When: 7.30pm on Monday 26 March 2012
Where: Band on the Wall, 26 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JZ

When: 7.30pm on Sunday 1 April 2012
Where: Trades Club, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge HX7 8EE

We’re proud to be presenting the hometown show for Hey! Manchester regulars Last Harbour – plus a visit to Hebden Bridge.

Last Harbour are an expansive collective playing ‘swooning dustbowl baroque’ (Plan B) that come from ‘the same tangled patch of briar as The Bad Seeds and Tindersticks‘ (Uncut). The only claims they make for their music are that it be honest and searching. From dusty laments to doom-filled rock, from starkly beautiful duets to drifting clouds of ambient noise, there’s always an intensity that strikes hard. Last Harbour’s acclaimed 2010 album Volo and EP Lights were co-produced by Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Spacemen 3) and were featured across 6Music shows including Gideon Coe, Tom Robinson and a session on Marc Riley.

The band’s new album, Your Heart, It Carries The Sound, was written in isolation in a small Northumbrian cottage in October 2010 and recorded in April 2011 in St Margaret’s Church, Manchester. The songs are recorded almost entirely live, with producer Sam Lench employing the church as a soundstage. His approach carefully uses the architecture of the building to sculpt and shape the music, creating a sense of the band within the space. Your Heart, It Carries The Sound will be released on Little Red Rabbit Records on 20 February.

The band have played alongside, amongst others, Dirty Three, Josh T Pearson, Michael Gira (Swans/Angels of Light), Willard Grant Conspiracy, Lanterns on the Lake, Mark Mulcahy, Devendra Banhart and The Handsome Family. Their 2010 UK tour included headline dates at London’s Union Chapel and Manchester’s Deaf Institute. They were also featured on the I Am Cold Rock Will Oldham tribute alongside Calexico, Iron & Wine and Mark Kozelek.

‘The final frontier of funeral pop’ – Artrocker

‘Rich and foreboding, tracing a thread back to the post-industrial landscapes of Joy Division’ – Drowned in Sound

Support in Manchester comes from Easter. Three years on from self-released EP Hob Talk, Easter release their debut album Innocence Man on White Box Recordings in June. Easter use their palate freely with indie, folk, and even free-rock influences resulting in a more intense and accomplished take on their upright shoegaze sound. For musical reference points, try Sun Kil Moon/Red House Painters, Sonic Youth, Califone, Neil Young, Sebadoh and Hood.

Veí opens in Manchester. Veí is the alias of multi-instrumentalist, producer and former Kin keyboardist Jonn Dean. Having recently shifted his focus from improvised electronic performances to a more structured laptop-based setup, Veí released a self-titled EP in February with new not-for-profit Manchester label Baptists & Bootleggers.

The Manchester show is a co-promotion with Band on the Wall.

Support in Hebden Bridge comes from A Rookery, who are a progressive modern folk band from the upper Calder Valley. In terms of their sound it can be papery and light and as cold as frost, sometimes thick and treacly, with vinegar and molasses. From a modern take on a traditional bower song, to songs of want and redemption.

Johnny Powell and the Big Sad Face of Infinity complete the bill. The solitary music of Johnny Powell was born in a small pink cottage on Dartmoor in 2009, and has speedily spawned into focussed project of songs, poems, thoughts, prayers, video, art, things, parts, and other mind and matter. Numerous gigs and collaborations have since followed, including performances with Jeffrey Lewis, Erland and the Carnival, Meg Baird, Cherry Ghost and Alasdair Roberts amongst others. An EP was released along the way on the Rural Colours label, and an album is currently being carved out.

FOR MANCHESTER:

Tickets are available from Band on the Wall’s box office, Common (both no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Vinyl Exchange, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm

FOR HEBDEN BRIDGE:

Tickets are available from the Trades Club bar, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm