Stornoway - Tales from Terra Firma [Recycled black vinyl]

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: CAD3304LP
Barcode: 0652637330403
Release Date: 19 Jan 2024
Genre: Indie/Alternative

 As its title suggests, Stornoway’s 2010 debut album, ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles ‘Fuel Up’, ‘I Saw You Blink’ and ‘Zorbing’, it showed just why so many were excited by the Oxford indie-folk quartet’s arrival - a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folk tradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at most instruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared.
 Warmly received on release, ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’ quickly attained Silver status in the UK and, among the many positive reviews, The Observer praised it for having a “real emotional depth that transports their music from throwaway sunny songs to something altogether more poignant and enduring,” while the NME called it “beautifully rendered and melodically magnificent; a Constable landscape of a record.”
 The album is complemented by a stunning sleeve by designer Chris Bigg, who has played on the album’s title and their songs about nature by working with illustrations of shells, aquatic life and old maps.
 Stornoway followed up ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’, in 2013 with ‘Tales From Terra Firma’. Ten this year, ‘Tales From Terra Firma’ is an album of stories - birth, death, marriage and coming of age. Featuring the singles ‘The Bigger Picture’ and ‘Farewell Appalachia’, it was recorded and produced by the band in the main at their own Oxford space, bringing in mix engineer George Shilling (having loved his work with Teenage Fanclub, a huge influence on them) midway to help them achieve their vision. It worked too. By being true to themselves and remaining oblivious to outside influences, they made a truly special album where life is unfurled for the listener. The Guardian said in their full marks review that there’s “no curse of the second album for Stornoway, who’ve stretched out without losing sight of the intimacy of their charming debut.”
 For its sleeve, the band worked with the artist Kirini Kopcke who used fragments of lyrics as her start point to create a picture foreach ‘tale’ on the album, presenting a strip cartoon-like depiction of the adventures in the life of the main protagonist.
 Both albums are pressed on recycled black vinyl, in FSC sourced card sleeves.

Tracklisting
‘Tales From Terra Firma’
You Take Me as I Am
Farewell Appalachia
The Bigger Picture
(A Belated) Invite to Eternity
Hook, Line, Sinker
Knock Me on the Head
The Great Procrastinator
The Ones We Hurt the Most
November Song