This is a limited edition vinyl re-release of The Left Outsides: The Shape Of Things To Come album, released by Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (USA). For USA sales please visit Feeding Tube Records - feedingtuberecords.com
Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to bring to you a Re-Issue of The Left Outsides LP - “The Shape Of Things To Come”. Originally released in 2015 on the Dawn Bird label on vinyl and on CD via Xemu, with the Vinyl edition been long out of print and hard to find.
The Left Outsides, Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton are a husband and wife duo based in London, England whose atmospheric, hypnotic songs echo Nico’s icy European folk, pastoral psychedelia and chilly English fields at dawn.
The Shape of Things to Come is mixed by Martin Noble of British Sea Power and Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis. Thirteen tracks with a new direction but also a common thread that goes back to The Left Outsides haunted, fragile 2008 debut album, And Colours In Between, their live album of the same year, Live At The Drop Out, and their experimental soundtrack for Gus Alvarez’s film Stand & Deliver in 2009.
The songs include modern-day murder ballads, 60s beat psychedelia and outsider folk, with music and lyrics inspired by memories, dreams and Gregorian chants. The Shape of Things to Come sees the Left Outsides expand and deepen their sound with textured layers and experimental guitar creating an unnerving off-kilter edge.
Before The Left Outsides, Mark and Alison were members of the psych folk group The Eighteenth Day of May. Previous to this, Alison was also in John Peel favourites Saloon and Mark in acid expressionists Of Arrowe Hill.
Since forming, The Left Outsides have gathered fans far and wide, playing across the UK, France, Germany and in the USA on their own, and supporting kindred spirits. In May of this year, they will support Robyn Hitchcock on tour in the UK to help promote their forthcoming new LP - ‘All That Remains’.
PRESS QUOTES
“Woozily narcotic of tempo and bathed in reverb, minor chord-heavy songs…glide by in a melancholy swoon....there's a bewitching aura of moonlight dappled languor”
Mojo (****)
“Packed with atmospheric, gentle psychedelic folk…this is a delicate and sublime mix of swooning melodies and haunting, intelligent arrangements”
Shindig! (****)
“Quite frankly an astonishing accomplishment and easily stands already as a high musical watermark of 2015.....This is an album of rare quality, immediacy and maturity; quite simply The Left Outsides are arguably one of these island’s most crucial current folk outfits and one which is both assertively and effectively spearheading the taking forward of both the psyche and wyrd aspects of this genre.....Rarely does an album appear that feels as much like a fully formed classic recording that is assured of its place in the hearts of listeners twenty years from now”
The Active Listener
“It’s dark yet playful; “quintessentially English” yet worldly and well- travelled as if part acid folk with hints of portentous balladry and filmic imagery as viewed through a gypsy campfire and all thoroughly delightful”
Terrascope (album of the month)
"Its ethereal folk and dreamy psychedelic songs have the power to hypnotise. Heartfelt, introspective Englishness has never sounded so good".
SoundsXP
"‘The Shape Of Things To Come’ is a more complex album than you may give it credit for on first listen. Gentle ballads paint pictures of a summer days but as the album unfolds, there comes with it a sense of foreboding. As each song develops it reveals an elaborate web of musical flourishes that lift it above their often over twee contemporaries."
Optical Sounds
"That Cotton’s viola is a lead player throughout much of the conspiracy is no surprise – there are few instruments that share its left field shadow, no matter who happens to be wielding it. But draw it out of the same kind of corners that John Cale used to inhabit on Nico’s early albums, and you welcome in the Left Outsides, firmly in the knowledge that they won’t be leaving again".
Goldmine Mag
Includes unlimited streaming of The Shape Of Things To Come
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
Re-released on Cardinal Fuzz (UK) / Feeding Tube (US) in February 2018.
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Released originally on Dawn Bird (UK) / Xemu (US) in 2015.
“Woozily narcotic of tempo and bathed in reverb, minor chord-heavy songs…glide by in a melancholy swoon....there's a bewitching aura of moonlight dappled languor”
Mojo (****)
“Packed with atmospheric, gentle psychedelic folk…this is a delicate and sublime mix of swooning melodies and haunting, intelligent arrangements”
Shindig! (****)
"The Shape of Things to Come’ is quite frankly an astonishing accomplishment and easily stands already as a high musical watermark of 2015.....This is an album of rare quality, immediacy (whilst containing layers and depths which become more and more apparent on further listens) and maturity; quite simply The Left Outsides are arguably one of these island’s most crucial current folk outfits and one which is both assertively and effectively spearheading the taking forward of both the psyche and wyrd aspects of this genre.....Rarely does an album appear that feels as much like a fully formed classic recording that is assured of its place in the hearts of listeners twenty years from now. And yet ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ is such a recording. By referencing the rich vein of underground folk and psych experimentalism that has gone before and yet also firmly establishing its own unique and entrancing stamp and identity, this release and The Left Outsides themselves have found themselves at the forefront of the new folk revival."
The Active Listener
“It’s dark yet playful; “quintessentially English” yet worldly and well- travelled as if part acid folk with hints of portentous balladry and filmic imagery as viewed through a gypsy campfire and all thoroughly delightful”
Terrascope (album of the month)
"Its ethereal folk and dreamy psychedelic songs have the power to hypnotise. Heartfelt, introspective Englishness has never sounded so good".
SoundsXP
"‘The Shape Of Things To Come’ is a more complex album than you may give it credit for on first listen. Gentle ballads paint pictures of a summer days but as the album unfolds, there comes with it a sense of foreboding. As each song develops it reveals an elaborate web of musical flourishes that lift it above their often over twee contemporaries."
Optical Sounds
"That Cotton’s viola is a lead player throughout much of the conspiracy is no surprise – there are few instruments that share its left field shadow, no matter who happens to be wielding it. But draw it out of the same kind of corners that John Cale used to inhabit on Nico’s early albums, and you welcome in the Left Outsides, firmly in the knowledge that they won’t be leaving again".
Goldmine Mag
The Left Outsides, Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton are a husband and wife duo based in London, England whose atmospheric, hypnotic songs echo Nico’s icy European folk, pastoral psychedelia and chilly English fields at dawn.
The Shape of Things to Come is mixed by Martin Noble of British Sea Power and Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis. Thirteen tracks with a new direction but also a common thread that goes back to The Left Outsides haunted, fragile 2008 debut album, And Colours In Between, their live album of the same year, Live At The Drop Out, and their experimental soundtrack for Gus Alvarez’s film Stand & Deliver in 2009.
The songs include modern-day murder ballads, 60s beat psychedelia and outsider folk, with music and lyrics inspired by memories, dreams and Gregorian chants.
Before The Left Outsides, Mark and Alison were members of the psych folk group The Eighteenth Day of May. Previous to this, Alison was also in John Peel favourites Saloon and Mark in acid expressionists Of Arrowe Hill.
Since forming, The Left Outsides have gathered fans far and wide, playing across the UK, France, Germany and in the USA on their own, and supporting kindred spirits including Dead Meadow, The Clientele and the Bevis Frond. In 2015, they played the main stage at Green Man Festival. 2013 saw them play Phil McMullen’s (Terrascope) festival, Woolf Music. In May of this year, they will support Robyn Hitchcock on tour in the UK.
They’ve recorded radio sessions for Stuart Maconie’s Freakzone and Tom Robinson’s BBC6 Music show and, in 2015 they were Pete Paphides’ first ever guests to perform on his new radio show for Soho Radio. The band have frequently appeared playing their songs at the book readings of acclaimed author Tom Cox.
The Shape of Things to Come sees the Left Outsides expand and deepen their sound with textured layers and experimental guitar creating an unnerving off-kilter edge.
credits
released April 2, 2015
Album Credits
--------------------------------------------
Additional musicians:-
Matt Ashton played Bass Guitar on track 8 and sang backing vocals on 2, 3 and 9.
Karl Sabino played Autoharp on 2,6,7 and 9 and miniature dulcimer on 2.
Ben Phillipson played Electric Guitar on 11 and 13, Mandolin on 2 and 8 and Acoustic Guitar solo on 1.
Simon Trought played Bass Guitar on 11 and bowed Mandolin on 7.
Recorded by Simon Trought at Soup Studios, Whitechapel, London.
All songs mixed by Martin Noble, and Graham Sutton at Beethoven Street Studios, London, except 1 and 10, mixed by Simon Trought.
Tracks 5 and 12 remixed by Graham Sutton and Martin Noble.
Mastered by Denis Blackman at Skye Mastering, Scotland.
Illustration by Dave Underwood
Layout and design by Matt Ashton
Love and thanks to everyone involved in the making of this album.
Dedicated to the memory of our friends Mike Smoughton and Sara Al-Bader.
The Left Outsides are: Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton, a wife and husband duo based in London, England whose atmospheric, hypnotic songs echo Nico's icy European folk, pastoral psychedelia and chilly English fields at dawn.
supported by 31 fans who also own “The Shape Of Things To Come”
Ghostly violas and droning harmoniums adrift in a fathomless limbo...a somber experience, but strangely comforting, like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a gray autumn afternoon. neu-mann
The latest from UK artist MF Tomlinson sets sharp lyrics amidst a backdrop of acoustic guitar, lush keys, and soft percussion. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 12, 2021
