Bristol’s Phantom Limb will release their new single, the stirring ‘Gravy Train’, on March 12th, via Naim Edge Records. Having performed a sold out show at London’s The Bowery in November – and having extensively played huge dates supporting Rumer, at her personal request for much of last year – the band are set to embark on a twelve-date tour of the UK in February. The tour will commence at London’s Garage on February 10 as part of HMV’s Next Big Thing festival.
‘Gravy Train’ is taken from Phantom Limb’s forthcoming new album The Pines (released Feb 13), which was in part conceived on the road, then in rural France, before being produced by Marc Ford (The Black Crowes) in Signal Hill; the oil capital of California. All proved to be conducive settings for an album largely written about escape. The resigned, working-for-the-man sigh of the new single ‘Gravy Train’ – held together by the powerful, tender vocals of lead singer Yolanda Quartey – capturing the overriding sense that the band have spent all day making ends meet, but will sing songs they love long into the night.
Phantom Limb are an unusual musical prospect, drawing together a range of different sounds and experiences. By day, various members of the group have earned their crust as session musicians, vocalists and songwriters, skirting round the edges of the industry. A glance at their collective musical CV would list collaborations with everyone from Pee Wee Ellis and Percy Sledge to Tom Jones. Quartey, who has sung lead spots with Nitin Sawhney and Chase & Status, spent the summer of 2008 touring with Massive Attack, written for Will Young and performed backing vocals for Adele and Dizzee Rascal.
Having met by chance amidst these workmanlike sessions, Phantom Limb released their self-titled debut album in 2008. Yet it is with their second offering – The Pines – that you sense they’re truly stepping out to the front of the stage. Musically, the songs stand at the crossroads between Country and classic R&B, which – from Ray Charles’ country albums to The Staple Singers fronting The Band – still feels relatively unexplored. Yet as Yolanda succinctly puts it, “Country and gospel are the same, just with different race singers.” The skill of Phantom Limb lies in their ability to assimilate these seemingly disparate influences in a manner that feels effortless and idiosyncratic.
Tour Dates:
10 February HMV Next Big Thing @ Garage London
16 February The Fleece Bristol
18 February King Tuts Glasgow
19 February Electric Circus Edinburgh
23 February The Boiler Room Guilford
24 February Arlington Arts Newbury
01 March Hare & Hounds Birmingham
03 March Latest Music Bar Brighton
05 March Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff
08 March Whelan’s Upstairs Dublin
09 March Mello Mello Liverpool
15 March Ride Café Plymouth
