Albert Man first appeared on XS Noize in May this year as one of our unsigned showcases HERE. Aside from his excellent piano driven alt-rock music, we were also impressed by his already extensive CV. He now adds to that working with some pretty serious session musicians and producer Rhys Downing for his upcoming Nothing of Nothing Much EP from which “Riding Shotgun” hails.
“Riding Shotgun“ is a feel good, sing along number and Albert’s unique songwriting talent really shines through. With the EP set for release on 3rd February this track will undoubtedly lift our winter blues and remind us that spring is just around the corner. We hope you enjoy it.
If you like “Riding Shotgun“, please support Albert by pre-ordering the EP here today and you’ll get I Feel Like Dancing straight away. If you fancy seeing Albert live his EP launch night is being held at St Pancras Old Church on February 8th 2017 with special guests Craig Gallagher and Joe Garvey, you can buy your tickets here:
Albert Man’s second EP ‘NOTHING OF NOTHING MUCH’ will be his third release to date, and follows hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed 2016 album ‘CHEAP SUIT’ which won Best Independent Album 2016 in the Alternative Friday Awards.
The EP started as a live session during an impromptu trip to Dublin where local musician and photographer, Dara Munnis, put together a bunch of local Dublin artists – Cormac Breslin (CC Brez, Republic of Loose) on guitar, Sarah Lynch (performed with Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and The Strokes) on violin and Louize Carroll (CC Brez) on backing vocals – to perform one of Albert’s songs, YOU HAD ME AT HELLO. The session was captured by Dublin-based filmmaker, Stephen Mogerley and the audio recording is now a bonus track on the EP.
The EP was written over the summer of 2016 and was recorded and mixed in record time over just three days on Pete Townshend’s floating recording studio, a 100 year old Dutch barge called the Grand Cru. Producer and guitarist Rhys Downing (Mark Ronson – ‘Uptown Special’) and a bunch of Albert’s musician friends worked tirelessly to get the EP finished on time and before the sea sickness kicked in.
Following in the footsteps of Randy Newman and Billy Joel, Albert Man has created classic, piano-led pop all wrapped up in some self-produced 80s-inspired artwork. The EP shows how he’s developed as a songwriter, creating heartfelt ballads that still retain the slightly quirky lyrical style he is know for, especially in the two upbeat tracks, “Riding Shotgun“ and first single, “I Feel Like Dancing”.
Helping Albert out on “the boat that rocked” were Collette Williams (Rews, Huw Stephen’s pick for Radio 1’s Best of BBC Music Introducing) on drums and backing vocals, delivering an amazing duet with Albert on the studio version of YOU HAD ME AT HELLO. Joe Garvey (Best of British Unsigned Music Awards, Best Male Nominee 2016) adding some backing vocals and Prince-inspired guitar to DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH, a song he helped co-write. Sarah Lynch and Dara Munnis, who were involved with the initial Dublin recording, both flew over from Ireland to record violin and piano on some of the tracks with Dara also documenting the whole three-day experience on his camera. Watch a walkthrough and highlights video for the recording session on the Grand Cru featuring everyone involved (2 min 30 sec):
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