“Halloween, Alaska may be a mythical town, but on the strength of All Night the Calls Came In, it's one you'll want to visit often.” Rough Trade
“The sounds — whether gravelly bass riffs or lighter-than-air background washes — are so carefully picked and programmed that you dwell on their texture in the same way that you’d run your finger over the grain in a piece of wood … Mesmerising stuff.” Sunday Times
Fresh off supporting Anna Calvi on the first leg of her European tour, Halloween, Alaska will be continuing their UK embarquement in support of Calvi on a string of Scottish and Irish dates next week, as well as a solo stop in t'North (see dates below).
Described live as a ‘full-blooded, proper rock band’ (Americana UK), the band will also play their own headline show in Edinburgh, which is set to be an intimate sceptical. The tour coincides with the release of the band's fourth album, All Night the Calls Came In, which is currently Rough Trade Shop's 'Album Of The Week'. The album will receive a full-on European release on Amble Down Records early next year.
All Night the Calls Came In also marks the solidification of a new lineup following an extended period of tension and transition. Singer/keyboardist James Diers, guitarist Jacob Hanson and drummer David King (The Bad Plus) are joined by newly recruited bassist William Shaw.
Halloween, Alaska were hurled onto the indie radar in 2004 with an auspicious self-titled set of electronically laced art-pop. Initially hatched by Diers and King as a low-key, studio-based diversion from other projects, the group soon took on a life of its own, spreading by way of Internet and TV to amass a sizable cult following. After 2005's Too Tall to Hide, the band's moody palette began to expand as original keyboardist/engineer Ev Olcott resigned his post and Hanson began to introduce weightier guitar work into the mix. The change was evident in the restless sprawl of 2009's Champagne Downtown, and when the group subsequently parted ways with original bassist Matt Friesen, the addition of Shaw set the stage for a more radical restart.
All Night the Calls Came In is both a continuation and a rethinking of Halloween, Alaska. Packed with forthright pop hooks and confident brooding, its tracklisting offers an earnest and compelling capsule of the band's self-imposed reboot.
14/11/11 – Manchester Cathedral – Manchester, UK*
15/11/11 – Oran Mor – Glasgow, UK*
16/11/11 – The Cockpit – Leeds, UK*
17/11/11 − Sneaky Pete's - Edinburgh, UK
19/11/11 – Vicar Street – Dublin, IRE*
20/11/11 – The Empire – Belfast, IRE*
* w/ Anna Calvi Go here and grab this amazing free track ‘Dance By Accident’. We challenge you to sit still to those bassy grooves:
http://soundcloud.com/www.ambledown.com / www.halloweenalaska.com
