RODDY WOOMBLE presents blissed out ambient electronica EP ‘Everyday Sun’, out 27th March

RODDY WOOMBLE presents blissed out ambient electronica EP 'Everyday Sun', out 27th March

Born out of a magical late autumn show in a tepee in the Scottish Highlands, the new EP from Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble is a minimal, hypnotic wonder. Written alongside frequent collaborator and bandmate Andrew Mitchell, the six tracks here represent a new form of creativity for Woomble; “not poems recited over music, or spoken word, but neither is it a straight forward collection of songs.”

Built around basic beats and ideas Mitchell would send over, Roddy constructed lyrics around them, snippets of thought and insight. These were then chopped up and re-arranged further, deepening the sense of mystery. “There is sense in them though,” says Woomble of this collage-like approach. “You just have to listen out for it.”

Hazy and mysterious, the music more than compliments the profound nature of his poetry. First single ‘Everyday Sun’, a hazy rumination regarding the sun’s universal warmth and power, sees Woomble dissect some of life’s big questions and themes over woozy synth washes and a languid beat. ‘Context Of Midnight’ is similarly unhurried, simple reverb-drenched piano lines hanging in the air above quiet drums and icy synths.

‘One Minute Out Of The World’ strips things back even further, Woomble’s stark words sitting atop warm ambient loops that gently swell and retreat, like a soft summer sea. But his new approach reaches its peak with closer ‘RW OC Cuttup’, a 17-minute magnus opus composed by cellist and composer Oliver Coates, and by far the most experimental track Woomble has ever released.

Created specifically for that Highland tepee show, the “dystopic collage of Woomble’s cut-up phonemes with cinematic drones” was meant to function as playlist to condition the atmosphere while the audience arrived. Says Coates: “The poetry was spliced and triggered by computer algorithm, while cello & synth drones of varying length looped and grew underneath the booming & panning cut-ups of Roddy’s voice, chopped in the tradition of Williams Burroughs to reveal subterranean, cultish and hypnotic meaning through abstract play of sound.”

Fractured yet soothing, it’s a mesmerising listen, possessed of a strange, drowsy air. In many ways, it represents the genesis of this whole project: music imbued with a spirit of collaboration, and a playful sense of spontaneity. These qualities will be on full display later this year when Woomble and Mitchell take these songs on the road; until then, sinking into this EP is a meditative and rewarding experience, even if you’re not sipping whisky by a fire in the chill Highland air.

‘Everyday Sun’ is out on 27th March 2020

UPCOMING DATES:

28th May – Strathaven, Frets Acoustic, Strathaven Hotel
5th June – Dundee, Dundee University’s Chaplaincy Centre
6th June – Wakefield, Long Division
23rd July – Chester, St Mary’s Creative Space
24th July – Topcliffe, Deer Shed Festival
25th July – Newcastle, Cumberland Arms
9th August – Sunderland, Lamplight Festival
15th August – Edinburgh, Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe
10th September – New Galloway, Castle Douglas, Catstrand Arts Centre
11th September – Arbroath, Webster Memorial Theatre
12th September – Coventry, The Tin Music & Acts
13th September – Guilford, The Boiler Room
14th September – Brighton, Komedia Studio
15th September – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
16th September – Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough Town Hall
17th September – Saltaire, The Salt Factory
18th September – Reading, South Street Arts Centre
19th September – Winchester, The Railway Inn
20th September – Moth Club, London

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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