New album, download single and live dates
Everyone's favourite slouching Scottish shufflers Northern Alliance release a new album, For the Grains of Sand, on 6th November, 2006. The album is the band's third release, but their first full-length album, following slow on the heels of mini-albums Hope in Little Things (2003) and Disaster for Scotland (2004), and is a joint 45B/Fence Records release. As a taster, they're releasing a free download-only single, 'Line in the Sand', on the same day, available from their newly relaunched website, www.lowfidelity.com.
Northern Alliance are part the Fence Collective and are based in Edinburgh. It's been over two years since their last record, and they've been busy, just not with band stuff. Two of them have had children (not with each other) and the third one has moved from Italy back to Scotland after some homesick years. One of them has had a novel published, one of them has become a student yet again, and one of them has just jacked his job in for no reason.
For the Grains of Sand finds the band in robust fettle. It's their attempt at a big hi-fi rock record. If the fi isn't hi enough for you, that's a shame, because this is probably as hi as their fi is ever gonna get. If you think the fi here is too hi, don't worry, they've got a much lower-fi fourth record coming out early next year. If you think their fi is just right, that's fine, cos so do they. The record was created in an East Lothian loft, and this time round the band's beer intake decreased, their wine intake stayed level, but their whisky intake went through the roof. The album is the band's most diverse record by far (mind, they've been compared to everyone from Low to ELO in the past, so take your pick), with everything from the rough and tumble rock of 'Shock of the New' to the epic indie anthem 'Line in the Sand', the sinister melancholy of 'Calgary' and the sweet girlish lovefoolery of 'Our Lives are Ruled by Tides'.
The album's title is a slightly sappy reference to the size of two of the band's embryonic offspring when the record was started. Sadly, the band have taken so long to make the album that those grains of sand have turned into 25-pound tantruming, toy-grabbing, fighting toddlers. Much of the album is about the wide-eyed terror of parenthood, but there's also room for cheery little numbers about wasted years, abandoned relationships, obsession with death and suicide. But ultimately For the Grains of Sand, as its title suggests, is a record of hope, a tiny shout out for all life's overlooked little guys and girls.
Since they formed almost five years ago the band have only ever played four live shows. This isn't a principle or anything, they're just very slow, lazy and nervous about playing live. Breaking with tradition, however, the band have strung together a few shows to celebrate their new record. They will be appearing at:
2 Nov, The Village, Edinburgh - with Barbarossa, Pictish Trail, Candythief & Player Piano
5, The Ship Tavern, Anstruther - afternoon show, part of Fence Halloween Sunday Social
6, Avalanche Records, Edinburgh - with Barbarossa at Cockburn Street shop, 5.30pm
10, Biddle Bros, Hackney, London - with other acts tbc
11, Strongrooms, Shoreditch, London - with other acts tbc
Northern Alliance are Craig Smith (bass, guitars, keyboards, sampler), Doug Johnstone (drums, drum machine, guitars, keyboards, sampler, vocals), Viv Strachan (vocals)
'Northern Alliance merge the dissolute melancholy of Arab Strap with the smudged alt folk of Sparklehorse… superb.' Scotland on Sunday
'Gloriously ramshackle, heartbroken and drunkenly swaying, but that's exactly where their charm lies.' Kerrang
'This trio are a thing of real texture and beauty' The List
'Genuinely affecting with a heart as heavy as the sun.' Metro
