© Brian Sweeney
Minor Victories releases new album
- “a triumph for experimental chemistry: dramatic, deeply felt, dynamically designed” Mojo ****
- “an excellent album” The Independent ****
- “atmospheric and beguiling” DIY ****
- “The tired old "supergroup" concept finally has more potential to be super...Minor Victories' synth-pop is stylishly dusky, with lush orchestral touches, motorik persistence, and a closing guitar cacophony.” - Pitchfork (Best New Track)
- “The band’s self-titled debut album is a perfect integration of those bands’ respective sounds: Editors’ poignant art-rock, Slowdive’s mesmeric ambient shoegaze, and Mogwai’s devastating, quiet-to-loud crescendos.” - Noisey
This summer, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, Editors’ Justin Lockey and his brother James came together to release their debut album as Minor Victories. Currently in the midst of a run of live shows throughout Europe, the band are pleased to announce their utterly stunning instrumental interpretation of the self-titled record, entitled Orchestral Variations.
Released on 27th January 2017, the album will be available on CD, digitally and a limited edition 180g 2LP through Play It Again Sam. Listen to the first track, an alternate take on “Cogs,” on Pitchfork . ‘Cogs’ will be available to stream and download from 25th October.
Justin Lockey on the making of Orchestral Variations:
I don't really know that much about music in terms of theory, notes, scales etc. I generally just fuck about with things until it sounds right to my ear... So I guess to call this album 'Orchestral Variations,' it would have to be in the loosest ever sense of the term.
When we were putting together the Minor Victories album, a lot of the music came about through string arrangements, motifs, melodies, countermelodies and other such noodlings I was messing about with. This record kind of takes it back to that initial point, and re-imagines the whole record from that standpoint - the bare bones, the hint at a vocal melody, not relying on any backbeat - but stripping the songs back to the base elements and then piece-by-piece making an entirely new record. It takes the songs and elements around them and the phrases into a new place, mostly born out of hindsight and I guess a curiosity to fuck around with it all long enough until it sounded right to my ear. From all that an entirely new record was formed. It's not a remix album, or b-sides... it's just another way at looking/hearing things.
Produced and engineered by Justin, and featuring the likes of Mark Kozelek and James Graham from The Twilight Sad, Minor Victories (in its original form) was released in June via Play It Again Sam. What began as Justin’s desire to create an extreme noise EP topped off by delicate female vocals, Minor Victories became a 10-track LP, masterfully crafted by four band members who had somehow never even all been in the same room together until after the album was completed. Far more than a side project for its members, this record unveils the real essence of what a group of talented individuals unshackled by convention can attain. Brought together by brief meetings, mutual acquaintances and overall serendipity, Minor Victories created this album together by swapping ideas, songs, fragments and finished recordings via broadband connections. This unusual process, combined with the members’ wide spectrum of musical tastes and experiences converging, ultimately led to something beyond the original vision of any of the contributors that pushes new boundaries and new sounds into uncharted waters.
Previous videos can be viewed via the band’s website - http://www.minor-victories.com
Tracklisting
- Cogs
- Breaking My Light
- The Thief
- Give Up The Ghost
- Scattered Ashes
- Folk Arp
- For You Always
- A Hundred Ropes
- Higher Hopes
- Out To Sea
UK/EU Tour Dates
- 10/24 - Minalo, IT - Santeria Social Club
- 10/25 - Vienna, AT - Ottakringer Brewery
- 10/26 - Lausanne, CH - Les Docks
- 10/27 - Brussels, BE - Botanique
- 10/29 - Port-Jérôme-Sur-Seine, FR - Pitchfork Music Festival: Paris
- 10/30 - Düsseldorf, DE - Zakk
- 10/31 - Berlin, DE - SO36
- 11/01 - Dresden, DE - Beatpol
- 11/02 - Munich, DE - Feierwerk
- 11/04 - Reykjavik, IS - Iceland Airwaves
- 11/05 - Den Haag, Netherlands - Crossing Border Festival
- 11/06 - Hamburg, DE - Markthalle
- 11/07 - Copenhagen, DK - Pumpehuset
- 12/02 - Glasgow, UK - The SSE Hydro *
- 12/03 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena *
- 12/05 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Arena *
- 12/06 - Nottingham, UK - Motorpoint Arena *
- 12/08 - Birmingham, UK - Barclaycard Arena *
- 10/10 - Dublin, IE - 3Arena *
- 12/11 - Liverpool, UK - The Magnet
- 12/12 - Newport, UK - Newport Centre *
- 12/13 - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy 2 Oxford
- 12/14 - Brighton, UK - Brighton Centre *
- 12/15 - London, UK - Wembly Arena *
* supporting Placebo
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