A strange sound comes drifting across the flood plains of South Yorkshire; West Coast harmonies, finger picked guitar, ghostly whistling and psychedelic echoes of The Wicker Man…could it be Hotel Brown?
Hotel Brown are surely one of the great undiscovered treasures of this sceptred isle’s acoustic music scene - fiercely independent, artistically uncompromising and with a roots pedigree that includes work with such Roots / World luminaries as John Tams, Kate Rusby and The Angel Brothers.
The music of Hotel Brown has been described as ‘Vocal Harmony Psych- Folk’- a sound which encompasses a wide range of influences- from 60’s vocal groups like The Mama’s & the Papas and Crosby , Stills , Nash & Young through to Hounds of Love period Kate Bush and on to John Martyn’s or evenTalk Talk’s more tripped out sonic adventures . More recent comparisons might include Joanna Newsome or Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man. Hotel Brown have also been described as ‘…a twenty first century Pentangle’ –perhaps most due to the twin acoustic guitars of Dave Angel & Rory Garforth being somewhat reminiscent of the legendary Jansch / Renbourn axis of yore. A unique element is also Niki Seeger’s ethereal, swooning solo whistling- a sound rarely heard since the days of the valve wireless. The foundation for all this is a rhythm section featuring drums and global percussive grooves from Keith Angel and double and electric basses from Andy Seward and Jim Lockey.
With eight original titles by Rory Garforth and a version of ‘Gently Johnny’ (from the original soundtrack of ‘The Wicker Man’ ) - the new debut album from Hotel Brown is truly representative of the band’s multi- faceted sound. All the songs were recorded, as naturally as possible through 2006 and into 2007 ,in the tumbledown rustic environment of Ferry Farm in South Yorkshire –a mere stone’s throw from the raging torrents of the River Don and set almost exactly between the band’s twin hometowns of Barnsley and Doncaster.
Hotel Brown are...
Niki Seegers – Vocals, Sax, Flute, Whistler
Emma Johnstone - Vocals
Rory Garforth - Vocals, Guitar
Keith Angel - Drums, Percussion
with...
Dave Angel - Guitar
Jim Lockey - Bass
Andy Seward - Double Bass
Phil Gardiner - Keyboards
