Louis Eliot & the Embers release new album Kittow's Moor
With the crackle of fireworks and the thrill of the fairground, Louis Eliot is back with a new incarnation - Louis Eliot & the Embers.
The former frontman of Kinky Machine and Rialto - who scored three top 40 singles in the late 90s - has delivered a most evocative and accessible collection of songs with his first new album in half a decade, Kittow's Moor.
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Kittow's Moor is the follow up to The Long Way Round - Louis Eliot's critically acclaimed solo debut that was released by IRL in 2004. Marking Louis's transition from metropolitan songsmith to country troubadour as he headed for home, it was declared album of the week by The Sunday Times and attracted high praise across the board.
Throughout his career, Louis has been at the hub of British songwriting talent, most recently contributing two co-writes to Adventure Man by current Ivor Novello Songwriter of the Year, Eg White - yet another addition to the proven CV of an artist who can deliver a heart-stopping hit with easy charm.
And Kittow's Moor is no exception, demonstrating more than ever Louis's extraordinary talent for wry observation and a rip-roaring, roller-coaster ride of a tune, but this time in the context of the countryside.
Having lived the dream of 90s London Brit-Pop hedonism, Louis Eliot snatched his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar and headed west, swapping the fetid Thames fug for the fresh air of Cornwall. Away from the shrill whir of the capital, surrounded by timeless rolling landscapes and wild beaches, he started over.
Kittow's Moor is an album full of warmth, pastoral beauty and raw passion, played with effortless skill by a band of consummate musicians, so obviously attuned to Louis's artistic vision - among them a dairy farmer and a tin whistler who runs a fairground waltzer ride - that the glorious sound they make feels like the most natural thing in the world.
Think Hardy-esque harvest hoe-down on a Saturday night with the moon shining bright and the cider flowing; think of love lost and won with the briny taste of the sea on your lips; think of the adrenalin rush of a fairground ride and you're there... in fact, wherever he takes you, Louis captures the essence of a scenario in a heartbeat with lyrics that evoke wistful nostalgia for good times past.
Musically, Kittow's Moor pulses with energy and warmth. The Embers glow red hot and threaten to burn the barn roof off, sounding like an itinerant gang of field hands, fishermen, vagabonds and the ghost of Eddie Cochran wandering west along a country road, in search of the spirit of Albion punk and determined to have a damned good time whilst they're about it.
Accordions, banjos, tin whistles and mandolins cook up a joyous rural clamour to lift your heart and send you out into the night with a smile on your face.
Louis Eliot & the Embers, timeless and magical, as English as the landscape, as fresh as a spring afternoon. Brit-Pop indeed.
"Louis Eliot's sharp lyricism and easy song writing serves him well" - NME
"True pop genius" - The Times
"Winning blend of rustic charm and urban cool...a savvy pop brain with the lyrical articulacy of a Costello or a Weller" - Uncut
"Louis Eliot has welded the sound of barn-bound folk to that of pure pop and emerged with an album that boasts ultra friendly, individually shaped songs guaranteed to warm both hearts and feet." - Mojo
"My new discovery... really great stuff..." - Bob Harris, Radio 2
Kittow’s Moor is available now from Amazon and as a download from iTunes.
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Louis Eliot & the Embers Official Website
Louis Eliot & the Embers MySpace
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