MANCHESTER: Hey! Manchester @ The Castle Hotel

Thursday 29th May, 2014

7:30pm

Event information

Trailing their second album, A Wake, released by Tin Angel Records in 2014, Glasgow-based quintet Two Wings release the single Peace-Fear.

Based around the song-writing partnership of vocalist Hanna Tuulikki and guitarist Ben Reynolds, Two Wings are a glorious hybrid of sounds ancient and modern. On Peace-Fear, Reynolds’ psych-rock guitar is married to the keening whoosh of Tuulikki’s words on a song about love, loss and moving on – but carefully – that has the decidedly grown-up commercial sass of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac yet retains the edge of Neil Young. Gift-wrapped in a lush arrangement fleshed out by the accompanying vocals of Lucy Duncombe, the bass of Kenneth Wilson and the drums of Owen Curtis Williams, Peace-Fear is as mercurial as its subject and as soaked with wisdom and experience as all its musical influences that combine to make a four-minute epic of redemption that soars.

Two Wings were formed in 2009 when singer/multi-instrumentalist/visual artist Hanna Tuulikki and guitarist/singer Ben Reynolds finally sat down and wrote a song together after years of crossing paths in Glasgow’s ever-fecund left-field music scene(s). Tuulikki’s experimental song-based project Nalle was described by Wire Magazine as ‘easily some of the most convincing free-folk the UK has ever produced’. Tuulikki was also a member of free form jazz folk ensemble Scatter and the Family Elan. Reynolds’ numerous releases as a solo artist include the 2009 solo guitar album How Day Earnt Its Night, released by New York’s Tompkins Square Records. Reynolds was also a guitarist in critically acclaimed psych-folk band Trembling Bells, and has collaborated with Alasdair Roberts and Baby Dee.

As something clicked between Reynolds and Tuulikki, more songs followed, and Two Wings took flight with a glorious hybrid of Ceilidh band stomp, deep-fried Acid-Country twang, 1970s Me Generation Soft Rock harmonies, Memphis soul, Olde English mediaeval-isms and the noise and smoky breath of basement bar folk dives when the ‘F’ word still meant something magical. All this was channelled into Two Wings’ world even more as they expanded to incorporate fellow travellers Duncombe, Wilson and Williams.

Two Wings became a roaring, raucous beast of a band, and most of the fruits of Reynolds and Tuulikki’s song-writing partnership appeared on their debut album Love’s Spring, released on Tin Angel Records in 2012. Now, with Peace-Fear presaging A Wake, Two Wings look set to soar once more.

Support comes from Little Sparrow. Singer-songwriter Katie Ware adopted the name Little Sparrow about three years ago as she felt it characteristic of the sound she was beginning to create and the direction in which she wished to travel. Drawing upon influences as diverse as Kate Bush, All About Eve and PJ Harvey she creates songs that are filled with a blend of styles, woven into the colourful tapestry of her music, often with a mysterious fairy tale quality. Listeners are taken on a journey that touches upon every emotion, from heart-breaking sadness to uplifting joy. Last year was a significant year for Little Sparrow, as she gathered new admirers through acclaimed live appearances. The highly-anticipated debut album is released in May 2014 and the year promises to be her most exciting to date.

66 Oldham Street
Manchester
M4 1LE

www.heymanchester.com