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NEWS

April 30th, 2012

CYRK RELEASED TODAY IN THE UK. HEADLINE TOUR ANNOUNCED FOR SEPTEMBER.


“like a Valley-born Nico locked in the cupboard with The Fall” **** Q 

“Cate Le Bon follows her own path” **** MOJO

“her lyrical style recalls the whimsical, pastoral fantasy of Syd Barrett and her music jumps everywhere, from garage rock to harmony pop to electronic….with it’s own sense of logic.” **** The Times

“Le Bon is someone whose take on songwriting is so sideways, it would be completely impossible for anyone else to replicate it” Guardian Guide

“like an unearthed psych classic” NME 8/10

“absolutely brilliant” Drowned In Sound

“Le Bon’s days as a farmgirl in West Wales may be long behind her, but she’s clearly held on to certain agricultural principles: namely, that the right amounts of patience and nurturing can produce glorious yields.” Pitchfork

The reviews are in. The second album by singer-songwriter-with-a-difference Cate Le Bon, CYRK, is a bona fide critical hit. And it hits the shelves today, 30 April 2012. The cavalcade of comparisons that crop up in every review – John Cale, Nico, Malkmus et al – give you an idea of the regard in which Le Bon is held.

 

Released on Gruff Rhys’s Ovni imprint, CYRK is a 35-minute blast of colour, ever-changing as it whizzes from the garage pop opener Falcon Eyed to the closing number Ploughing Out, a track so epic it demanded to be split into two parts. “CYRK is like a time travel travelogue which continually returns the sea,” says Le Bon, who took the album’s title from the Polish word for Circus and too inspiration from a trip to the Isle Of Eigg. “I mostly write about the sea, matters of the heart and animals – or a mish-mash of all three.”

 

Cate Le Bon ended 2011 with a two month stint supportingAmerica’s finest guitar destroyer Annie Clark, akaSt Vincent. Her time on the road fostered a confidence and assuredness that is evident in Le Bon’s stage presence: with dead-eye stares, guitars held aloft, and the kind of voice that could sink an iceberg, this really isn’t one you want to miss. Tickets for Cate’s freshly booked September tour go on sale TODAY

 

** Spillers in-store today at 5.30pm **

 

HEADLINE TOUR IN SEPTEMBER

6th – Leaf,Liverpool- http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/

7th – Brudenell Social Club,Leeds- http://www.seetickets.com/

8th – Captains Rest, Glasgow-http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_scotland&query=schedule&promoter=pcl&interface=pcl

10th – Cluny,Newcastle- http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_northeast&query=detail&event=504792

11th – Telford’s Warehouse,Chester- http://www.seetickets.com/

12th – XOYO,London- http://www.seetickets.com/

13th – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham- http://birminghampromoters.com

15th – The Parrot, Carmarthen- www.wegottickets.com

 

SUPPORTING PERFUME GENIUS IN MAY

7th – Sheffield,UK- The Lantern Theatre – SOLD OUt

8th – Glasgow, UK – Captains Rest – SOLD OUT

9th – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute

10th – London, UK – St Pancras Old Church – SOLD OUT

13th – Bath, UK – Chapel Arts

14th – London, UK – St Pancras Old Church – SOLD OUT

16th – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – SOLD OUT

17th – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Amstelkerk

19th – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Paradijskerk

20th – Cologne,Germany -Gebaude 9

21st – Hamburg, Germany – Prinzebar

22nd – Berlin, Germany – PrivatClub

24th – Paris, France – Divan Du Monde

 

SUPPORTING BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE IN JULY

7th  –London Shepherds Bush Empire

8th –Manchester Ritz

9th –BirmingahmAcademy 2

 

April 27th, 2012

POST- TOUR EVALUATION

A huge thank you to all you folks who have ventured out to see us on our mini UK Tour. It’s not quite over yet. Tomorrow we headline Cardiff’s Canton Crawl and right excited we are about it too. It’s another SELL OUT!

Village Underground was an incredible venue to kick start the CYRK UK jaunt and celebrate the records release. Unfortunately I was horrendously sick before the show but managed to see the set through without throwing up on my dear pedal board. Apologies for the green hue on my face. We then trucked up the M6 towards the wonderful Manchester where we managed to stop in and record a session for our dear friend Marc Riley before playing to a full house at the Soup Kitchen. We also had time for soup. Steve thought this was ironic. I am tired of explaining the meaning of irony to him on a daily basis and so I agreed. Edinburgh was another full house and very sweaty indeed. We all resembled greasy ghosts by the end of play. Rather embarrassingly, in the heady joy of having played a good gig I leant down to cheers a woman in the front row and she looked at me blankly and took my drink away.  The streets of Sheffield were wet and miserable. I too was wet and miserable for I had been dribbled on by two members of the band on the way down from Scotland. The Harley was cosy and superb and a great gig was had by all. All in all its been a blast.  A huge thanks to Casey Raymond for supplying creepy projections throughout the sets and a high five to the most formidable merch girl that ever was. Sales were up 10 fold due to Melanie Daley’s forceful charisma.

You can listen to the Marc Riley session here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gkc7t and, if you’re at a loose end tonight, tune into Radio 3′s The Verb to hear me awkwardly umming my way through an interview about my songwriting.

Stay tuned for some exciting announcements this Monday.

CLB

April 20th, 2012

RECORD STORE DAY

Tomorrow is Record Store Day and I will celebrate by taking the train to London to play an in store at Rough Trade West alongside Smoke Fairies and Stealing Sheep amongst others. Set time is 1.30pm. Don’t be late.

Gruff Rhys and I are releasing a limited edition split 7″ to mark the occasion. Be sure to get down to your local record shop early to bag yourself a copy and why not pre-orded CYRK, which is released on April 30th, while you’re there. Top time saving tip.

Nos da, have a good RSD y’all.

CLB

March 28th, 2012

RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE SPLIT 7″

OVNI (Turnstile) presents a Record Store Day exclusive split 7″ single with myself and Gruff Rhys.

Tracks are ‘Gold Medal Winner’ by Gruff Rhys and Rodrigo, a shuffling bossa nova number originally recorded for South American HIV/AIDS charity, Red Hot Organisation, in 2010. On the flip side my track, ‘Time Could Change Your Mind’, is a languid acoustic affair that was recorded in LA with Jonathan Wilson in March 2010. It is previously unreleased and will not feature on my forthcoming album, CYRK. 

7″ limited to 750 copies and will be released in the UK + Europe as part of Record Store Day on April 21st

Rough Trade West have kindly invited me to play an in store on Record Store Day, but, not to neglect my favourite of all record shops, I will be playing a special in store at the wonderful Spillers Records in Cardiff on April 30th to mark the release of CYRK.

March 19th, 2012

Puts me to work

PUTS ME TO WORK…..

With CYRK hitting the shelves on April 30th, the piano jam, Puts Me To Work, has been released as a pre-album single. Casey Raymond and Ewan Morris are putting the finishing touches to the single’s video that will debut next week.

APRIL TOUR NEWS….

The London show on April 23rd at Village Underground has now sold out. Tickets are still available for Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff. I am pleased to announce that H.Hawkline will be supporting  in Manchester and Sheffield as well as playing the all day event with us at Cardiff’s Printhaus.  Also joining the Cardiff line-up, in no particular order: Tender Prey, No Thee No Ess, Fist Of  The First Man, Stacking Chairs and R.Seiliog.

23 April – London, Village Underground (Album launch party) SOLD OUT

24 April – Manchester, Soup Kitchenhttp://www.ticketline.co.uk/

25 April – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s (Communion night) http://www.pclpresents.com/

26 April – Sheffield, Harley http://www.harleylive.co.uk/

28 April – Cardiff, The Printhaus http://www.swnpresents.com

 

AND FINALLY…

I am excited to announce that I will be joining the mighty Brian Jonestown Massacre on July 7th at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The word on the street is that tickets are selling at a record breaking speed.

http://www.atpfestival.com/newsview/1203151117.php

March 5th, 2012

European Shows with Perfume Genius Announced

This May I will be hitting the road supporting Perfume Genius on the European leg of his tour. You can find us both at the following venues and cities….

MAY 16 – Botanique, Brussels
MAY 17 – Amstekkerk, Amsterdam
MAY 19 – Paradijs Chrich, Rotterdam
MAY 20 – Gebaude 9, Cologne
MAY 21 – Prinzebar, Hamburg
MAY 22 – Privat Club, Berlin
MAY 24 – Divan Du Monde, Paris

February 17th, 2012

CYRK in the USA

Greetings from Madison.

We are now 6 shows into the US tour and so far things are going swimmingly. As well as having R.Seiliog and H.Hawkline in the live band, we are lucky enough to be joined by Mr. Daniel Ward on drums. So far so good. There have been no accidents, no deaths and no-one has soiled themselves.

Spearheading the whole operation as well as selling merch is one Delmi Thomas who has taken to the role like a duck to water.  I have deciphered from the comprehensive merchandise reports he submits hourly that we are close to running out of the limited edition CYRK vinyl and that the CYRK t-shirts are flying out so buy them while you can.

Thanks to everyone who had come to the shows so far, we look forward to seeing the rest of you in the next couple of weeks.

CLB

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/02/cate_le_bon_pla.html

http://audio-femme.blogspot.com/2012/02/show-review-cate-le-bon-w-pigeons.html

February 14th, 2012

CYRK RELEASED IN UK!

CYRK will be released in the UK via Gruff Rhys’ OVNI(Turnstile) imprint on April 30th.

We will also take to the road in the spring for a mini tour, kicking off with an album launch party at Village Underground. Buy your tickets now!

23 April – London, Village Underground (Album launch party)http://www.wegottickets.com/
24 April – Manchester, Soup Kitchenhttp://www.ticketline.co.uk/
25 April – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s (Communion night) http://www.pclpresents.com/
26 April – Sheffield, Harley http://www.harleylive.co.uk/
28 April – Cardiff, The Printhaus http://www.swnpresents.com/

See you at one of the above hopefully!

CLB

January 11th, 2012

NOISE POP FESTIVAL

An additional show has been added to the US CYRK Tour Itinerary. We will be stopping off in San Francisco on Feb 25th to play Noise Pop festival alongside Surfer Blood. More details to follow.

Check out the festival website here http://2012.noisepop.com/

January 4th, 2012

CYRK – US RELEASE AND TOUR NEWS

There are only a few weeks to go before CYRK will be released in North America on January 17th via The Control Group (www.controlgroupco.com). A few weeks after that we will be flying out to embark on the US CYRK TOUR which kicks off in TT The Bear’s Place, Cambridge on Feb 8th and ends at KCRW’s “School Night” at Bardot, Holly wood on Feb 27th. The tour will be stopping in the following places….

 

FEBRUARY

8th – TT THE BEAR’S PLACE, CAMBRIDGE, MA

9th – MERCURY LOUNGE, NEW YORK, NY

10th – MAXWELL’S, HOBOKEN ,NJ

11th – KUNGFU NECKTIE , PHILADELPHIA, PA

12th – DC9 , WASHINGTON, DC

14th – SCHUBAS, CHICAGO, IL

16th – THE FREQUENCY, MADISON, WI

17th – 7th STREET ENTRY, MINNEAPOLIS, MN

22nd – THE CROCODILE, SEATTLE, WA

23rd – MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS, PORTLAND, OR

26th – McCABE’S GUITAR SHOP, SANTA MONICA, CA

27th – BARDOT HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CA

 

Hopefully catch you all there and if you’re undecided then here are some kind words from KCRW’s Chris Douridas to nudge you in the right direction…..

“The earliest contender for album of the year 2012 is the next level second release from one of the most original new voices to emerge in years.” – Chris Douridas, kcrw-fm / eclectic24