London’s group, Tugboat Captain recently forthcoming fourth album, Dog Tale, to be released on the 25th April.
To celebrate, they have shared the charming video for the album’s title track, directed by the band’s bassist, Joshua Cobb, and starring Sox’s dog Rufus alongside some furry friends. Drawing its title from the canine-themed cocktails at London’s Cavendish Arms, this serene song with a plaintive and comforting melody is primed with an ingenuous and witty rhyming of dog breeds. It’s a glorious ode to the venue where singer Sox previously worked and its influence on the band’s development. unfurling into an arms linking anthem, it has echoes of the likes of The Mountain Goats and Sea Power
“We filmed the music video in a church hall gathering all the untrained dogs we could find with a plan to host an inverted dog show, where the owners are the contestants” Joshua elaborates. “We wanted to play with the idea that it’s a bit weird to rank dogs and thought it’d be more fun to have the dogs ranking the humans. The video was made with the same hands-on DIY spirit in which the record was made”
Following their critically acclaimed 2020 album Rut, Dog Tale was written and recorded in just one week at the South London studio Josh and Sox run, Ctrl P, the album is both an exercise in the band and studio’s ethos of creating music in an atmosphere of spontaneity and creativity. It also represents a more personal dimension for chief lyricist Sox, as he muses on the ephemeral nature of living in London in your mid-late twenties.
“I feel like this album is a ‘Dog’s Tale’ of love, relationships, family and domesticity” Sox muses on the album title. “I feel like lyrically, I’ve been honing in on this domestic story for a long time, and I’ve been trying to focus in on this feeling of “what is it like to be me? What does home mean to me and everyone else?”
Originally starting off as Sox’s solo project back in 2017, Tugboat Captain has morphed over the last eight years into one of London’s most distinct bands, with a sprawling, romantic sound that draws on folk, classical music, indie pop and singer/songwriters like Scott Walker and the Divine Comedy. Now a fluctuating sextet, the rest of Tugboat Captain are comprised of Joshua Cobb (Bass & Trombone), Buddy Caderni (Keys & Bassoon), Georgia Mancey (Drums & Percussion), Sophia Bartlett (Violin & Keys) and Dougal James (Keys & Bass).
As well as the forthcoming release of Dog Tale, the band have a plethora of UK live dates coming up where they’ll be bringing the widescreen sound of the album to venues up and down the country. “I’m excited to see how this music translates into other environments” Sox enthuses. “Especially because it’s so lyrics focussed. I’m very intrigued by taking this out into the world”
Tour Dates
23rd April – York – The Fulford Arms
24th April – Newcastle – Little Buildings
25th April – Halifax – Grayston Unity
30th April – Bristol – The Lanes
1st May – Newport – Le Pub
9th May – London – The Ivy House
10th May – London – The Ivy House
5th June – Falmouth – The Fish Factory
26th June – Portsmouth – Deco
27th June – Brighton – Folklore
28th June – Rainham – The Oast
