The Low Drift / Steve Roberts Band

Event information

THE LOW DRIFT

Songs inspired by the land. The beauty and the concrete, the mysteries and the folklore. Music about Family and Childhood and the memories that landscapes evoke.

“The Low Drift is a wonderfully poetic journey through land and memory, exploring the incredible connections we have to the geography around us. A truly beautiful album full of magic and haunting imagery.” Fatea

“Sounding like a dark bucolic folk answer to Crosby, Stills & Nash. A haunting, atmospheric album that brings a welcome new musical perspective on our connection to the land.” Folking.com

Three acclaimed singer-songwriters - Emma Thorpe, Matt Hill and Huw Costin – go on walks and then write songs about them. Inspired by a previous generation of English folk and poet musicians – Julian Cope, Robert Wyatt, Kate Bush - they travel beyond the Keep Out signs to the ancient green lanes and sunken tracks, where our ancestors buried their bones. The songs explore folklore, family, childhood and the memories that landscapes evoke.

This engaging evening of songs and stories will feature shimmering 12 string guitars, minimalist folk picking, spooky harmonies and primitive synths sounds. The Low Drift is a show that will reinvigorate your relationship to these wonderful islands we live on.

Low Drift line up

Emma Thorpe is signed to Vicious Charm Records as a solo artist and has duetted with Mark Lanaghan. She’s also a photographer.

Matt Hill writes of history and community, had 4 star reviews from Uncut and the Mirror and performed with Billy Bragg at Glastonbury festival.

Huw Costin fronts acclaimed band Torn Sail, has been A-playlisted on BBC 6Music and received album of the year in the NME yearbook.

Steve Roberts Band

Steve Roberts has one of rock & roll's most underrated voices. Although recognised in his hometown of Liverpool, England, mass exposure is something he has yet to achieve.

Through 16 Tambourines Roberts found a vehicle for his smooth, unpretentious vocals. From 1985 to 1986, Roberts sang at over 100 16 Tambourines gigs, which were gaining positive word of mouth. The group was eventually signed to Arista Records and released one LP, How Green Is Your Valley?, in 1990. After 16 Tambourines collapsed, he kept the torch burning as The Tambourines releasing a number of guitar heavy singles on indie labels. After the Tambourines broke up, Roberts decided to go solo and working with members of the Lightning Seeds and The La's released It Just Is in 2001. In 2005 he released a second solo album Shake it Make it and Don't Fake It and followed it quickly with an album, Shut Up & Sing, by Captain Pop a band which reunited him with a couple of former 16 Tambourines.

Steve then released 2 EPs inspired by the Cold War and an EP of power pop inspired songs called When We Dreamed We Dreamed of Dreams.

Steve signed to 9x9 Records and released the All Power to the Bookshop album, a concept album exploring books, literature and reading. The same label released the 16 Tambourines second album (only 32 years after the first) All Men are Fools.
He’s currently recording and releasing a new song every 6 weeks or so to be collected eventually as an album. Could it be a double?

Michael Sutton. All Music.