Roberts, Alasdair

Roberts, Alasdair

Grief in the Kitchen and Mirth in the Hall

Drag City

***Critically-acclaimed, criminally-overachieving Glasgow- based singer and guitarist Alasdair Roberts is known as a superlative original songwriter as well as an interpreter of traditional songs from Scotland and beyond. For the past twenty years, his recordings have alternated between these two complimentary poles, with ‘pop’ records such as The Amber Gatherers and A Wonder Working Stone nestling in his expansive back catalogue alongside “folk” albums such as No Earthly Man and What News (with Amble Skuse and David McGuinness). Additionally, all of these records possess a further dimension, derived from their collation of songs together into one album-length statement. This is part of Alasdair’s great achievement in his career—for him, this thing of music and song hasn’t come the eons it’s travelled to simply entertain. These impulses fully present and well honed, Alasdair returns to his roots with Grief in the Kitchen and Mirth in the Hall, his fifth full-length collection of traditional song. Recorded live in the studio, it is an entirely solo collection of twelve traditional ballads and songs sparsely arranged for acoustic guitar, piano and voice. The majority of the songs originate in Alasdair’s homeland of Scotland, with a couple from Ireland and one from Prince Edward Island on Canada’s eastern seaboard too.

Roberts, Alasdair

Pangs

Drag City

***Since 2001, ALASDAIR ROBERTS has busily pursued the path of his ancestors, down the many and varied byways of Scottish traditional music—and of English and Irish traditional music as well, all of which have fed the American folk tradition from its earliest days. Over the past 15 years, Alasdair has released eight albums of self-written material and interpretations of traditional song alike, all played in a diversity of electric and acoustic arrangements, bringing a modern thrust to the music while honoring the many singers from whom this material was learned and adapted. Following the acoustic austerity of his self-titled 2015 release, Alasdair’s applied himself to electric guitar and band once again for his ninth album, Pangs. Alasdair Roberts and Friends were deep within the epic song approaches of the widely-acclaimed A Wonder Working Stone (2013) when last heard creating music of such scope. While similarly broad in range, Pangs brings different forms of song-craft and modes of collaboration again. Recorded in Ireland with JULIE MACLAMON, Pangs finds Alasdair in a power trio beside his long-time musical partners ALEX NEILSON on drums and STEVIE JONES on bass (and he turns his hand to piano and organ too). Along with guests DEBBIE AMOUR, TOM CROSSLEY, RAFE FITZPATRICK and JESSICA KERR, they summon up a powerful—and powerfully gorgeous—storm over ten new songs. (STREET DATE - 2/24/2017)

Roberts, Alasdair

Alasdair Roberts

Drag City

***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.3 rating from Pitchfork. Alasdair Roberts is the name of the new solo record from the well-known Scottish songwriter, guitarist and singer ALASDAIR ROBERTS—his eighth Drag City Records release under that name, following on from 2013’s A Wonder Working Stone. The making of Alasdair Roberts found Alasdair back at Glasgow’s Green Door Studio, where he previously made his 2009 album, Spoils. Alasdair Roberts has a warmer feel than A Wonder Working Stone, partially the result of having been recorded in the analogue domain by Green Door’s masterly house engineer SAM SMITH. In the main however, the rich ambiance throughout the album is evidence of yet another tremendous leap in Alasdair’s writing, playing and singing. The six years since Spoils seem like a much greater expanse of time for all the growth shown on the four albums between then and now. The decision, then, to self-title this album hints at the idea of the artist as having achieved, in Jungian terms, complete ‘individuation.’ Evident as well upon listening is the sound of deep contentment in Alasdair’s playing and singing. Moreover, this music is projected from a place of confidence, where what is needed for the music comes naturally, instinctively and as needed. (STREET DATE - 1/27/2015)

Roberts, Alasdair

Farewell Sorrow

Drag City

***REISSUED ON VINYL!!! The second album released under his own name from APPENDIX OUT driving force ALASDAIR ROBERTS, and his broadest work to date. A twelve-track masterwork of folk, dirge and rock songcraft, delivered with rakish wit, passion, and Robert's soaring imagination. Produced by RIAN MURPHY.

Roberts, Alasdair

No Earthly Man

Drag City

***Over the course of three albums of original music with the band APPENDIX OUT and a pair of albums under his own name, Scotsman ALASDAIR ROBERTS has been moving toward a purer understanding, exploration and interpretation of the traditional song of the British Isles. No Earthly Man is an eight-song collection of death ballads that Roberts approaches with a musicological fervor, acknowledging the long tradition of each song, while making them entirely his own. Emotional, resonating, and eerily beautiful. Produced by WILL OLDHAM.