{"title":"BB Island","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"santa-cruz-gold","title":"Santa Cruz Gold","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst physical release for this 2018 recording. David Ivar on Santa Cruz Gold: \"These songs are the songs of a Swedish-French Jewish immigrant in California. Straight to your ears from my studio, this album was meant to come out for Hannukah, on December 2nd of 2018. I produced and recorded the album, playing almost everything from Drums to Harmonica and had the pleasure to have wonderful guests like Nashville's Caitlin Rose and Steelism, Jolie Holland, Jon Natchez (War On Drugs) and Mayon who sings with me on all songs. I recorded this album after setting up a studio in my garage, for a soundtrack I was working on (Blockbuster, first French Netflix movie). I had just severed ties with all labels, publishers I'd been working with since 2006, and had also completely stopped touring, only performing in San Pedro, Long Beach and the Los Angeles area. Writing and recording at a time when no one was pressuring me to, and I must say at a time when I doubted that anyone would be interested in my songs was more of an existential need than anything else, and definitely not a career move. I shared these songs with David Berman (Poet also known as The Silver Jews) who told me these were my best songs, and even helped me shape the album the way you'll hear it now, editing the tracklist and even some lyrics. If these were my best songs, I was going to make them Gold (a reference to the old 20th century habit of rewarding sales with Gold Records), that's why I called this album Santa Cruz Gold.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"CD | x2","offer_id":50383041659211,"sku":"1140323","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50383041265995,"sku":"1140322","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50383041823051,"sku":"1140325","price":25.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9b5879cb-1d56-4c3c-9aa3-b255c03c3fa0_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726262529"},{"product_id":"the-girl-with-no-skin","title":"The Girl With No Skin","description":"\u003cp\u003eElla tells us her story across ten songs. A story that moves us, touches us, that concerns us: we fight and demonstrate, we cry and dream with her. And just like Ella, we are sometimes fragile, sometimes doubting, sometimes denouncing. But in the end, we are strong. The story of Ella Ronen, like her songs, reads like a work of magical realism. A silent choir child, turned immigrant, turned activist and poet. She reportedly began singing in the womb and penned long, detailed stories before she could write, by dictating them to adults. The details of her life are woven into her songs. At the age of 16, Ella Ronen entered a bar that was known for allowing underage drinking, and a well-known poet and journalist started chatting with her. He invited her to his apartment and assaulted her, she narrowly escaped. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2020, Ronen began looking for producers. She was moved by two songs by different artists in different years so much that she checked their credits. And they led to one and the same person: Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Sharon Van Etten, Curtis Harding). A few months later, Cohen received an email from her. The subject line read \"Producing an album\", and it contained a first song for this future album. Cohen says that although Ronen had forgotten to include the recording file, the lyrics were enough for him to know that he wanted to make this album. This song was: \"The Girl with no Skin\". Ella Ronen is an extraordinary storyteller with the warmest voice in the world. The musical finesse make \"The Girl With No Skin\" an album that will accompany music lovers on a long journey. The musician herself becomes the listener's accomplice, a courageous friend, and reminds us that life is made up of duality: right next to fear lies hope.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50400181649739,"sku":"2178419","price":31.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50400178962763,"sku":"2178418","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/BBI0522_063426e0_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726510897"},{"product_id":"untitled-2","title":"Untitled","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUntitled\u003c\/i\u003e is a rare bona fide cult classic and weird pop album from Moldy Peaches guitarist Toby Goodshank, featuring the hit songs: Track 1, Track 2,... Track 5 and up to Track 10. Depending on how you looked at it this 2009 album didn't have a title or two titles. It didn't have just one cover, but two and none of the album's ten tracks was titled. What the album lacked tangibility on the outside it made up in a concrete musical poetry unlikely to find anywhere else. Brimming with unique ideas that don't shy away from the personal, the vulgar and the graphic Toby Goodshank's \u003ci\u003eUntitled\u003c\/i\u003e shows an artist exploring the boundaries of what you can say in a song and how you can deliver it. The Brooklyn-based artist made his high-profile musical debut as a guitar player in The Moldy Peaches. He started a prolific solo career, recording and self-releasing 14 albums in a five-year span and touring Europe with artists including Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson. Goodshank's style draws from a variety of pop, underground art and musical influences and employs many instrumental textures. Unconventional song structure, humor, innuendo and wordplay are staples of his music and artwork. He co-founded the 3MB art collective with Adam Green and Macaulay Culkin. Now the album is officially available for the first time on CD (and together with Lousy Moon as strictly limited vinyl) via the label BB*Island and ready to be discovered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50402385854795,"sku":"1140379","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50402386051403,"sku":"1140380","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5ef0db76-518d-4455-abe4-4994b69020a5_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726543733"},{"product_id":"rare-feeling","title":"Rare Feeling","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwain is the solo project of Mt. (Mat) Davidson, a tender and evocative singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Virginia. Having previously worked with the likes of The Low Anthem, The Deslondes and Spirit Family Reunion, Mt. Davidson started to write and self-record under the name Twain in the mid-2000s. His songs and sounds and his remarkable stage presence, whether solo or with his trio, steadily gained devoted listeners throughout the US indie-folk-circuit. Now BB*Island release his first official album and Europeans caught his live magic for the first time when he performed solo on April dates with Courtney Marie Andrews.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50402386641227,"sku":"1038612","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/bba2041e-bf80-486e-8e7b-f370fa58ce8d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726543754"},{"product_id":"kinship","title":"Kinship","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"New York duo discover and deploy the power of subtlety.. In all, a fiery triumph' “ wrote Mojo of their acclaimed 2014 album \u003ci\u003eEight Houses\u003c\/i\u003e. Now, they are diving even deeper. A meditative and endlessly turning clutch of songs, She Keeps Bees' \u003ci\u003eKinship \u003c\/i\u003ereasserts the band's elegant power in a stream of loss and regeneration. Death, birth, both personal and in reflection of Earth itself emerge through Jessica Larrabee's focused, empowered voice. With Larrabee and Andy LaPlant's first album in four years, She Keeps Bees peels away their distorted guitars and fills the void with hypnotic organ, keyboards, strings, a tight bed of drum grooves, and a direct lyricism full of with wisdom and intention. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Black Vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP+ Hand Numbered to 300 Copies on Marbled Clear \/ Translucent Blue Vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50402387362123,"sku":"1059518","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50402387460427,"sku":"1059517","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fb35a3bf-d627-45ef-92bb-c631f9972b40_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726543789"},{"product_id":"sprung","title":"Sprung","description":"\u003cp\u003eGris-de-Lin is a singer\/songwriter \u0026amp; multi-instrumentalist from Bridport, Dorset. Her music is a heady mix of post-rock, blues and alt-folk peppered with warped electronics; the songs are narrative and lyrical. Gris-de-Lin's debut album 'Sprung' was recorded in a nursery school, and saw her playing virtually all of the instruments herself - from guitars and synths to drums and saxophone. Working with producer\/engineer Chris Hamilton (Squarepusher\/Torres\/Kite-Base) she also drafted in Rob Ellis (P.J.Harvey\/Anna Calvi) to play drums on several tracks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGris-de-Lin has also been working with other artists including Tungg, The Duke Spirit, Joe Gideon \u0026amp; Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave \u0026amp; The Bad Seeds\/Sonic Youth) and Berlin-based artist Gemma Ray. She also composes music for television and film. Gris-de-Lin (a name inspired by a character from Turkish folklore - a wise bird that could speak!) grew up in the West Country, with parents who were big into the folk and world music scene. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter years in London her heart lured her back to the sea. Bridport, where she's now based, is a quirky place with a dramatic coastline, a hearty pub-culture and a thriving arts scene for a small town. Local festivals embrace the mundane (hats, onions, cider!) while eccentricity is celebrated too. It's proved an inspiring place to be for songwriting and getting back to nature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50402387984715,"sku":"1032518","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50402388902219,"sku":"1032517","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9b475675-d087-428a-af6d-a71e7a2d8386_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726543824"},{"product_id":"the-portable-herman-dune-vol-1","title":"The Portable Herman Dune Vol 1","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Portable Herman Dune Vol. 1 \u003c\/i\u003eis an acoustic anthology, the first of three parts, in which 22 years of songwriting are laid bare, stripped to the most intimate bone, to be released at intervals over the coming months. Though sonically naked, the songs are bundled up in emotion and loaded with life. Centre-stage are David Ivar's songs, with his 1954 guitar, his 1930s mandolin, and his voice, plus exceptional guests: Julie Doiron, Mayon (Ivar's life partner), Caitlin Rose, Jolie Holland, and Kimya Dawson providing vocal counterpoint. \u003ci\u003eThe Portable Herman Dune\u003c\/i\u003e is raw and straightforward, the songs played as naturally as David wrote them. His voice has become more gravelly after two decades of singing, and his guitar is without embellishment. The same guitar - his 1954 Gibson LG, - and one mandolin, a 1930s Kalamazoo A-shape mandolin that Ivar bought with Canadian Dollars from a show in Montreal, where he was stuck during the Travel Ban and played shows and recorded with his decades-long friend Julie Doiron. Some songs have accents of harmonica, upright bass, melodica, accordion, or piano, and two pieceshave the beautiful violin of Jolie Holland, with whom David was recording the soundtrack for Edouard Deluc's new Feature Film (Petaouchnok, meant for release in Nov.2022). Surprisingly, after years and countless performances worldwide with this minimal setting, it's the first time that we get such a sober treatment on a proper Herman Dune album. John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten, Leadbelly, Nick Drake have always been favourites, and David learned to play guitar with Lennon's 'Working Class Hero' and Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright'. \"Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should\" is a principle Ivar often thought about while arranging and producing his own albums, \"there's something to a raw song that you can't really beat,\" he says. \"My favourite songs ones are the ones that made the cut as first takes. During the pandemic, I started to perform sets from my kitchen. A weekly rendez-vous with my fans simply called \"The Sunday Transmission with Herman Dune.\" I'd typically do a 13-song set, read the horoscope, do raffles, and read poetry. It became the only way to express myself and do a set of consecutive songs. I got back in touch with my lyrics and voice. Playing from my own songbook was like re-discovering the tunes for the first time. Some songs really stood out as having gained strength and meaning, and I started thinking of recording them for an album. It felt like this was the way it should always have been. The more I recorded, the more songs I had on my hands, and I got more excited. I had more songs than could be listened to at once, and they were all so important to me, so I started thinking in Volumes.\" \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Red | LP","offer_id":50441271968075,"sku":"1165503","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50441271214411,"sku":"1165502","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50441272295755,"sku":"1165501","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/05642c30-7f55-41de-8d4e-60fa5337cc73_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726976145"},{"product_id":"songs-from-a-stolen-guitar","title":"Songs From A Stolen Guitar","description":"\u003cp\u003eOmaha singer-songwriter Simon Joyner, who's been making records since 1990, has been on a roll since his mid-career magnum opus, 2012's \u003ci\u003eGhosts\u003c\/i\u003e, one of the great double albums of the past 25 years. On \u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar,\u003c\/i\u003e he is abetted by collaborators new and old, but the social distancing required by the pandemic of 2020 imbues the album with a distinct and poignant tenor. The remoteness of the individual players on \u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar\u003c\/i\u003e, while necessarily eliminating some of the ragged spontaneity of much of Joyner's previous work, yields a sort of silver-lining effect: Joyner's songs, produced more meticulously and perhaps more intentionally here than on any of his previous albums, cut through that much cleaner, foregrounding both his dazzling wordplay \u003cbr\u003eand his clarity of vision. If \u003ci\u003eGhosts \u003c\/i\u003ewas his \u003ci\u003eTonight's the Night\u003c\/i\u003e-clamorous, naked, and unmoored-\u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar\u003c\/i\u003e may just turn out to be his \u003ci\u003eHarvest. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar \u003c\/i\u003ewas recorded across several different cities. Joyner recorded his vocals and guitar live in Omaha; bassist Wil Hendrix added his parts at home in San Francisco, Michael Krassner recorded his guitar and piano overdubs at home in Phoenix, and drummer \/ percussionist Ryan Jewell recorded in Colorado. This musical chain letter then made its way back to Omaha where David Nance (guitars and backing vocals), Ben Brodin (organ and vibraphone), and Megan Siebe (viola and backing vocals) overdubbed-separately-their respective contributions. As with any album recorded and \/ or released in the midst of wide scale upheaval, it is easy to read into these songs, and the performances of them, a thread of alienation, loneliness, and loss. Still, when it comes to Simon Joyner records, you pay your ticket to hear great songs, and in this category, too, \u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar\u003c\/i\u003e does not disappoint. It turns out that the limitations imposed on the creation of \u003ci\u003eSongs From A Stolen Guitar\u003c\/i\u003e are, ultimately, serendipitous. The result is the rare album that sounds like what it's about: the chasm that separates loneliness from aloneness, the lines between love and surrender, the distinction between the tornado and what it leaves behind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50463904825675,"sku":"1152292","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Red | LP","offer_id":50463906922827,"sku":"1152293","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/ea7b0c13-4ecf-4e56-806b-aeefc872d629_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727268338"},{"product_id":"nests","title":"Nests","description":"\u003cp\u003eA stunning, raw, sultry and absolutely essential album for those that love the 4 track demos of PJ Harvey and the early pre-croon of Cat Power. Formed in 2006, Brooklyn, She Keeps Bees are a couple \/ band you won't want to slap the crap out of. Their music is bluesy, but not what you're thinking. Jessica sings 'til her stomach hurts while Andy holds down the rhythm - lumberjack style. The music is simple, gritty and downright sexy - Howlin' Wolf and Millie Jackson to start, but you'll probably hear PJ Harvey and Cat Power in there too. This homemade recording keeps it real simple: drums, guitar and little else. we absolutely adore this album. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50466798076235,"sku":"2012080","price":35.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a9321e3b-2ce4-4668-b3fe-254c02ffec50_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727322301"},{"product_id":"the-portable-herman-dune-vol-2","title":"The Portable Herman Dune Vol 2","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Portable Herman Dune\u003c\/i\u003e is an acoustic anthology in three parts, in which 22 years of songwriting are laid bare,  stripped to the most intimate bone, an being released at intervals over a series of months. Though sonically naked, the songs are bundled up in emotion and loaded with life. Centre-stage are David Ivar's songs, with his 1954 guitar, his 1930s mandolin, and his voice, plus exceptional guests: Julie Doiron, Mayon (Ivar's life partner), Caitlin Rose, Jolie Holland, and Kimya Dawson providing vocal counterpoint. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50466863317323,"sku":"2006856","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50466863251787,"sku":"2006855","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466863350091,"sku":"2006858","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/wUmV-v_A_1c27a1d2_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727326723"},{"product_id":"gray-gardens","title":"Gray Gardens","description":"\u003cp\u003eMusic as blue as the album’s cover. Like twilight, there’s a soft radiance in every dark corner. 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Toby Goodshank took to the stage with wild curly hair and a sly demeanour, mustachioed like a B-grade 1980s German pornstar. Over subtly detailed and intricate guitar playing his powerful and emotive baritone voice began to somersault like a swallow of rock. It was an impeccably crafted performance which held the packed back room of the Sidewalk Cafe in hushed reverence of transcendental folk music. Fast forward to 2011 and the release of Toby Goodshank's album \u003ci\u003eTruth Jump Fall\u003c\/i\u003e, by which point I was in the fortunate position to bother the artist and pick his brains about the process for this latest work. It had been clear from the Montana Casey directed video for the opening title track that this, by conservative count his 28th solo release within a decade, was to be something special. Much of Toby's work feels like a zesty thumb of the nose at domesticated bullshit; this album is unusually sombre and haunting in tone, written in the period following the death of his father and bringing his prodigious skills as a songwriter to bear on processing the accompanying grief and trauma. The lyrics, as ever, include a bricolage mosaic of cultural artefacts, lurid sexual outbursts and cryptic storytelling. The accompaniment to Toby's voice and acoustic guitar is minimal (drums, bass, organ, pads, and some choice contributions - including electric saw - from other friends) but careful, and perfectly weighted to the strange, tight musculature of the songs. The result is an album of such cohesion and emotional depth that, as an already confirmed stan, I delighted in it not just for my own sake but for how I could use it; it has since functioned like a gateway drug for most folk I aim to push into the devious musical world of this great songwriter Toby Goodshank.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50475357208907,"sku":"1140377","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50475358323019,"sku":"1140378","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50475357700427,"sku":"1140376","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9d545ece-9028-4cf5-b5c5-290360c72b86_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727446372"},{"product_id":"pocket-moon","title":"Pocket Moon","description":"\u003cp\u003eSinger-songwriter\" is a frustratingly confining term; to truly understand exactly just how confining, look no further than the recorded works of Simon Joyner, an artist whose work consistently transcends the narrow parameters of genre classifications and record shop bin cards. Though his music has always honoured, reckoned with-wrestled with-the tradition set forth by his songwriting forebears (Cohen, Van Zandt, Ochs, Dylan, Reed to name a few), Joyner can always be counted on to defy expectations; as a lyricist, melodicist, and arranger, Joyner likes to keep us on our toes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor his new album Pocket Moon, Joyner opted to engage in a risky artistic challenge. Instead of leaning on his fertile pool of Omaha musicians (the amorphous Ghosts band), he asked friend and frequent collaborator Michael Krassner to assemble unknown players on his behalf specifically for this recording. Simultaneously sparser and more immediate than 2017's obliquely topical \u003ci\u003eStep Into The Earthquake, Pocket Moon\u003c\/i\u003e is instantly one of Joyner's finest albums since his redoubtable 2012 double album masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eGhosts\u003c\/i\u003e. Utilizing a wide range of instruments and textures, the band contributes additional nuance to each of the ragged, sublime songs here. Throughout, Krassner emerges as the Lee Underwood to Joyner's Tim Buckley: a sympathetic foil and musical empath. The result is another song cycle stylistically unified, dynamic and rich. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50868091191627,"sku":"1076178","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50868091060555,"sku":"1076176","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/470820fc-d5d3-43f6-a757-c935dee90473_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1732123268"},{"product_id":"31-seasons-in-the-minor-leagues-am","title":"31 Seasons In The Minor Leagues","description":"\u003cp\u003eProbably the first album to be written and recorded entirely in a Bundesliga soccer stadium, namely the Millerntor Stadium of football team FC St. Pauli in Hamburg. Don't worry, it doesn't sound like stadium rock at all. Quite the opposite in fact…Lo-fi without being brittle and minimal without feeling sparse. Dave Doughman is the heart and voice behind Swearing At Motorists, who perform and record mainly as a duo. Since 1995, Swearing At Motorists has built a cult following with their raw energy, heartfelt songwriting, and relentless DIY ethos. Dubbed \"The World's Local Band,\" as well as \"The Two Men Who\", they've traveled countless miles playing shows worldwide, sharing stages with iconic acts like Guided By Voices, Songs:Ohia, The Breeders, Spoon, Unwound, Brainiac, The Lemonheads, My Morning Jacket, and more. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":53459999293771,"sku":"R9803-8592","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53459999326539,"sku":"R9803-0246","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/p_d78e2274-12cf-4dc6-a28e-33cb31674b8a.jpg?v=1758659939"},{"product_id":"tough-love-1","title":"Tough Love","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSimon Joyner is among America’s best songwriters, so says Gillian Welch, Conor Oberst, Kevin Morby, and others. \"Singer-songwriter\" is a frustratingly confining term; to truly understand exactly just how confining, look no further than the recorded works of Simon Joyner, an artist whose work consistently transcends the narrow parameters of genre classifications and record shop bin cards. Though his music has always honored, reckoned with - wrestled with - the tradition set forth by his songwriting forebears (Cohen, Van Zandt, Ochs, Dylan, Reed to name a few), Joyner can always be counted on to defy expectations; as a lyricist, melodicist, and arranger, Joyner likes to keep us on our toes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eJoyner traverses the human predicament, in general, and the American psyche specifically, using fiction to tell difficult truths. Characters struggle through personal crises while absorbing America's currently failing experiment. Joyner's 19th studio album, continues this upward trend. While intrinsically linked to the personal grief of 2024's Coyote Butterfly, the autobiographical album Joyner made in the wake of his\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eson's death, this new album explores the concept of tough love as a dichotomy applied to various fictional relationships including romantic, familial, and political. This balancing act comes through in vivid\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eportrayals of everyday heartache and in the exploration of political rage and the betrayals of the American Dream.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eOne of the marvels of Joyner's catalog is how his patterns don't repeat but transform. Knowing nods to Cohen, Dylan, and the\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eVelvets have been part of his songwriting since the early lo-fi days, but the\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eways these touchstones get infused keep changing. While Joyner's ragged acoustic songs are in the spotlight, they're prodded by electric guitars and imbued with experimental tendencies. Rock songs\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esplit the difference between minimal grooves learned from Loaded-era Velvet Underground and the ecstatic rhythmic weirdness of Can. By the time we arrive at the penultimate track, \"Anniversary Song,\"\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe ghost vocals and scratches of microtonal synth have blurred the lines between Joyner's folk singer heart and his avant garde spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAll of this leads to the 20-minute title track which closes Tough Love, an eviscerating plunge into a seemingly bottomless pit of regret, survivor's guilt, and unvarnished grief. Borrowing a repetitious structure\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efrom Lou Reed's narrated suite, \"Street Hassle,\" and combined with the full-side testimonial of Dylan's\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\"Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands,\" Joyner narrates from the perspective of his departed son speaking\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto his father and laying out his every failure and brutally highlighting how none of it can be undone. Soon, though, this agony opens up into something transcendent, in both its elegant imagery and ethereal atmospherics. The final moments of the album grant permission for self-forgiveness and hopefully someday, understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BB Island","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":56847391654219,"sku":"R0827-5490","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56847391686987,"sku":"R0827-9220","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/DIrZxNlZ.jpg?v=1773998940"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/bb-island.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}