Noctorum (Marty Willson-Piper, Dare Mason) preview ‘Piccadilly Circus in the Rain’ off new album ‘The Afterlife’
Schoolkids Records
8 November 2018
Noctorum recently announced the impending release of their fourth album ‘The Afterlife’ – the duo’s first long-play in seven years, which will be released exclusively on CD and gatefold vinyl to PledgeMusiccontributors in November 2018. The general release of this album will happen in February 2019 via Schoolkids Records.
Noctorum is guitarist/singer-songwriter Marty Willson-Piper and producer Dare Mason. The duo present their new single ‘Piccadilly Circus in the Rain’, following up the first single ‘A Girl With No Love’.
Named for the village Noctorum, located near to their childhood homes on The Wirral (near Liverpool), Dare and Marty liked its association with night and its Latin derivation. This collaboration has an eclectic focus, making the quiet loud and vice-versa, singing words that might be spoken and playing indoor instruments that should be heard outside. It has to be imagined to exist.
“Perhaps city-living is by definition a difficult slog – high rents, a constant pressure to earn, an uphill battle that traps you in a vicious circle that has you so focussed on the job of survival that your aspirations, your dreams, are swept aside, pushed out of reach as all your waking hours are spent treading water, your imagination drowning, your ideas lost in the rush hour,” says Marty Willson-Piper.
“Piccadilly Circus In The Rain addresses the struggle and questions the romantic notion of London as a cultural melting pot – music, galleries, nightlife, history, energy, red double decker buses, unarmed friendly Bobbies, the cover of Abbey Road and the Queen. Singling out this city is purely coincidental but in truth, for most people with artistic tendencies “London brings you to your knees”.
Having formed in 2002, Noctorum released their debut album ‘Sparks Lane’ on Heyday Records in 2003. In 2006, they followed up with the album ‘Offer The Light’ on that same label, later re-releasing it as a digipak in 2010 via Second Motion Records. Heyday released their third album ‘Honey Mink Forever’ in 2011.
Marty Willson-Piper has been writing and performing internationally for over 35 years. He is best known as a long-time member of Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, who he was with from its inception through to 2013. He joined All About Eve in the ’90s, releasing two studio albums and several live albums with them. He is also lead singer and lyricist with Swedish band MOAT and a touring member of Swedish Prog legends Anekdoten. Since the mid-1980s, Willson-Piper has maintained a steady solo output, releasing six solo studio albums and three live solo albums to date. He has also co-written music with many artists, including Grace Slick, Aimee Mann, Susannah Hoffs and Linda Perry.
As a house engineer at London’s world famous Townhouse Studios, Dare Mason has worked with the likes of Prince, Paul McCartney, Boy George, Tina Turner, Ravi Shankar and Soul II Soul, among others. After becoming a freelance producer/engineer in 1991, he produced albums for The Grid, The Church, Placebo and AC Acoustics, working in London, New York, Sydney and Stockholm. He finally moved to Cornwall, where he set up the VIP Lounge studio in 2001. Nowadays, Dare is mainly known as a mixing engineer, having mixed recordings by Brix Smith (ex The Fall), Cinerama and Tommy Tokyo. Dare is also a composer, songwriter and accomplished guitarist, singer and dabbler in keyboards, usually contributing musically to the artists he produces.
As of November 8, ‘A Girl With No Love’ will be available across online stores and streaming platforms. The full album ‘The Afterlife’ album can now be ordered via PledgeMusic but only until mid-November.
CREDITS
Marty Willson-Piper – lead vocal, electric lead and
Dare Mason – keyboards, backing vocals
Olivia Willson-Piper – backing vocals
Richard Evans – trumpet
Steve Jackson – drums
Written and produced by Marty Willson-Piper & Dare Mason
Lyrics by Marty Willson-Piper
Recorded and mixed by Dare Mason at the VIP Lounge, Penzance, England
Mastered by Poppy Weinberger for Riverfish Mastering
Design by Olivia Willson-Piper & Lizzie Tucker
Noctorum photo by Olivia Willson-Piper
TOUR DATES
10 Nov HELSINKI, FINLAND – Nordic Music Days (as part of Anekdoten)
22 Dec BURG STERNBERG, GERMANY – Geisterfest
02 Jan LANDSBERG, GERMANY – Café Zirnheld (TBC)
FOR SHARING
Piccadilly Circus in the Rain https://soundcloud.com/
A Girl With No Love https://soundcloud.com/
Spotify https://open.spotify.
Making of Noctorum http://noctorum.band/
MAIN VIDEO: Making of The Afterlife Part 2https://youtu.be/dCm_ngxu_Dg
Making of The Afterlife Part 3 https://youtu.be/viC_Svbqbu4
Making of The Afterlife Part 1 https://youtu.be/DhDnHclAytQ
Pledge Music order https://www.pledgemusic.com/
“A breath of fresh air with just the right mix of upbeat instrumentation and an attractive tandem of male and female vocals. Gentle, mellifluous guitar lines are whisked about by a brisk drum beat, while Willson-Piper’s sweetly soft and fluid vocals offer up a bittersweet portrait of Londontown… superb and stands up to anything ever released by The Church or All About Eve” – Big Takeover Magazine
“Bristling with energy and rock and roll groove but retaining that slight psychedelic infusion that served his formative band so well, it is that trade off between its underground nature and hooky accessibility that will see it pick up fans across the spectrum” – Dancing About Architecture
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