Music
Press
..Morgans is an award-winning playwright so it’s no surprise the lyrics hit home, but it is perhaps the instrumentation – the relentlessly hopeful harp arpeggios and the echoing drums – which most recall that enlivening hollowness of the unrequited lover... - For Folk's Sake
..Morgans is an award-winning playwright so it’s no surprise the lyrics hit home, but it is perhaps the instrumentation – the relentlessly hopeful harp arpeggios and the echoing drums – which most recall that enlivening hollowness of the unrequited lover... - For Folk's Sake
unlike most Welsh outfits, Songdog tread a rather less rigid and robust path, venturing instead through a more reflective landscape that is, by turns, emotive, sensitive and literary - Flipside
Songdog are the most beautifully sardonic and poetic force ever to emerge from Blackwood, Wales...A canny sense of mischief lurks within. - The Mirror (UK)
Sixth album from the Welsh folk-noir heroes....a set of darkly melancholic songs reflecting on a life of lust, pain, hedonism, betrayal, lost opportunities and "good times... pissed away". - Uncut Magazine
"...Second album of bruised brilliance from London-via-South Wales trio...never less than captivating..." ****Review, Rob Hughes
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- UNCUT MAGAZINE
"A daring, sometimes magical record..." James McNair
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- Mojo Magazine
"..the first essential record of the year" *****Review, Colin Hall
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- What's On In London
"There’s one album I don’t think is on Michael’s list that I’ve been listening to over the weekend that I’d like to flag up, because it’s brilliant. It’s a record called A Wretched Sinner’s Song, and it’s the forthcoming new album by Songdog.
Regular and longstanding Uncut readers may be familiar with them via the tracks we’ve featured over the years from their albums to date – The Way Of The World, Haiku and The Time Of Summer Lightning – including “Days Of Armageddon”, which Bruce Springsteen picked up on from a batch of Uncut covermounts he asked us to send him, and which he’s since played regularly before his concerts. You may remember also the terrific version they recorded exclusively for Uncut of “Janie Jones” for our Clash tribute CDs a few years ago, a track that became a favourite of Jonathan Ross, who gave it extensive airplay on his Radio 2 show.
Briefly, Songdog are a trio featuring Karl Woodward and Dave Paterson on guitars, keyboards, harmonica, banjo, mandolin, accordion, drums and tablas and former playwright Lyndon Morgans on vocals and guitar. Their music is dark and sinister and beautiful and Lyndon’s songs are by turns sexy, scary, funny, creepy, heartbreaking and usually always brilliant.
A Wretched Sinner’s Song is their most ambitious album so far, the basic trio augmented here by violin, cello, French horn and double bass. Typically, Lyndon’s songs are about love, sex, tattoos, lynch-mobs, infidelity, owls, revenge, the devil, drugs, despair, transcendence, talking crows and Porthcawl Beach.
It’s out on January 21 on One Little Indian, and while there’s every unfortunate chance that it’ll be overshadowed by some of the so-called Big Name releases, it won’t be outshone by any of them.
Keep an ear out for it."
Allan Jones
Editor, Uncut - Uncut Magazine
"..something of the lamplit cabaret of a Jacques Brel or a pared-down Nick Cave." Claire Allfree
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- Metro
“Intense & sensual collection of baroque, last chance lives...supremely evocative imagery that lesser poets can only aspire to”
to download full review and all Songdog's press please go to http://www.songdog.co.uk/press.htm - Maverick
Lyndon Morgans's Welsh wanderers explore the soul's secrets and heart's longings on this richly-layered album. Musically, lyrically and emotionally, Songdog, rather than the more celebrated Manic Street Preachers, are the true bards of Blackwood. - Daily Mirror
"profound ideas and affecting stories set against the most delicately formed musical backdrops"
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- Uncut Magazine
"Lyndon Morgans and his band brew up some of the most gorgeous twilight sounds" Tim Perry
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk
- The Independent
Lyndon Morgans's lyrics are as evocative as ever...magical songs...You'll be with him all the way - Mojo
"Lyndon Morgans'literate lyrics and his band's hushed, slow arrangements are so distinct in British pop....proving whispered honesty is more rock'n'roll than raucous bluster" ****Review, Nick Hasted
To download the full review in PDF format please go to the Press section at www.songdog.co.uk - Uncut Magazine
Discography
Oct 2013 - "Last Orders At Harry's Bar" (Junkyard Songs/Shellshock) - album. Single: "St Lucy's Day" (tbr 13 Dec 2013)
2010 - "A Life Eroding" (One Little Indian Records) - album. Singles: "Elaine" and "3:30am (Small Talk).
2008 - "A Wretched Sinner's Song" (One Little Indian Records) - album. Single: "Pilgrim Hill" and Christmas single "I'm Still Waiting To Start Hurting"
2005 - "The Time of Summer Lightning" (album) One Little Indian Records. Two singles released from album "Childhood Skies" and "Janie Jones
www.indian.co.uk/songdog
2003 - "Haiku" - (album) Evangeline Recorded Works
2001 - "The Way of The World" - (album) Zara Records.
Songdog's music has been played on a range of radio shows including Jonathan Ross and Janice Long on BBC Radio 2, Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music, John Kennedy on London's XFM, the Arctic Circle and Hello Goodbye on Resonance FM plus other regional and international play.
Songdog's cover of Dylan's 'Desolation Row' was commissioned specially for Uncut’s 100th birthday issue covermount. They also recorded a version (with Jason McNiff) of Townes Van Zandt's 'Mr Mudd and Mr Gold' for a tribute album 'Riding The Range' (Cherry Red, Sep 2010), which also included covers of Townes Van Zandt songs by Jackie Leven, the Magic Numbers, Devon Sproule and Johnny Dowd amongst others.
Photos
Bio
Songdog's new album 'Last Orders At Harry's Bar' was released October 2013 on Junkyard Songs via Shellshock.
'Songdog are the most beautifully sardonic and poetic force ever to emerge from Blackwood, Wales...A canny sense of mischief lurks within.' Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror (4*)
'Sixth album from the Welsh folk-noir heroes....a set of darkly melancholic songs reflecting on a life of lust, pain, hedonism, betrayal, lost opportunities and "good times... pissed away".' Nigel Williamson, Uncut Magazine (8/10)
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“I stagger out into the storm – where did it all go? I mean, everything….The journey never ends, it’s just the travellers do …” ‘Last Orders At Harry’s Bar’ - title track.
‘Last Orders At Harry’s Bar’ serves as a metaphor for a time and place of Last Things, a site and a moment of final reckoning. The songs on ‘Last Orders At Harry’s Bar’ form a heartfelt testimony to a life lived, bearing witness to the passing of time, to pain, to love and the loss of it, and to the consolations of memory. Yet, however bleak the vision, the spirit remains defiant in the songs’ elegant melodies and explicit lyricism.
The idea for the album was born out of a cache of Lyndon Morgans’s old love letters and photographs that he rediscovered while sorting his way through a garage-full of ancient NMEs and Melody Makers back home in Blackwood. The fourteen songs were written over a three-month period ending at the close of the year with ‘Straight-To-Video Kind of Days’, a melody Lyndon had written over twenty years before and finally found the right words for that snowy Christmas Eve. The tracks were recorded the following summer on a mobile rig in a beautiful 17th century former hunting lodge at Devil’s Bridge, deep in the magnificent isolation of the Cardiganshire countryside.
Songdog is a vehicle for the songs of Lyndon Morgans (from Blackwood in South Wales) with accompaniment from Karl Woodward (guitar/banjo/mandolin), Dave Paterson (drums/accordion), Jasper Salmon (violin) and, latterly, Mal Phillips (bass).
Earlier Songdog albums include ‘A Life Eroding’, ‘A Wretched Sinner's Song’ and ‘The Time Of Summer Lightning’ (all released on One Little Indian), and received critical acclaim and airplay on BBC Radio 2, 6Music, XFM, the Arctic Circle and Resonance FM amongst others. The band has received props from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Robert Wyatt.
Previous live dates include headline and support shows at venues including O2 Indigo, Bloomsbury Theatre, Kings Place, Borderline, Roundhouse Studio, Bush Hall, Union Chapel, ICA and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and appearances at the Port Eliot, Analog, Wireless and Secret Garden festivals plus international festivals in the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Spain, Sweden and Russia.
Lyndon's other works include the stage plays ‘Water Music’ (winner of the Verity Bargate Award), ‘Jitterbugger', and the radio monologue ‘Conte de Fées'. He was invited to contribute a piece on Samuel Beckett for a book about musicians and their literary heroes ('Filthy Lyre'), and the lyrics for his song ‘Cold Coffee and Ava Gardner’ feature in a new American poetry anthology ‘Ava Gardner: Touches of Venus’.
Songdog will be touring the UK and Europe through Autumn/Winter 2013/14.
What they say about Songdog:
“Songdog are the most beautifully sardonic and poetic force ever to emerge from Blackwood, Wales...A canny sense of mischief lurks within.” Gavin Martin, The Mirror (4*)
“Sixth album from the Welsh folk-noir heroes....a set of darkly melancholic songs reflecting on a life of lust, pain, hedonism, betrayal, lost opportunities and "good times... pissed away".” Nigel Williamson, Uncut (8/10)
“Lyndon Morgans's lyrics are as evocative as ever...magical songs...You'll be with him all the way” James McNair, Mojo
"Terrific stuff!" Robert Wyatt
“Their music is dark and sinister and beautiful and Lyndon’s songs are by turns sexy, scary, funny, creepy, heartbreaking and usually always brilliant.” Allan Jones (Editor), Uncut
“Like Nick Cave, he sings as if the world’s end is nigh, and does so convincingly” Q
“Glacier-paced folk noir..the storytelling hints at a real gravity.” NME
“One of those life-changing albums where you’ll remember forever where you were when you first heard it” RocknReel
“Intense & sensual collection of baroque, last chance lives...supremely evocative imagery that lesser poets can only aspire to” Maverick
"A totally unique sound" Jack Douglas (Producer - John Lennon, The Who)
"Beautiful.." Jonathan Ross
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