The Fernweh ‘Is The Man Bothering You’

A brilliant new single taken from last year’s album The Liar which we covered with double thumbs up. Riding the wake of significant radio play and critical praise , The Fernweh release their second single, ‘Is This Man Bothering You?’ backed by the sublime instrumental, ‘Timepiece’, on Skeleton Key on Fri 30 March 2018, and announce a series of live dates including their debut London show at The Social on Wed 30 May 2018

The video produced by maverick artist, David Chatton Barker, one half of Folklore Tapes, was made using a found 16mm reel documentary set in Hockley, Birmingham in the ’60s. The reel was physically painted and splattered frame by frame using a rainbow of inks, then scanned-in and re-edited to fit the song.

Vintage 8-track recording techniques capture the band and guest vocalist, Alessi Laurent-Marke (Alessi’s Ark) cavorting with three looped drum kits, a wall of overdriven 12-string guitars, flute and Mellotrons in a heart-stopping rush of psych-folk-pop on ‘Is This Man Bothering You?’. The band’s distinctly English, coal-fired translation of the acid-soaked culture of decades lost continues with subtly sinister lyrics that draw on terrifying British, cult-horror classics, such as Michael Powell’sPeeping Tom   and the kitchen sink drama of BBC’s Dixon of Dock Green 

As a point of almost unfathomable contradiction, The Fernweh also present Timepiece, an instrumental that has captured the imagination and affection of a growing online fan base through its deeply evocative, gently cinematic piano and strings arrangement. Following their support slots with St Etienne in late 2017 and their February BBC 6 Music Session with Cerys Matthews, The Fernweh make further headway live, announcing the following dates:

14 April – Liverpool- Studio 2, Parr St
05 May – Liverpool, Sound City
26 May – Liverpool, EBGB’s
30 May – London, The Social
29 July – Kendal Calling
14 Sep – The Good Life Experience Festival

The Fernweh is Jamie Backhouse (guitars), Ned Crowther (vocals and bass) and Austin Murphy (keys/saxophone), Maja Agnevik (vocals/flute) and Phil Murphy (drums).