single will include the
Fonzerelli Downtempo Remix of the track and a radio edit, with the EP being made available for free for a limited time once the video is ready.
At the time of writing the album is already available for free download on blogging sites in pretty much any language you can think of. However, for those wishing to support new music and help the group finance a second album, "For the Brave and Troubled" is widely available from music retailers such as Amazon and itunes. Those wishing to make more direct purchases can visit the Solarbear Records website https://www.solarbearrecords.com/ or the bands bandcamp site https://theagency1.bandcamp.com/album/for-the-brave-and-troubled .
Finally, for those wishing to get in touch with the band, for bookings or information, or to find out more about them they are available through various social media:
www.myspace.com/AgencyThe
www.twitter.com/AgencyThe
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Agency/235291636504985
