Malcolm Middleton is set to release a brand new single off critically lauded current album ‘Waxing Gibbous’.‘Zero’ is released on the 3rd August and will round off Malcolm’s forthcoming UK tour, which starts on the 26th June with support from The Pictish Trail and call at London’s ICA on the 30th June.
To further tie-in with the tour Malcolm’s giving away a free mp3 off ‘Waxing Gibbous’, please click to download ‘Carry Me’ here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i3zmt3mzz3w
As for ‘Zero’, get prepared for Casio tones, toe-tapping beats, handclaps… and rapping? Were it not for the lyrics about being buried with your partner (“Bones crossed into a tangent hug, an awkward silence and a toothy grin, I wouldn’t mind turning to powder with you,”), the distinctive Scots burr and self-deprecating comments about wordy songwriters, you could be forgiven for mistaking ‘Zero’ as the work of someone other than Malcolm Middleton.
In fact, says Malcolm, the song started as an acoustic number, but took on a life of it’s own after a drunken night watching Madonna clips on YouTube, “which may or may not have had something to do with the production. And Flight Of The Conchords are probably responsible for the bad rap.”
Edited for its single release, the full-length album version takes place over the course of six minutes, and three movements. “It's like a mini-Malc-iverse,” says Malcolm. “You can sing along merrily waving your can at the start, dance during the middle, and then burst into tears at the state of the end.Lyrically it's a sprawling wordy mess and I'm still surprised that I managed to bash it into a song-worthy shape, but it’s one of my favourite songs that I've ever written.”
‘Zero’ is taken from ‘Waxing Gibbous’, Malcolm’s fifth solo album and, by early consensus, his best yet. Following last year’s low-key ‘Sleight Of Heart’, this is the album Middleton was making while he took that diversion, composed from years’ worth of scribbles in notebooks, which were “chiselled and connived into being songs.”
Though self-produced, the album was recorded with the help of a few friends: it features backing vocals from King Creosote and The Pictish Trail (as heard on Zero), the piano skills of Barry from Mogwai and the honeyed vocals of Jenny Reeve Prone to self-deprecation (listen to any given lyric for proof), Malcolm issued a statement saying ‘Waxing Gibbous’ would likely be his last solo album for a while. Needless to say, reports of his creative death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“I am not giving up music, retiring, dying, stopping song-writing, becoming optimistic, content or anything else along these lines. All I've said is that I'd like to try some other musical projects before I return to doing more solo albums in the future. I fancy a change and I need something new. I want to do an instrumental acoustic guitar album, some electronic music, some collaborations, maybe start a new band, produce someone else etc etc.” he says.
Perhaps ‘Zero’ is a taste of things to come… Until then, says Malcolm, “Roll on the Indie Discos…”
TOUR DATES ( with support from The Pictish Trail)
June
26thTolbooth Theatre, Stirling
27thTunnels, Aberdeen
28thKing Tuts, Glasgow
29thNight & Day, Manchester
30thI.C.A., London
July
1st Birmingham, Glee Club
2nd Bristol, Thekla
3rd Nottingham , Bodega
4th Newcastle, The Cluny
1st August - Field Day, London
22nd August – Sounds In The Grounds, Stornoway
12th September - End Of The Road
www.myspace.com/malcolmmiddleton
"'Waxing gibbous' refers to a moon that's almost full, and Middleton here surely approaches full brilliance."Mojo 4 stars
"one of Britain's most underrated and vital songwriters"Q 4 stars
To further tie-in with the tour Malcolm’s giving away a free mp3 off ‘Waxing Gibbous’, please click to download ‘Carry Me’ here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i3zmt3mzz3w
As for ‘Zero’, get prepared for Casio tones, toe-tapping beats, handclaps… and rapping? Were it not for the lyrics about being buried with your partner (“Bones crossed into a tangent hug, an awkward silence and a toothy grin, I wouldn’t mind turning to powder with you,”), the distinctive Scots burr and self-deprecating comments about wordy songwriters, you could be forgiven for mistaking ‘Zero’ as the work of someone other than Malcolm Middleton.
In fact, says Malcolm, the song started as an acoustic number, but took on a life of it’s own after a drunken night watching Madonna clips on YouTube, “which may or may not have had something to do with the production. And Flight Of The Conchords are probably responsible for the bad rap.”
Edited for its single release, the full-length album version takes place over the course of six minutes, and three movements. “It's like a mini-Malc-iverse,” says Malcolm. “You can sing along merrily waving your can at the start, dance during the middle, and then burst into tears at the state of the end.Lyrically it's a sprawling wordy mess and I'm still surprised that I managed to bash it into a song-worthy shape, but it’s one of my favourite songs that I've ever written.”
‘Zero’ is taken from ‘Waxing Gibbous’, Malcolm’s fifth solo album and, by early consensus, his best yet. Following last year’s low-key ‘Sleight Of Heart’, this is the album Middleton was making while he took that diversion, composed from years’ worth of scribbles in notebooks, which were “chiselled and connived into being songs.”
Though self-produced, the album was recorded with the help of a few friends: it features backing vocals from King Creosote and The Pictish Trail (as heard on Zero), the piano skills of Barry from Mogwai and the honeyed vocals of Jenny Reeve Prone to self-deprecation (listen to any given lyric for proof), Malcolm issued a statement saying ‘Waxing Gibbous’ would likely be his last solo album for a while. Needless to say, reports of his creative death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“I am not giving up music, retiring, dying, stopping song-writing, becoming optimistic, content or anything else along these lines. All I've said is that I'd like to try some other musical projects before I return to doing more solo albums in the future. I fancy a change and I need something new. I want to do an instrumental acoustic guitar album, some electronic music, some collaborations, maybe start a new band, produce someone else etc etc.” he says.
Perhaps ‘Zero’ is a taste of things to come… Until then, says Malcolm, “Roll on the Indie Discos…”
TOUR DATES ( with support from The Pictish Trail)
June
26thTolbooth Theatre, Stirling
27thTunnels, Aberdeen
28thKing Tuts, Glasgow
29thNight & Day, Manchester
30thI.C.A., London
July
1st Birmingham, Glee Club
2nd Bristol, Thekla
3rd Nottingham , Bodega
4th Newcastle, The Cluny
1st August - Field Day, London
22nd August – Sounds In The Grounds, Stornoway
12th September - End Of The Road
www.myspace.com/malcolmmiddleton
"'Waxing gibbous' refers to a moon that's almost full, and Middleton here surely approaches full brilliance."Mojo 4 stars
"one of Britain's most underrated and vital songwriters"Q 4 stars
