As a world first, The Bats will perform their brilliant new album The Deep Set in full, accompanied by a string section, and due to popular demand Moses Sumney will perform a second show in the intimate surrounds of the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent at Meriton Festival Village.
Influential New Zealand indie-pop legends The Bats come to Sydney Festival in January to perform their new album, The Deep Set (out January 27 via Flying Nun), and have today shared the first single “Antlers” through Noisey.
The Deep Set is a potent distillation of The Bats as we’ve known and loved them for 35 years. Still in their original line-up, which has stood firm since 1982, New Zealand’s own “Fab Four” have applied their everlasting pop smarts to deepen the sound they created – layering Robert Scott’s ever catchy and dreamy song writing with distinctive guitar jangles, shimmering harmonies and heightened emotion courtesy of cello, viola and violins. By shrugging off any pretensions of heritage and keeping their gaze always grounded in the now, The Bats have become truly vital pop artisans of the 21st century.
Five years after the release of their last critically acclaimed album, The Bats return with album number nine, The Deep Set (out January 27 on Flying Nun). With the title conveying the long established and firmly embedded, it’s notable that its 30 years since The Bats began recording their debut album in the living room studio of a friend of a friend in Glasgow.
As always the key to The Bats is the emotion that their (seemingly) simple songs carry. They continue to mine that Mainland melancholy; the kind that somehow never risks being depressing. But of course that means there is lament and nostalgia, even if it’s only for last night.
Having debuted their new album in full, The Bats will also take a rip roaring trip down memory lane to deliver a greatest hits set laden with riches. Celebrating 30 years since their classic debut Daddy’s Highway – one of the outstanding albums from the Flying Nun label’s golden age in the 1980s – The Bats will delve into the canon of glorious indie-pop songs for which they have become so loved, and which continue to wield a mighty influence across the pond with a new generation of Australian daydreamers.
Also added to the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent line-up, is the celestial, soulful, and subtly subversive sounds of Moses Sumney. Armed with just a guitar, a loop pedal and an arresting otherworldly voice, his performances come together one luminous layer at a time. Sumney’s vocals are often reverbed and looped, ethereal and haunting in the manner of avant-folk acts like Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear.
With strands of Anohni and Billie Holiday in his musical DNA, Sufjan Stevens and Solange were counted as fans before he’d even released his acclaimed debut EP. Having released on Terrible Records, the imprint of Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Sumney writes songs that sound like they grew out of cracks in an LA sidewalk: natural, surprising, elegant and perfectly formed.
Recently joining James Blake on his US tour, and having supported Connan Mockasin, St Vincent, Erykah Badu and Sufjan Stevens, Sumney has become an independent artist to watch. Sumney’s credits also include recording the opening track for Beck’s experimental project Song Reader, singing alongside Karen O at a Sofar Sounds concert, contributing vocals on Solange Knowles’ recently released album A Seat At The Table alongside Lil Wayne and collaborating with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange for Solange’s FYF fest performance.
In 2014, Sumney released a self-recorded EP, Mid-City Island, whilst last year’s single Seeds/Pleas received widespread critical acclaim, hailed as “unexpected and captivating” by Pitchfork. His most recent release Lamentations, a five track collection released in September this year, features a bass contribution from Thundercat and hints at what can be expected from his anticipated full-length release.
Where Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Meriton Festival Village
When 15 January at 5pm (Moses Sumney)
29 January at 5pm (The Bats)Tickets General Admission $40 + booking fee (M)
Bookings Sydney Festival on 1300 856 876
sydneyfestival.org.au/moses – sydneyfestival.org.au/2017/bats
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