Album Notes

A strange sound comes drifting across the flood plains of South Yorkshire; West Coast harmonies, finger picked guitar, ghostly whistling and psychedelic echoes of The Wicker Man... could it be Hotel Brown?

Hotel Brown are surely one of the great undiscovered treasures of this sceptred isle's acoustic music scene - fiercely independent, artistically uncompromising and with a roots pedigree that includes work with such Roots / World luminaries as John Tams, Kate Rusby and The Angel Brothers. Now with their debut album due for national release - coinciding with live dates from mid summer onwards - it's to be hoped that the wider world will become aware of their unusual and captivating sound.

The music of Hotel Brown has been described as 'Vocal Harmony Psych-Folk' - a sound which encompasses a wide range of influences - from 60's vocal groups like The Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young through to Hounds of Love period Kate Bush and on to John Martyn's or even Talk Talk's more tripped out sonic adventures. More recent comparisons might include Joanna Newsome or Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man. Hotel Brown have also been described as '...a twenty first century Pentangle' - perhaps mostly due to the twin acoustic guitars of Dave Angel & Rory Garforth being somewhat reminiscent of the legendary Jansch / Renbourn axis of yore. A unique element is also Niki Seeger's ethereal, swooning solo whistling - a sound rarely heard since the days of the valve wireless. The foundation for all this is a rhythm section featuring drums and global percussive grooves from Keith Angel and double and electric basses from Andy Seward and Jim Lockey.