Fuzzy Lights

Fuzzy Lights

Rule Of Twelfths (remixes)

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights

Hour

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights returned in February with their highly anticipated third album ‘Rule of Twelfths’, their first new material since the Mojo Underground Album of the Month ‘Twin Feathers’ in 2010. Since their near-instrumental debut album of 2008, the band have grown organically into a powerful and confident force weaving together elements of pastoral psych-folk and noise-rock. They now sit poised ready to reach a far wider audience with their most fully- realised and direct set of songs to date, hinting at elements of dream-pop. Their new single ‘The Hour’ encapsulates the positive changes in the music of Fuzzy Lights. Violinist/pianist Rachel Watkins takes lead vocals and she also scored the stunning string arrangement played by the Iskra Quartet, also heard on new albums by The xx and Jóhann Jóhansson. Where before the band were comfortable to stretch out, taking their time, with ‘The Hour’ they come straight to the point with a beautiful song, culminating in a scorching fuzz solo from guitarist Xavier Watkins. The parent album ‘Rule of Twelfths’ is a stunningly well realised work from a very special band who, on their third release, have reached that rare point where all influences are absorbed and what emerges is a coherent, unique statement that reflects only themselves.

Fuzzy Lights

Rule Of Twelfths

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights return with their highly anticipated third album ‘Rule of Twelfths’, their first new material since the Mojo Underground Album of the Month ‘Twin Feathers’ in 2010. Since their near-instrumental debut album of 2008, Fuzzy Lights have grown organically into a powerful and confident band weaving together elements of pastoral psych-folk and noise-rock. They now sit poised ready to reach a far wider audience with their most fully-realised and direct set of songs to date, hinting at elements of dream-pop. ‘Rule of Twelfths’ sees a number of positive changes in the music of Fuzzy Lights. Most noticeable is that violinist/pianist Rachel Watkins takes lead vocals on most songs, including lead- off single ‘Summer’s Tide’. The contrast between her delicate, melodious voice and soaring violin work is a huge strength. The lyrical imagery speaks of distance and closeness, but there are also hints at the intimacy of new life. Images of “skin”, “veins” and “breath” all fall from these songs. Noise and crescendo has been another element of Fuzzy Lights’ sound to change this time around. In contrast to the previous two albums, the emphasis now is on the short, sharp shock – witness the thrilling fuzz-guitar solo that erupts at the end of ‘The Hour’, or the way ‘Restless’ twists around itself with sudden changes in direction. Several songs also feature string arrangements by Watkins, courtesy of the Iskra quartet, also heard on new albums by The xx and Jóhann Jóhansson. They add a layer of bucolic beauty to...

Fuzzy Lights

Summer's Tide

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights

Twin Feathers

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights was born in 2004 and has since grown from a two-piece violin and electric guitar duo to a five-piece band. This gradual change in line-up has allowed them to build on their sound by weaving together elements of psych-folk, Americana and noise-rock. With their new album 'Twin Feathers' Fuzzy Lights have brought about a natural development of their sound. Vocals feature more prominently amongst the eerie melodies and meticulous arrangements, acting as strands threaded through the music. Never explicit or declamatory they paint subtle pictures, hinting at the quiet moments and open spaces that define the band's immediate environment at the edge of England's Fens. The opening instrumental 'Obscura' is like a half-remembered soundtrack to Eastern European cinema, caught accidentally late night on TV when you should be sleeping. The bewitching violin and bleakly melodic guitar dance around a deceptive arrangement that subtly bridges ‘Twin Feathers’ and the debut ‘A Distant Voice’. By contrast, 'Fallen Trees', which follows with its seasick guitar and otherworldly vocals, stands at the crossroads of 1960's British folk and haunted noise-rock. It is this unlikely intertwining which truly defines Fuzzy Lights' sound. Elsewhere, a subdued violence that is kept in check for much of the record makes its presence felt. In 'Shipwrecks’, a minimal droning opening develops into a pastoral hymn before giving way to a blast of overdriven slide guitar, thunderous drums and a violin on edge. Something in that tension describes 'Twin Feathers' as a whole: the record's delicate surface slowly...

Fuzzy Lights

Helm

Little Red Rabbit

Fuzzy Lights are a five piece band based in Cambridge led by husband and wife Xavier and Rachel Watkins. Combining both folk purity and psychedelic guitar noise, their reverb-soaked music found a dedicated following with the late-2008 release of debut album 'A Distant Voice'. After touring in the first half of 2009 and playing shows with the likes of Evangelista, Vetiver, Willard Grant Conspiracy and James Blackshaw, the band took the rest of the year out to work on new material. This new EP 'Helm' is the first fruit of those sessions and precedes their eagerly anticipated second album 'Twin Feathers', due in late summer. However, 'Helm' is something of an oddity, a companion piece to the new album created impulsively and frozen in time. Whilst studio work on the new album paused, Xavier and Rachel took off in winter 2009 to a remote converted barn in the Lake District with the aim of writing and recording new songs from scratch. The results, released as 'Helm', take Fuzzy Lights in unexpected directions - from the droning electro and delayed violin of 'Things We Left Behind' to 'Black Diamond's deft fingerpicking and echoed harmonies via the spooked-out vocal piece 'Burn With Light', Xavier and Rachel have found a new and somewhat bleaker place, but one that retains their trademark beauty.

Fuzzy Lights

A Distant Voice

Little Red Rabbit

Formed in 2004, Fuzzy Lights create haunted, visceral music that pulls and tugs at its moorings. As well as touring the UK as guests of Young God Record's Mi & L'au, they have shared the stage with Jack Rose, Vetiver and MV&EE amongst others. Hard to pigeonhole as they combine both folk purity and psychedelic noise with echoes of more traditional blues/ Americana, their reverb-soaked, semiimprovised music is now collected on their debut album 'A Distant Voice'. Fans of Dirty Three, Grails, Neil Young and Molasses will find much to love here. Perfectly recorded direct to tape in the Fuzzy house, 'A Distant Voice' is a slowly surging storm of a record. Mournful, pure violin lines and intertwining golden guitars phase into clamour and discord, blissful drones torn apart by screes of guitar violence and thundering percussion. Vocals appear through the haze only occasionally but when they do they serve to heighten the tension and not to provide a simple narrative. 'Colour Of The Sun' (track 5) is typical of this reverse technique - a slow western ballad featuring raw, dusty guitars evocative of Neil Young's electrified 'Weld' album. With 'A Distant Voice', Fuzzy Lights have created a beautiful yet crooked canvas. They won't be rushed and won't take the easy route, but will gradually get inside your heart and memory, taking up residence until you wonder how you ever lived without them.