New album out 21 October 2016
London launch show + 2016/17 tour dates
“Big hearted music. Breathtaking” – R2 (Rock’n’Reel) 5-stars
Reflecting their reputation as a forceful and electric live act, The Urban Folk Quartet return with an extended tour and new live album.
As the title suggests, The Urban Folk Quartet: Live III is The UFQ’s third live album, and follows the previously released Live (2011) and Live II (2013).
Recorded in concert during their spring 2015/ 2016 tour – at venues in Chester (Alexander’s), Maldon (Town Hall), Stafford (Gatehouse Theatre), and Bristol (Folk House) – the nine tracks see the quartet revisiting material from 2014 studio album, The Escape, and road-testing new tunes.
A perfect showcase for the four-piece’s breath-taking musicianship, Live III embraces their full scope, from the full-on Upward Spiral, to quieter Resiste and The Language Barrier.
New tracks (pencilled in for their 2018 studio album) underline the quartet’s quizzical restlessness and globe-spanning sense of adventure: inspired by a trip to India Whiplash Reel transports a classical Indian scale into a Celtic setting, while the grooving Long Time Traveller presents a distinctly UFQ take on a song adapted from famed American 19th century tunebook, The Sacred Harp.
In the concert environment, tunes familiar from The Escape (which featured in several prominent ‘best of 2015’ lists) take on a newfound power and direction, as The UFQ feed off the crowds’ enthusiasm and energy, extending and transforming their growing catalogue.
“The pieces are arranged to deliberately get the audience going, with improvised passages that respond to the audience’s reaction, the vibe,” explains fiddle-player Joe Broughton. “That’s the whole reason we like to do live albums. In Control Zed, Tom does a phenomenal percussion solo – it’s those special moments of interaction where we use the energy from the crowd …”
While other bands may use the live album format to fulfil contractual obligations or as a filler, the prolific UFQ see their in-concert releases as an integral part of their creative process – hence their plan to follow each studio album with a live counterpart (something which their growing international fan-base have now come to expect).
The UFQ’s sixth album over-all, Live III, however, takes a different approach to its predecessors, I and II.
“Our previous live albums have very much been presented as one night,” says percussionist Tom Chapman. “Even though Live II was recorded at two gigs, when you listen to it it’s easy to hear it as one gig. Live III is very definitely an album collected over months, with varied rooms and audiences giving the album its unique dynamic drive.”
The release arrives at a time of increased UFQ activity. 2016 saw the band perform a series of jaw-dropping sets at various UK and international festivals, including Green Man, Towersey, Cropready, Shrewsbury, Ringsted in Denmark, and Lakeland Festival, in Erlach, Switzerland. They were also personally invited by singer Joss Stone to appear at children’s charity Barnardo’s 150th anniversary concert at London’s The Roundhouse.
The Urban Folk Quartet have been dazzling audiences with their brand of ‘electrifying acoustic music’ since 2009. Galician fiddle player Paloma Trigás has shared stages and recorded with the likes of The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon and Altan, and toured the stadiums of the world with Spain’s biggest folk star, Carlos Nuñez. Long established on the folk scene as a fiery English fiddler and showman, Joe Broughton (Albion Band), is also an exceptional guitarist and mandolin player. Dan Walsh is regarded as one of the finest banjo players in the country, as well as being a gifted singer and guitarist, while percussionist Tom Chapman is widely considered to be the most accomplished and innovative cajón player the UK has to offer.
Tracklisting
The Urban Folk Quartet: Live III
- Long Time Traveller
- Upward Spiral / Brink
- 3. Before Your Eyes / Whiplash Reel
- Five Hundred Miles
- Banjo Solo / The Beginning Of The End
- Boat Up The River
- The Language Barrier
- Resiste
- The On On / The Getaway / Control Zed
The Urban Folk Quartet: Live III (SAE Records) is released on Friday 21 October 2016, available as CD and download.
Forthcoming live dates include:
Saturday 8 October 2016, The Place, Bedford MK40 3DE, 7.30pm for 8pm, £14 OTD, £12 adv.
Thursday 20 October 2016, Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, Staffs ST13 6AD, 8pm for 8.30pm, £10 adv
Friday 21 October 2016, * Live III album launch, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG, 8pm, £12.50
Saturday 5 November 2016, Fireworks Night, Sanders Park, Bromsgrove, 6.30pm
Thursday 10 November 2016, Salle de l’Hôtel Dieu, Valognes, France
Friday 11 November 2016, Festival Musiques sous les Embruns , Port en Bessin, France
Thursday 17 November 2016, Cumberland Arms, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE6 1LD, 8pm, £10
Thursday 24 November 2016, Cotleigh Brewery, Wiveliscombe, Taunton, Somerset TA4 2RE, 8pm, £14/£12 conc.
Friday 25 November 2016, Coronation Hall, South Clifton, Newark, Notts NG23 7BG
Saturday 26 November 2016, Bramley Centre, Southwell, Notts NG25 0EH
Sunday 27 November 2016, Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell, Notts NG9 5AL
Friday 9 December 2016, Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford ST16 2LT, 8pm, £15.50
Thursday 26 January 2017, Village Hall, Rampton, Retford, Notts DN22 0JU
Friday 27 January 2017, All Hallows Halls, West Bridgford, Notts NG2 5BP
Saturday 28 January 2017, Village Hall, Hemingby, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 5QQ
Saturday 4 February 2017, Caen, France
Friday 3 March 2017, Hitchin Folk Club, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1AF, 7.30 for 8.15pm, £14, £12 members
Friday 24 March 2017, Huntingdon Hall, Worcester WR1 3LD, 7.30pm, £16.50
Thursday 30 March 2017, Alexander’s, Rufus Court, Chester CH1 2JW
Friday 31 March 2017, Town Hall, Maldon, Essex CM9 4PZ
Saturday 1 April 2017, Folk House, 40a Park Street, Bristol BS1 5JG
Thursday 6 April 2017, Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3HZ
For more dates, plus festival appearances, see: theufq.com/gigs
- The UFQ are available for interviews, Q&As, radio and other sessions; review copies of The UFQ: Live III available from early October 2016. Contact us for details:
Four Four Eight 