The product of the tour was a tour album, entitled Milwaukee To Edinburgh, 2013, comprised of recordings made at various venues that Umhoefer visited whilst in Scotland. The tracks range from recordings from shows (e.g. ‘Less Words’ at Henry’s Cellar Bar) and live sessions for Song, By Toad, to rather more intimate performances in less conventional environments. A personal favourite is ‘Unanswered Echo Verse’ from Small Hours, a field recording at Euan and Ali’s (presumably the home of mini50’s Euan McMeeken), with its ambient baby noise and resulting shushing from its parents.

There is also a video of the tour, filmed by Lindsay Slepekis, basically a short film, a collage of performances in a multitude of locations. The film ends with an incredibly intimate shot of Umhoefer’s performance of ‘Unanswered Echo Verse’ which I mentioned above, in which he is approached by the baby from the front and a cat from behind.  The whole thing is great and serves as a collage that perfectly illustrates the trip. It also shows that Old Earth’s songs hold up well in the live setting, and sort of proves what I already knew in that I could sit and listen to him play guitar for hours.

You can buy Milwaukee To Edinburgh, 2013 via Old Earth’s Bandcamp page.

P.S. Old Earth are playing a show with White Hinterland and S. Carey on April the 24th, so if you’re in Milwaukee get yourself along!

The post Old Earth – Milwaukee To Edinburgh, 2013 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The atmosphere is otherworldly and ever-so-slightly ominous, the vocals abrupt, lyrics opaque and indistinct. Last summer, Umhoefer was kind enough to do an interview with us and here’s what he had to say about his lyrics,  “They’re intentionally vague, contradictory, and sometimes irrational. I like homonyms and multiple interpretations- sometimes the lines are a conversation, sometimes narration, and sometimes simply a human voice needed to be present and it felt good to sing there.“ This instinctive attitude to songwriting is evident on All Kill, and the results make me very excited indeed to see which direction Old Earth decides to take things next (we wont have too long a wait to find out as there is an LP due later this year).

You can get All Kill right now as a digital download courtesy of mini50 Records.

P.S. If you missed Umhoefer’s excellent session with Song, By Toad, I’d highly suggest you check it out.

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