The Declining Winter - Really Early, Really Late (Home Assembly Music)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like

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What We Say

Somewhere in West Yorkshire where various musical ley lines intersect sit The Declining Winter with toes & studio grounding wire squished into the moist earth so as better to conduct the post rock, orchestral ambient pop, jazz vibrations & wistful folktronic energy swirling below into the unhurried, genre ambiguous gem for Home Assembly that you hear before you. Lovely stuff.

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What The Release Notes Say

For over 30 years Richard Adams has been quietly documenting his own particular corner of the English countryside both with Hood, the post-rock band he formed with his brother in 1991, and since 2007 with The Declining Winter.

Recorded over a five year period and inspired by rustic English alternatives such as Talk Talk and Robert Wyatt, The Declining Winter’s latest work ‘Really Early, Really Late’ is a collection of beautiful songs, immersed in a richer sonic spectrum incorporating strings, horns and lush electronic textures, alongside Adams’ own unique guitar tones and characteristic dubby bass.

Though it retains the homespun scratchiness of previous The Declining Winter records, ‘Really Early, Really Late’ is also their most ornate. A remotely collaborative effort, the record is scattered with decorative embellishments from violinist Sarah Kemp (Brave Timbers), cellist Peter Hollo (Tangents), and guitarist Ben Holton (epic45), among many others. Adams’ distorted whisper of a voice has never been more exposed leading to a brutally emotive and intensely personal song-suite, both raw and beautiful in equal measure.

The storybook curiosity of Mark Hollis’ work is a particular influence. Like Hollis, this music is imbued with magical realism: beholden to nature, it hints at the mysteries lurking in mundane local landscapes and the more remote Yorkshire moors and valleys. A record to hold close to your heart, ‘Really Early, Really Late’ sees Adams and his collaborators emerge from the shadows with their most complete work to date.

Home Assembly are proud to present the album on lush double vinyl with crystal clear and gold variants, bundled with a CD housed in an oversized vinyl-style sleeve. A limited tape with alternate artwork will also be available on Rusted Rail.

RIYL: Talk Talk, Rachel’s, Sam Prekop, Hood, Red House Painters, Bark Psychosis, The Notwist.

CREDITS
2,3,6 and 8 mixed by Ross Halden at Hohm Recording Studio.
Mastered by Joe Caithness.
Photography by R.V. Adams.
Sleeve by HAM.

Title: C. Adams
Thanks: BWC, M&D, KW and all who contributed:

Sarah Kemp
James Yates
Benjamin Holton
Robin Smith
Peter Hollo
Keith Wallace
Cecilia Danell
Matthew Jones-Green
Julie Bisset
Gareth S. Brown
Martin Cummings
Joel Hanson

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If you would like some more introspective singer songwriting then  sidle over to the Slow Folk Playlist sometime.