Bernard Butler | 17 SECONDS

(l-r) Jo O’Keefe (violin), Josh Green (percussion), Bernard Butler (producer), Elizabeth Fraser (guest vocalist), Sam Lee, James Keay (keyboards), Misha Mullov-Abbado (double bass)

Yes! That Elizabeth Fraser, former lead singer of the Cocteau Twins and one of the most amazing voices to ever grace this earth and she’s on this new track from Sam Lee, which dropped into my inbox this morning.

Produced by Bernard Butler (another legend round 17 Seconds Towers), it is taken from his forthcoming album Old Wow which is due out on January 31, 2020 via Cooking Vinyl.

Fraser and Lee bonded over a shared love of traditional music, and she attended several of his gigs. Of the song he says ‘The song originated as an English Gypsy Christmas Carol taking root at least as far back as the 1700s, and was collected almost exclusively from the Gypsy community. It has all the hallmarks of an ancient proto-religious song that has more recently shed lots of the more Christian meanings to connect in with a more animistic relationship to the winter solstice time’. Fraser’s contribution contains a traditional Scottish song ‘Wild Mountain Thyme.’

Sam Lee is on tour in the New Year:

29 January 2020 Glasgow Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Strathclyde Suite)

31 January 2020 Newcastle Cluny

01 February 2020 Manchester Night and Day

03 February 2020 Nottingham Rescue Rooms

04 February 2020 Leeds City Varieties

05 February 2020 Birmingham Glee

06 February 2020 Exeter Phoenix

07 February 2020 Bodmin St Petroc’s Church

08 February 2020 Lyme Regis Marine Theatre

10 February 2020 Cambridge Junction 2

13 February 2020 Brighton St George’s

15 February 2020 Canterbury Gulbenkian Theatre

16 February 2020 Norwich Open

17 February 2020 London EartH

19 February 2020 Bristol St George’s

21 February 2020 Cardiff The Gate

Ben Watt, by Edward Bishop

There’s so many people coming out of the woodwork after a lot of time has gone by that I’ve come to the conclusion that it can only be a matter of time before Robert Smith and Steve Severin collaborate on another project together under The Glove moniker. Hell, if Bowie can come back after ten years as if nothing’s happened, well, anything can happen.

The latest OMG moment is that of Ben Watt. Back in the early eighties he released a fine solo album, entitled North Marine Drive and an EP with Robert Wyatt, Summer Into Winter. Still in his teends, he went off to Hull University where he met Tracey Thorn, who he formed Everything But The Girl with. He’s run his own label Buzzin’ Fly, and written

His new album is called Hendra and comes out on April 14. The album is a collaboration with Bernard Butler (of Suede fame and noted record producer), and Ewan Pearson. Oh, and another contributor to the album is Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, no less, who features on ‘The Levels.’

The album tracklisting is as follows:
‘Hendra’
‘Forget’
‘Spring’
‘Golden Ratio’
‘Matthew Arnold’s Field’
‘The Gun’
‘Nathaniel’
‘The Levels’
‘Young Man’s Game’
‘The Heart Is A Mirror’

He’s also on tour, though dates so far are only for England:

Feb 23 – London, St Pancras Church – SOLD OUT
Feb 24 – London, St Pancras Church – SOLD OUT
April 15 Sheffield, Greystones
April 16 Newcastle, Cluny 2
April 17 Liverpool, East Village Arts Club
April 18 Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
April 19 Cambridge, Junction 2
April 21 Nottingham, Bodega
April 22 Guildford, Boileroom
April 23 Norwich, Arts Centre

17 SECONDS

…A MEASURE OF LIFE

Category Archives: Bernard Butler

Presenting Sam Lee…and Elizabeth Fraser!

The return of Ben Watt: solo artist