When: 7.30pm on Sunday 20 March 2011
Where: The Deaf Institute, 135 Grosvenor Street, Manchester M1 7HE

We’re excited to welcome Baltimore’s Arbouretum to our fair city – their first visit in almost two years!

Dave Heumann has played with The Anomoanon, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Cass McCombs and Papa M. Arbouretum is the first band for which he is the primary songwriter, guitarist and singer. Heumann’s idea for the band was one whose songs would evoke natural forms and movements as opposed to architectural constructions with rigid forms and linear progressions. The band’s debut album, Long Live The Well-Doer, a decidedly solo affair, was released in 2004 on Thrill Jockey Records.

Seven years on and The Gathering, Arbouretum’s fourth album, was to a large extent inspired by The Red Book by Carl Jung, or more specifically, Jung’s pursuit of the inner images that led to the book’s writing. Heumann has long been a fan of experiences that surpass comprehension and describe the numinous. The narrative of ‘losing one’s way and finding it again’ resonated deeply and it was in this context that the songs that comprise The Gathering came to be.

‘Heumann has one of the most distinctive voices around, with a unique, heavy-folk feel to his grand, hymnal melodies’ – The Guardian 4/5

Manchester’s own Samson & Delilah provide support for this show. The band released their latest album, And Straight On Till Morning, on Little Red Rabbit Records in January.

‘Eleven folk-rock cuts recorded live with the band arrayed in a circle for maximum effect. Gorgeous and spine-tingling. Definitely recommended’ – Terrascope

‘Psych folk lives on. It’s a brave fusion with melodies as sturdy as great hymns and bold production work. This should be a band to watch’ – The Guardian

This bill is rounded off by our own Milk Maid, whose debut single Piccadilly Records described as a combination of ‘garage rock and bubble gum pop’ comparable to Guided By Voices. ‘It has that Woods doing a Spectrals song type of appeal. It has a classic Orbison style guitar and vocal melody but it’s amped up and fuzzed-out of all recognition,’ it added.

Tickets are available from the bar, Common (both no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm