Deftly darting between blues, folk, psychedelia, Americana, indie-rock and soul, the husband-and-wife duo Ferris & Sylvester achieved great things with their debut album ‘Superhuman’. It debuted at #1 on the Official Jazz & Blues Albums Chart and went on to win widespread acclaim, including UK Album of the Year at the 2023 UK Americana Awards.
Today, Ferris & Sylvester shape up for bigger things to come as they share their new EP ‘Side A (Storm)’. It’s a curious title for an EP, but one that explains an innovative digital campaign as they build towards the release of their second album ‘Otherness’ on March 1st. The EP replicates Side A of the album in full, giving fans the opportunity to experience the album’s first side of vinyl in digital form.
‘Side A (Storm)’ features the duo’s four recent releases: ‘Dark Side’ which topped a flood of blues and rock playlists across Spotify and was issued alongside ‘Imposter’; the anti-love song ‘Don’t Fall In Love With Me’, which was highlighted as BBC Introducing’s Upload of the Week; and ‘Mother,’, which graced playlists spanning both Apple Music and Amazon Music. As with the rest of the ‘Otherness’ album, the EP was produced by Archie Sylvester and Michael Rendall at sessions split between their own Archtop Studios and Peter Gabriel’s renowned Real World Studios. Everything was recorded directly to a vintage 1960s tape machine, which helps capture the warm, analogue sound that resonates throughout the set.
Issy Ferris says, “When writing this album, we felt each side of vinyl told its own story. This side is called ‘Storm’, as that’s how these songs felt when writing them – like a storm coming thick and fast, unstoppable and full of thunder.”
‘Side A (Storm)’ is completed by the brand new song ‘End of the World’. Imagining a love ended only by an imminent apocalypse, it’s a song that encapsulates the duo’s latest evolution, their many charms topped by Issy’s gloriously heartfelt vocals. It’s a song that feels dizzyingly out of time, a late-night haze of dream pop ambience and torch song yearning, its beguiling beauty matched by a haunting undercurrent.
The song is accompanied by a live video shot at Real World Studios, in which Ferris & Sylvester are accompanied by the Halo Strings quartet as well as Ross Gordon (drums) and Edu Bisogno (keys). It continues a series which can be seen BELOW:
While the ‘Otherness’ album finds Ferris & Sylvester exploring a wealth of genres, it is united by lyrics which explore the loneliness and disconnection that comes with feeling like an outsider. It was also inspired by the particularly challenging personal circumstances that came during a festival trip in Nashville last year. Issy became life-threateningly ill while heavily pregnant, leading to their son, Lucky, being born six-and-a-half weeks prematurely. After he spent three weeks in intensive care, it was then another four weeks before the new family could return home to the UK.
Archie Sylvester adds, “We know how it feels to have everything pulled from underneath you. And yet, somehow the world keeps spinning and we have to figure out a way to move along with it. We hope this album and our story can offer comfort and courage to those going through anything that has scarred them, or shaped them. You are not alone. This album is for anyone who feels like an outsider.”
Most comfortable in the live arena, Ferris & Sylvester have previously shared stages with Robert Plant, George Ezra and Jade Bird and have played festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW and BST Hyde Park. They will embark upon a huge headline tour that starts next February and continues until after the release of ‘Otherness’. Tickets for the dates listed below, are available HERE:
FEBRUARY
8th – Milton Keynes, MK 11
9th – Tunbridge Wells, Forum
10th – Portsmouth, The Wedgewood Rooms
14th – Hull, The New Adelphi Club
15th – York, The Fulford Arms
16th – Sunderland, Independent
17th – Cambridge, Portland Arms
20th – Huddersfield, The Parish
21st – Birmingham, The Sunflower Lounge
22nd – Brighton, Komedia
23rd – Bristol, Thekla
24th – Guildford, Boileroom
27th – Liverpool, Camp and Furnace
28th – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
29th – Manchester, Deaf Institute
MARCH
1st – London, Lafayette
6th – St. Albans, The Horn
7th – Dover, The Booking Hall
8th – Golant, Bar Silo Cornwall
9th – Falmouth, The Cornish Bank
11th – Glasgow, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
12th – Edinburgh, The Mash House
13th – Dublin, The Grand Social
‘Side A (Storm)’ tracklist:
‘Dark Side’
‘Imposter’
‘Don’t Fall In Love With Me’
‘Mother,’
‘End of the World’
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