ephemerals star has risen steadily since they broke onto the scene a couple of years ago with their critically acclaimed debut album – 'nothing is easy'. They’ve established themselves both at home and on the continent with the combination of a tireless tour schedule and prolific writing periods that sees them having completed album number 3 in as many years. As before a new album once again sees them refresh their sound with a new set of influences and direction. Always unafraid to push the boundaries of their craft, this release unashamedly emanates jazz, afrobeat and psychedelia which galvanises the soul and r&b that remains at the heart of the band. ephemerals have tried to develop a basic narrative through their albums, with 'nothin is easy' focusing on life, 'chasin ghosts' dealing with death and 'egg tooth' exploring rebirth. Maintaining the same 7 piece line-up that recorded both previous albums and tours as the live band, their latest effort is one that sounds like a group of musicians that knows each other inside out and this intimate knowledge of each other has enabled them to complete their most musically challenging work to date. Complementing this rock solid core is the addition of a full string section and a harpist to add further musical diversity and nuance as well as Ben Lamdin (aka: Nostalgia77) to engineer the recording sessions and capture the recordings while mixing duties were undertaken by their regular mix engineer Rob Jones (The Gene Dudley Group). 'egg tooth' sees songwriter Hillman Mondegreen and singer Wolfgang Valbrun once again combine beautifully, marrying direct and honest lyricism with powerful and at times pained vocal delivery. It’s an album with recurring themes of reincarnation, love, world politics and philosophy in a varied and eclectic collection of songs. Boasting support from BBC 6 music (Gilles Peterson, Craig Charles), Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart, Friction and Target) and a playlist on Radio 1 and 1Xtra as well as support from BBC Radio 2 and 4 plus playlists on Radio Nova in France and Radio 6 in Holland this is a band in their prime pushing their boundaries.
