Emerging Fervour

If you’re a regular guest on this blog you might have noticed that I’m a huge Miserable Rich fan… to be honest: I’m addicted to their music. 12 Ways To Count still is one of my favorite records and when they released Of Flight And Fury a few months ago, I wasn’t able to listen to anything else for several weeks. If a song likeOliver, The Mouth Of The Wolf or Somerhill doesn’t knock you off your feet, I’d presume something is seriously wrong with you. No offence, just my personal opinion. And you may think something was seriously wrong with me when I had the chance to do an interview and decided not to ask a single question. But frontman and songwriter James de Malplaquet actually exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect anything less.

“I felt Brighton was a perfect ending to a really interesting career.” Harold Budd

Ah, this must be from 2005, when the Buddster played his last concert before retiring at Brighton’s Dome. It’s always been a nice link that a man described as the Godfather of Ambient music has a surname synonymous with fine marijuana – of which there is plenty in our little seaside town. This quote makes me think he must have had a nice, er, trip to Brighton.

I am back in London for the next three weeks, don’t worry I didn’t expect you to realise I was gone. In these modern times where everything is digital, were we’re living in an augmented reality and become friends via facebook on our iPhone, it’s all the more important to seize this short time and do something extraordinary and exciting (I’m not really sure, if these two words mean the same, but who cares, it’s all about rock and roll, hell ya!).

And I hope that you lovely people would like to join here and there. There are infinite opportunities, so here we go:

On wednesday the 7th you should take a look at the Dingwalls in Camden. For only 15£ you will live to see Gabby Young (usually with The Other Animals, but I think she’s playing a solo set) a singer with a voice as remarkable as her style. To describe her music I will just quote a quotation from her myspace site: “if Ani DiFranco had sex with Jeff Buckley in 1920 while on acid listening to Ella Fitzgerald…that would be the wonderful music of Gabby Young…” I agree.

And then there is Vieux Farke Touré a singer and guitar player from Mali, South Africa. He’s the son of Ali Farke Touré, also a guitar player and singer, highly respected in his home country and worldwide. He was often called the African John Lee Hooker, because he merged traditional African styles and the African language with American Blues elements. But for all that, he didn’t want his son to be a musician as well. Because he had suffered so much within the music industry he decided his son should become a soldier instead. Vieux Farke Touré defied his father’s wishes, studied guitar and released his debut album Fondo in 2007 (a year after his father died). And like his father he embraces all cultural influences from rock to blues to reggae always combined with his African roots. Pretty interesting.

Alright, I can’t fight it, I’m in love with five guys. And no, I’m not a pervert. I just discovered The Miserable Rich. What the modern chamber quintet based in Brighton does, is so awesome, I can’t stop listening to it. Every song from the album 12 ways to count is overwhelming. The combination of cello, violin, double bass, acoustic guitar, chimes and James de Malplaquet’s voice is so full of purity and beauty that it’s driving me nuts.

The single Summerhill will be released on the 8th of March and the second album Of Flight and Fury will be released later this year. The Miserable Rich are touring Europe in March, April and May, so don’t you dare miss them.