British singer-songwriter Katherine Priddy releases her much-anticipated sophomore album The Pendulum Swing via Cooking Vinyl. This follows her highly acclaimed 2021 debut The Eternal Rocks Beneath, which announced Priddy as a singular new talent on the contemporary roots music scene. The first single from the album is “First House On The Left”. Speaking about the single and the wider themes on the album Priddy commented: “Despite its soft and dreamy sound, this song provides the cornerstone around which the album and its themes orbit. It’s inspired by the little old house where I grew up and all the memories captured within those four walls - both for me and for all the other inhabitants who’ve lived there over the centuries. It might just be another terraced cottage to passersby, but to those who’ve called it home, it’s everything. The album title The Pendulum Swing is taken from a line in this song and describes the urge to leave and the even stronger urge to return - something I’ve felt a lot in recent few years as I’ve tried to carve out a corner for myself elsewhere, but always found myself wandering back, craving the comfort and nostalgia of the past.It also sums up this second album as a whole quite nicely - my songs have matured since my debut, seeing as most of those were written in my childhood, but despite moving forward and feeling the need to do something different with this second release, I still can't help but return to those fundamental, unchanging things at the root of it all: home, family, love. Overall, I wanted this song and the album to feel lived in, and this is captured in part by the ghostly atmospheres, mechanical clockwork sounds, creaking floorboards, indistinct whispers and old tape recordings of my family that are littered throughout. I want to invite the listener to come in, sit down and inhabit the album for a little while, and this song is right at the heart of that.”Once again recorded in Birmingham by producer Simon J Weaver, guest musicians comprise John Smith (lead guitar), Harry Fausing Smith (strings), Marcus Hamblett (brass/double bass), George Boomsma (guitar, backing vocals, co-writer on track “Ready To Go”), Polly Virr (cello) and even a brief appearance from Priddy’s family members right at the end of the album, in keeping with its themes. With The Pendulum Swing, Priddy has managed to keep moving forward whilst acknowledging and honouring all that has gone before. For fans of Nick Drake and John Martyn. Tracklisting: 1)Returning; 2) Selah; 3) First House On The Left; 4) These Words Of Mine; 5) Does She Hold one Like I Did; 6) Northern Sunrise; 7) A Boat On The River; 8) Father of Two; 9) Anyway, Always; 10)Walnut Shell; 11) Ready To Go; 12) Leaving.
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