When: 7pm on Saturday 25 September 2010
Where: Dulcimer, 567 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 0AE

Hey! Dulcimer returns for its third instalment – this time a Saturday night show featuring Fuzzy Lights and the Maladies of Bellafontaine.

Formed in 2004 as an improvising duo, Fuzzy Lights are a five-piece band led by husband and wife Xavier and Rachel Watkins.  Combining folk purity with psychedelic guitar noise, their reverb-soaked music found a dedicated following with the late-2008 release of their debut album A Distant Voice.  After touring in the first half of 2009 and playing shows with the likes of Evangelista, Vetiver, Willard Grant Conspiracy and James Blackshaw, the band took the rest of the year out to work on new material. They returned in August with their highly anticipated second album Twin Feathers, preceded by the Helm EP, both released on Manchester’s Little Red Rabbit Records.

‘A huge, cinematic record. Like all great instrumental post-rock, the effect is an organic ebbing and flowing that gives the speakers a damn good work out.’

‘As hazily atmospheric as mist rolling across their native Cambridgeshire fenland. 4/5. Underground Album of the Month’ – Mojo

‘Outstanding. A beguiling, brilliant second LP. Like the Dirty Three meeting Low with a hint of Sweet Billy Pilgrim. If they were American, the buzz would be huge already. 4/5’ – Uncut

Wigan’s The Maladies of Bellafontaine are self-described as ‘seven folky tramps transcending the gutter and zooming to Jupiter on a psych-tinged booze-fuelled bottle rocket’. This troubadour troupe plays dark indie-tinted folk-pop, which, as one blogger recent said, sounds like ‘a playful Marissa Nadler, Broadcast, The Ditty Bops, and quite a lot like old John Peel faves the Would Be’s‘. Which is exactly why we’ve invited them to play. Their debut single is out on Static Caravan (Tunng, David Thomas Broughton, John Smith) in September.

This show takes place at Dulcimer, Manchester’s celebrated ‘folk bar’ in central Chorlton. Regular buses (85 and 86) run to Chorlton from the city centre, plus the 23 and 23A from Didsbury and West Didsbury, and the 168 from Fallowfield. We recommend using GMPTE’s JourneyPlanner to arrange your trip.

Ticket, priced £3, are available on the door. Please note this show starts at 7pm and ends at 10pm prompt.