Brighton based art-pop five-piece Shrag will be releasing their hotly anticipated third album Canines via WIAIWYA and Fortuna POP! in May of next year. They are also announcing a joint full-length UK tour for February with Atlanta, GA band Tunabunny.
TOUR DATES
Thurs 23rd Feb –Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/145530
Fri 24th Feb – London Popfest
http://www.wegottickets.com/f/3090
Sat 25th Feb – Undertone, Cardiff
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/147743
Sun 26th Feb – The Continental, Preston
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/147105
Mon 27th Feb – The Riverside, Sheffield
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/148178
Tues 28th Feb – Stereo, York
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/146303
Weds 29th Feb – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_scotland&query=detail&event=484710
Thurs 1st March – Mello Mello, Liverpool
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/148540
Fri 2nd March – The Chameleon, Nottingham
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/148179
Sat 3rd March – The Victoria (Dalston), London
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/147362
Recorded at Gargleblast Studios with producer Andy Miller (Life Without Buildings, Mogwai, Sons and Daughters), Canines is a visceral pop record bristling with urgency, melody, and danger, and is the sound of a band fully in their stride. Lead singer and wordsmith Helen King from the band described the new album:
We wrote Canines between January and August this year in a long series of slightly fevered evenings ensconced in the shed at the bottom of Bob’s garden. It’s a pop record about bones and skin and cities and compulsions and love and confusion. It’s a bit strange, but you can dance to some of it, and it makes a particular kind of sense to us, which feels very exciting.
Canines follows up 2009’s self-titled debut album, and 2010’s Life! Death! Prizes!, both of which were mixed by legendary producer (and Morrissey drummer) Woodie Taylor, fresh from his success with Love Is All and Comet Gain. Shrag’s first album was met with critical acclaim from, amongst others, Uncut, Pitchfork, the Sunday Times, and Artrocker. Life! Death! Prizes! was equally as acclaimed as its predecessor, garnering wide-spread praise from many including Pitchfork (again), Drowned in Sound, The Quietus, and All Music Guide, who praised “… the kind of songs you want to hear playing loud all day and then quietly at night, a thrillingly romantic, bleedingly emotional album for people who want some bite in their pop.”
Other highlights have included performing in New York at the CMJ Music Marathon, a scene stealing performance at Indietracks Festival, three sessions for BBC6’s Marc Riley, and a BBC Radio One session recorded at London’s prestigious Maida Vale Studios.
Renowned for the energy and vitality of their live shows, Shrag have supported The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Thermals and The Cribs in the UK. They will set out on a joint-headline UK tour in February with Tunabunny who share their reputation for compelling live performances. Tunabunny have just released their arrestingly exciting second LP Minima Moralia on happyhappybirthdaytome records. To commemorate this union and the unmissable series of shows, the bands will be releasing a limited edition split 7” on February 20th that will bear the first fruits of Canines.
http://www.myspace.com/shrag
