Israel Nash on tour!
ISRAEL NASH
ANNOUNCES SUMMER UK TOUR DATES & FESTIVALS
“Nash makes cosmic Americana his own” – The Times 4*
“a thing of wonder… Who can get enough of music as good as this?” – UNCUT, 9/10
“(a) slick, wonderful album” – Q Magazine – 4*
“folk-rock visionary” – MOJO
“Nash is a maestro” – The Independent
“as close to heaven as music can take you” – Louder Than War 9/10
Texas genre-bending rock ’n’ roller ISRAEL NASH returns to the UK this summer in support of his acclaimed 2018 album Lifted.
The album was recorded at his home studio in the Texas Hill country near Austin and is an Americana-bred opus without equal - as Will Hodgkinson said in his 4 star review of the album in The Times, “Nash makes cosmic Americana his own”. Allan Jones called the album “a thing of wonder” and asked the question “who can get enough of music as good as this?” in his 9/10 review in Uncut Magazine, whilst in Q Andy Fyfe awarded the album 4 stars and described it as a “huge slab of cosmic country prog”. All this acclaim inevitably led to a nomination for Best Song of 2018 in the UK Americana Awards and a rabble-rousing performance at Hackney Empirebacked by Ethan Johns and his Black Eyed Dogs.
The album was recorded at his home studio in the Texas Hill country near Austin and is an Americana-bred opus without equal - as Will Hodgkinson said in his 4 star review of the album in The Times, “Nash makes cosmic Americana his own”. Allan Jones called the album “a thing of wonder” and asked the question “who can get enough of music as good as this?” in his 9/10 review in Uncut Magazine, whilst in Q Andy Fyfe awarded the album 4 stars and described it as a “huge slab of cosmic country prog”. All this acclaim inevitably led to a nomination for Best Song of 2018 in the UK Americana Awards and a rabble-rousing performance at Hackney Empirebacked by Ethan Johns and his Black Eyed Dogs.
In August 2019 Israel Nash will bring his band over from Texas to play Amsterdam’s Once In A Blue Moon Festival, followed by a run of UK dates ending up with a slot at End Of The Road Festival.
LIVE DATES 2019
24 Aug - AMSTERDAM Once In A Blue Moon Festival
26 Aug - GLASGOW Oran Mor
27 Aug - NEWCASTLE The Cluny 2
28 Aug - POCKLINGTON Arts Centre
29 Aug - HALIFAX Square Chapel Arts Centre
30 Aug - CAMBRIDGE Junction 2
01 Sep - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL
Tickets are on sale now via loosemusic.com/live
Watch Israel Nash live in session with KEXP here
A modern day hippie-spiritual, ‘Lifted’ finds Nash continuing his tradition of creating a sonic landscape that is at once both vast and intimate – soaring and untamed at times, placid and sincerely personal at others. Accompanied by his longtime band, with arrangements by Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake), horns by members of Austin’s cumbia/funk compadre’s Grupo Fantasma, and strings from Kelsey Wilson and Sadie Wolf (Wild Child), Nash, alongside co-producer and engineer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones), presents an album that soars with meticulously crafted, multi-hued rock and psychedelia.
‘Lifted’ opens with an extended instrumental introduction before blossoming into lead single ‘Rolling On’. The track acts as the album’s manifesto, an anthem of urgency, encouraging the listener to let go of yesterday’s troubles and move forward with positivity.
The album was recorded at Israel Nash’s own studio, a Quonset hut structure called Plum Creek Sound at his home in Dripping Springs, Texas. During the process the studio became a sanctuary for Nash, a creative environment where he often reached a meditative state of escapism, creating a space where he could leave behind his downhearted feelings about the current political landscape and the bigger, existential questions those concerns raise.
Being able to finally use Plum Creek Sound to its full potential, Nash set about recording found sounds and field recordings from his Texas ranch, with the aim of creating a listening experience that was almost an immersive representation of his environment. Drums played in rain collection tanks, water rushing against the limestone, frogs, crickets, and even a rattlesnake all appear throughout the record. Taking inspiration from methods pioneered by John Cage, Nash then randomized the sounds and music before rearranging them according to the I Ching (The Book of Changes). This process of experimenting, as Nash explains, was key to the making of ‘Lifted’
“It’s all about finding, searching for little sparks of inspiration. It may be a sound, a groove, a colour, or even an object. Old things are inspiring. Whatever it is, when you find it, it spreads like a conflagration that is out of your control. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a record or living your life, find these inspirations with a vigil eye and watch them change both you and your world.”
‘Lifted’ is Israel Nash’s opus, a fully realised, psychedelic, experimental, Americana rooted epic. From the familial harmonies of ‘Sweet Springs,’ recalling the Beach Boys at their most joyous (almost all performed by Nash himself), to the country rock of ‘Lucky Ones’ and ‘SpiritFalls’ to the sunshine laden album closer ‘Golden Fleeces’, it is a startlingly accomplished work from beginning to end.
Lifted is out now on Loose
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