VIDEO PREMIERE: Grasscut – Return Of The Sun

VIDEO PREMIERE: Grasscut - Return Of The Sun

Grasscut, the Brighton-based duo released their first new music in over five years on 11th December 2020. ‘Return Of The Sun’, available digitally via all major outlets, is the lead single from a new album, ‘Overwinter’, due in February next year.

Like the other songs that make up the long-player, ‘Return of the Sun’ emerged from daytime and nocturnal walks around the city last winter. It was inspired by conversations with people sleeping rough on the seafront, in parks and around new luxury apartment developments. Everyone was trying to get through a bleak period: overwintering. Yet, in the slowly unfolding melody and hypnotic bass clarinet, coupled with intense strings courtesy of the Moscow Bow Tie Orchestra, there is hope in the dark.

The single is accompanied by a video exclusively premiered today that expresses the song’s sense of confinement and keeping going through dark times – but also the possibility of release. Shot and edited at home mostly during the lockdown, the film tracks over a pianola roll, dissolving into sequences of sunlight through the windows, light piercing the darkness in tunnels, and 16mm film of birds and insects.

Watch the video for ‘Return Of The Sun’ – BELOW:

Grasscut is Emmy winning and BAFTA nominated composer/producer Andrew Phillips, and manager/musician Marcus O’Dair. Their set-up is unusual, but works due to an enduring friendship and shared worldview. Phillips writes words and music, sings, records and produces. O’Dair is manager-from-within, also wielding a Juno 60 and occasionally a double bass.

‘Overwinter’ follows ‘Everyone Was A Bird’ (2015), also on Lo Recordings, and two albums on Ninja Tune; ‘1 Inch: ½ Mile’ (2010) and ‘Unearth’ (2012). All three releases have been critically acclaimed, with 6 Music’s Tom Robinson naming their debut one of his top 13 albums of all time. They’ve also picked up praise and airplay from BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 5Live, 6Music and XFM.

Grasscut’s music has been used in dramas such as The New Pope and Continuum and across the UK and international TV channels. Grasscut have collaborated with musicians including Robert Wyatt (O’Dair wrote Wyatt’s authorised biography in 2014), John Surman, Kronos Quartet, Gazelle Twin, Seb Rochford of Polar Bear, members of the Elysian Quartet, and BAFTA-winning film director Daniel Vernon. Since opening the main stage at the Big Chill in 2009, they have played extensively in Europe, at venues including the Pompidou Centre, as well as at the Royal Albert Hall, ICA, Koko and Tate Britain.

Single Pre – Order: https://grasscut.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun

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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