{"title":"Stornoway","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStornoway is a British alternative indie folk band hailing from Oxford. They were active from 2006 until 2017, and have recently made a comeback in 2022. With their unique blend of genres, Stornoway has captivated audiences with their heartfelt lyrics and melodic tunes. Their music resonates with listeners, evoking emotions and creating a sense of nostalgia. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to their sound, Stornoway's music is sure to leave a lasting impression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout their career, Stornoway has gained recognition for their distinctive style and soulful performances. Their music showcases the band's exceptional talent and creativity, combining elements of indie rock, folk, and alternative sounds. From intimate acoustic ballads to energetic anthems, Stornoway's discography offers something for every listener.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough they took a break from the music scene for several years, Stornoway returned with renewed passion and dedication in 2022. Fans eagerly awaited their comeback, excited to experience the magic that only Stornoway can deliver. With new releases on the horizon and an unwavering fan base supporting them every step of the way, there's no doubt that Stornoway will continue to make waves in the music industry.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-farewell-show-live-at-new-theatre-oxford","title":"The Farewell Show Live at New Theatre, Oxford","description":"\u003cp\u003eTen years on from their silver selling album Beachcomber's Windowsill, Stornoway release their live album\u003ci\u003e The Farewell Show\u003c\/i\u003e - a recording of their final joyous gig at New Theatre, Oxford in March 2017.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50384799957323,"sku":"1094385","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/63a79cef-5b1d-4703-90d2-deff6f835337_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726303887"},{"product_id":"beachcombers-windowsill","title":"Beachcombers Windowsill","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs its title suggests, Stornoway’s 2010 debut album, \u003ci\u003eBeachcomber’s Windowsill\u003c\/i\u003e, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles ‘Fuel Up’, ‘I Saw You Blink’ and ‘Zorbing’, it showed just why so many were excited by the Oxford indie-folk quartet’s arrival - a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folk tradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at most instruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe album is complemented by a stunning sleeve by designer Chris Bigg, who has played on the album’s title and their songs about nature by working with illustrations of shells, aquatic life and old maps.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"4AD","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50398211965259,"sku":"2170687","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Beachcombers_Windowsill_d48407b1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726494385"},{"product_id":"dig-the-mountain","title":"Dig The Mountain!","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWin a signed test pressing. Order 'Dig The Mountain!' on any format or enter your details \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.roughtrade.com\/en-gb\/comp\/stornoway-competition\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e to be in with a chance to win.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring their original run, Stornoway achieved immense critical acclaim, fan adoration and two Top 20 albums, one of which (their debut \u003ci\u003eBeachcomber’s Windowsill\u003c\/i\u003e) was certified Silver. But in 2016 they announced that they were ending on a high (2015’s \u003ci\u003eBonxie\u003c\/i\u003e being “their best album yet” according to The Guardian) with the following year’s farewell tour, although their rapturously received Womad set (“a magnificent farewell”, The Spectator) was delayed until 2022. They still earned new fans, however, when their version of ‘The Only Way Is Up’ exceeded 2 million streams after being used in an advert and in various TV shows. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVocalist \/ guitarist Brian Briggs stopped songwriting altogether and instead pursued a new career passion managing a wetland for water voles and lapwings.  Nonetheless, Brian and bandmates Jon Ouin (keyboard) and Oli Steadman (bass) stayed in touch, and step-by-step they reconnected with the love of creating music that had first inspired them to start a band. With Brian writing in a makeshift studio on a remote coastal hilltop and Jon readying a series of ideas of his own, eventually an entirely unexpected fourth Stornoway album emerged - \u003ci\u003eDig The Mountain!\u003c\/i\u003e, released  via Cooking Vinyl. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStornoway introduce the album with the new song ‘Trouble With The Green’. It’s the glory of sunrise (or sunset) set to music, as painted by a keen-eyed but perhaps overwhelmed observer. It’s a synaesthetic wonder, rippling with sights and sounds and birdsong. In contrast to its uplifting sound, it’s a whirlwind of tumultuous emotions which can be succinctly summarised by its striking lyric, “‘Red sun, low on the page. You can decide if it’s going up or down…’   Brian explains, “I have a friend and fellow bird lover with ADHD and her mind fizzes with ideas and colours. She recently managed to escape from a very dark place fighting an addiction, and I was so scared for her when I painted this song. I tried to get inside her head, to speak to her, balancing the texture and beauty in nature with an intense bass and drum part, representing the dark undertow of her addiction.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The trio all contributed to the record from their own locations: Brian in southwest Wales, Oli in southeast London and Jon in Oxford, with Mike Lindsay of acid folk pioneers Tunng on production duties. While Oli’s brother Rob (drums) isn’t part of this new chapter of Stornoway having started a new life in America, so Mike Monaghan (Gaz Coombes, Saint Etienne) contributes drums throughout. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Nonetheless, the album is packed with inspiring collaborations. Sam Lee features on the sinuous, woodsy folk-funk of ‘The Navigator’; Chinese musician Yijia Tu contributes gorgeous vocals to Stornoway’s rootsy take on Björk’s ‘It’s Not Up To You’; Guillemot Fyfe Dangerfield sings on ‘Anwen’, a song inspired by Brian’s daughter’s joyful dancing; former Black Mountains poet Paul Henry wrote the lyrics for ‘Kicking The Stone’; and Gareth Bonello (The Gentle Good) wrote the original version of ‘The Fisherman’ before it was reinvented by Stornoway. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"Clear LP | Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":50426355450187,"sku":"2021787","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50426354991435,"sku":"2021785","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50426355253579,"sku":"2021786","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Stornoway_Dig_The_Mountain_72cc00a7_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726807989"},{"product_id":"best-of-unplucked","title":"Best Of Unplucked","description":"\u003cp\u003eStornoway release the \u003ci\u003eBest of Unplucked\u003c\/i\u003e - a limited edition album featuring hand-picked versions of their much loved ‘unplucked’ recordings from their career to date.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeaturing brand new versions of favourites including ’Zorbing’ and ‘Farewell Appalachia’, as well as Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be The Place’ and Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’, plus recordings from the 4AD vault (‘Beachcombers Windowsill’ and Tales From Terra Firma’), live favourite ‘The Only Way Is Up’ (‘Bonxie Unplucked’), and ‘Dig The Mountain!’ Shed Sessions, this is Stornoway in their most natural form, and perhaps their most beautiful.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"Red LP","offer_id":50453276262731,"sku":"2215944","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50453275246923,"sku":"2215943","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Screenshot_2024-08-08_at_16.08.43_75d2c515_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727170445"},{"product_id":"bonxie","title":"Bonxie","description":"\u003cp\u003eStornoway return in 2015 with their third album 'Bonxie'. For the first time the band enlisted a producer to captain the ship and the man in charge was none other than Gil Norton. Noted for his work with Pixies, Foo Fighters, Twin Atlantic, etc. Gil certainly rocked Stornoways world and shook them out of their comfort zones; helping them cut to the chase, sizing up the new songs and shaping them with raptor precision. Joining Gil and Stornoway in the studio was none other than Craig Potter (Elbow) who mixed the track 'Man on Wire'. Whilst Stornoways second album 'Tales From Terra Firma' was concerned with very personal stories: lifes (and deaths) big questions, 'Bonxie' is far more outward looking. It is infused with a humanistic ideal; a sense of humility and wonderment for the forces of nature, a desire and need for mutual regard and for a respect towards each other and the environment. Each song on 'Bonxie' is a facet of the album which opens up like an origami bird. It is a construction of nature by humans but each song unfolds as a unique species, shape and call.LP - 180 Gram vinyl in Gatefold sleeve with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50484236910923,"sku":"385179","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/aef968fb-84ba-4d32-8240-d6be40074d71_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727585287"},{"product_id":"bonxie-unplucked-ep","title":"Bonxie Unplucked EP","description":"\u003cp\u003e5 track CDEP of acoustic versions of track from the recent album 'Bonxie'.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50486074802507,"sku":"392064","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a3fe1b4c-5711-41e6-9429-f8d50dc29f64_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727605452"},{"product_id":"tales-from-terra-firma","title":"Tales From Terra Firma","description":"\u003cp\u003eStornoway returned with an album that oozes melody, ideas and grandeur. Stornoway's second album, \u003ci\u003eTales from Terra Firma\u003c\/i\u003e, is an album of stories - birth, death, marriage, coming of age: the big stuff. The songs were mostly written in a camper van in land-locked Oxford but on listening, the yearning for adventure and the freedom of the coast and wild places is palpable. The majority of the tracks are simple, melodic pop songs that are warm and inviting and quintessentially Stornoway. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor its sleeve, the band worked with the artist Kirini Kopcke who used fragments of lyrics as her start point to create a picture for each ‘tale’ on the album, presenting a strip cartoon-like depiction of the adventures in the life of the main protagonist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"4AD","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50491240481099,"sku":"359230","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50491240972619,"sku":"359229","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Tales_from_Terra_Firma_9732b957_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727683839"},{"product_id":"bonxie-10th-anniversary-edition","title":"Bonxie (10th Anniversary Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eLauded on release as Stornoway’s most expansive and confident work, \u003cem\u003eBonxie\u003c\/em\u003e remains a hymn to connection, ecology, and the beauty of life. This expanded edition includes previously unreleased B-side tracks from the original recording sessions, new liner notes from each member of the band, and some of their well-known unplucked versions of tracks on the album. \u003cem\u003eBonxie\u003c\/em\u003e is Stornoway’s boldest and most outward-looking record, an album infused with a sense of wonder for the natural world and humanity’s place within it. Produced by Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters, Twin Atlantic), and a contribution from Craig Potter (Elbow), the songs carry field recordings of birds (20 species appear across the album), weaving them into melodies that soar like the great skua (or “bonxie”) that gives the record its name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stornoway’s best work yet: big music, which deserves the largest stage.”★★★★★ – The Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"LP - Eco Coloured","offer_id":53480058847563,"sku":"R5800-7491","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53480058814795,"sku":"R5800-8053","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2025-09-26T110546.859.jpg?v=1758881153"},{"product_id":"beyonder","title":"Beyonder","description":"\u003cp\u003eStornoway return with \u003cem\u003eBeyonder\u003c\/em\u003e — their most ambitious album to date. The record expands the band’s sound while holding onto the melodic warmth and sense of wonder that has long defined their music. The album began in one of the most remote corners of the UK. While volunteering as a National Trust ranger on St Kilda, 100 kilometres west of the Outer Hebrides, frontman Brian Briggs spent weeks living among the island’s towering sea cliffs, seabird colonies and abandoned settlements. The experience — standing on the edge of the Atlantic with nothing between the island and Canada — sparked the first songs that would become \u003cem\u003eBeyonder\u003c\/em\u003e. A photograph taken there now forms the album cover. “Never have I been anywhere so wild and exposed, and never have I felt more alive,” Briggs says of the experience. The stark landscape and the island’s layered history — where centuries-old blackhouses stand not far from a modern military base — shaped a record that quietly reflects on connection, fragility and the changing world around us. \u003cem\u003eBeyonder\u003c\/em\u003e is an album for a changing world. It confronts the biodiversity and climate crises, the rise of divisive politics, and the toll these pressures take on our minds and communities. These are songs about journeys and destinations, discovery and choice, and taken together they cultivate a hopeful state of mind in unsettled times. Musically, \u003cem\u003eBeyonder\u003c\/em\u003e sees Stornoway stepping beyond the folk label often attached to their early work. The songs feel broader in scale, with expansive arrangements that still centre on the band’s distinctive harmonies and clear melodic writing. The album was mixed by multi-Grammy-winning engineer Oli Jacobs (Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, The 1975).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cooking Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"LP - Random Solid Eco","offer_id":56915873595723,"sku":"R3285-4257","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56915873628491,"sku":"R3285-2278","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/url_42bba4af-d2c6-4946-b181-ffc77797afa6.jpg?v=1774863935"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_bd90c66b_thumbnail_4096_b1e30916-51cd-44c4-9453-31ffab7fffc5.jpg?v=1726303870","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/stornoway.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}