theehaircut – Page 3

Seven Months Married

Posted on 9th May 2013 by theehaircut

Today Clash Music premiered the first track from Bugbears. Take a listen below; we’ll be revealing more from the album through the blog over the next 2 months…

Read the Clash Music article

An introduction to the blog

Posted on 6th May 2013 by theehaircut

By Tom

This is the official blog for Bugbears, the new album from Darren Hayman & The Short Parliament. Over the next couple of months, Darren and I will be posting here frequently, with all sorts of tasters of the new album. We’ll be featuring some of the thirteen artists that contributed illustrations to the booklet, we’ll be providing some historical context from people that know more about the English Civil Wars and seventeenth century folk than we (or at least, I!) do and we’ll be previewing some of the songs from Bugbears as downloads or videos. There’ll be plenty more too, and we’re always open to contributions from you – if you’re inspired by the project to create something then let us know, or indeed if you’re an ‘expert’ (however you wish to define that) and want to enlighten us all, then we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Get in touch via tom [AT] fikarecordings [DOT] com

Lido

Posted on 14th August 201211th August 2018 by theehaircut

Released 27th August 2012

Lido is a beautifully hand packaged CD and Vinyl record about Britain’s open air swimming pools.

The CD sleeve is hand glocko printed and the LP is on beautiful blue vinyl. Vinyl comes with download.

The very limited edition second run of Lido is now available.

After this run though we plan on Lido being unavailable for a while, physically at least.

Click here for more on the Lido project

Physical Copies of Lido on CD and Vinyl have now sold out.

Or buy on download here from Bandcamp for £7.

It’s The Taking Part That Counts – Compilation album

Posted on 15th July 201211th August 2018 by theehaircut

it’s the taking part that counts is a 26 track compilation album of indie, folk, pop, and electronica, celebrating 26 sports, to be released in April 2012… in the build-up to the release you’ll be able to hear each of the tracks on this blog – wiaiwya-itsthetakingpartthatcounts.blogspot.com

Buy the CD for £12

The Shit Piano

Posted on 9th February 20125th February 2016 by theehaircut

9th February 2012

We never do the ideas we have in pubs. In pubs we go, ‘That’s a great idea!’ in the morning we go, ‘Hmm not so great’. But what if the ideas we have in pubs are the best? I had an idea to re-record my album ‘The Ship’s Piano’ in a day on casios and call it the Shit Piano. Although on the surface it’s an idea based on a pun I was thinking about the tradition of remixes and the earlier tradition of Dub versions of albums. I tried to use the limitation of the Casios to find new and interesting readings of the songs. The album definitely isn’t ‘shit’ on purpose. I hope you like it.

Buy ‘The Shit Piano’ from Bandcamp for £3.

The Ship’s Piano

Posted on 17th October 201111th August 2018 by theehaircut

Released 17th October 2011 via FortunaPOP

In November 2009 I had this thing happen to me, where I ended up in hospital with a fractured skull. For a few months I felt constantly dizzy and was diagnosed with some deafness in one ear. Sharp loud noises bothered me greatly. I was told to rest and do nothing, but who knows how to do that?

Music always helps when I’m ill, so I started to make the simplest, quitest music to help me recuperate. I tried to make the music that I wanted to hear, which is perhaps what we should always be doing, but in this case there was a direct therapeutic need.

I avoided any jagged edges. I kept imagining the sounds I wanted as round and smooth, like well-worn pebbles.

Lyrically I also found myself eschewing conceptual and metaphoric character led songs. I started to write the simplest and most direct words in the first person, something I have avoided for a few years.

If you are a songwriter and something bad happens to you, people say, “You can write a song about it at least.” They mean well, but the big events in life have to seep out gradually with me and not in urgent, confessional bursts. The songs on this record are pleas for calm. As I get older I find I prefer small, quiet things.

All the songs were written on my ship’s piano. ‘Ship’s Piano’ is a colloquial term given to small-scale pianos that were used on boats. Mine was built in France in 1933 and folds away to resemble a sideboard. I wrote a song where I imagine its history. It’s called ‘The Ship’s Piano’.

Buy Ship’s Piano on CD

Buy Ship’s Piano on vinyl with download code

Or download from Bandcamp for £6.50 here:

The Ship’s Piano – Related records

I Taught You How To Dance

Originally released 21st November 2011 on Fortuna Pop.

‘I Taught You How To Dance’ is the sole single from The Ship’s Piano. Sweet, gentle, and with just a hint of sexual tension, it offers an ideal sampler of the warmth and complexity of Darren’s solo piano album. ‘I Taught You How To Dance’ is available on 10-inch 4-track single only, and also features three covers of other songs with ‘Dance’ in the title: ‘Dance Away’ by Roxy Music, ‘I Don’t Want To Dance’ by Eddy Grant and ‘Come Dancing’ by the Kinks.

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