Description:	Ltd 3" CD on Mobeer (Chris and Nicola from Empress!)
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Electronica / IDM
	Label:	Mobeer
	Price:	£7.99
	Availability:	Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

5
...according to our Phil on 07 August 2009.

Mmm... Empress are back as New North Wales. They have one of those natty 3" Mobeer jobs released this week which as usual are limited to a handful of copies so as ever don't dawdle on this one. Nicola and Chris have started a new thing as New North Wales where they email ideas to each other, expand on 'em etc until songs are born and made into the CD which I'm listening to now. All terribly fancy this modern t'interweb thing. For those missing the achingly fragile music of Empress you'll be delighted by this self-titled CD as it's really not a million miles away. Hushed vocals over sparse guitars and piano make it all sound rather familiar and comforting. It's good to hear 'em again after a good 5 year gap from the musical radar. There's 6 tracks on here in total and each one is so fragile and gentle I feel like just listening to it might make the stereo fall to bits. It's lovely stuff and it's totally recommended by me!!

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

What their label says...

Mobeer number 8, well we're pretty pleased with ourselves. Chris Coyle and Nicola Hodgkinson last released music as Empress too long ago. Beloved of many, Empress made some of the most heartstoppingly beautiful music of the whole heartstoppingly beautiful scene, they released music on 555 before moving on to provide releases for The Pastel's Geographic label and the Hood related Misplaced Music imprint, and then, nothing.
Chris moved back home to North Wales, Nicola to Moteer's second city, Melbourne. They forged on, kept in touch.
 
Slowly (fast) forward. And like so many special musical couplings in the modern age we give thanks to the electronic supermotorway and the unelectonic superpostman. Chris and Nicola shifted ideas to and fro and after months, nearly years, of rumour we finally got six tracks of their first cross continent offerings delivered to us, and so, we made space in the mobeer team for their new venture as New North Wales.
 
New North Wales takes the Empress blueprint and adds longing,regret,acceptance,melancholy and hope. Slow,hushed and reassuringly sad it's music for people tired of genre mashups, plug ins, sonarfestival label showcases, message boards and forums. It's wonderful music made by two humble souls separated by half the world.
 
Housed in the usual mobeer fashion and limited to not enough copies anyone familiar with Empress, Halkyn, Hood or The Remote Viewer should find a 3'' sized space in their collection for this fragile special thing.

1) stormhead
2) our restless plans
3) snow cello
4) the way back home
5) a step too far
6) last light