Aidan Smith
Allotments

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What their label says...

- "Drapes of Black" is Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's Pick & Mix tune of the week on BBC Radio 2!!"
- Colin Murray played "Drapes of Black" on his BBC Radio 1 show
- Aidan's cover version of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is recorded and will be included on Mojo's "Beatles' White Album 40th Anniversary "-
September cover mount CD, on the streets from 1st August
"With so many young British singer-songwriters rushing to adopt a self-consciously 'urban' voice, Aidan Smith blows in like a fresh breeze." Uncut
"Eccentric, profound and very human, Aidan Smith's Allotments are fertile ground indeed" Subba-Cultcha
"he waltzes through his second LP with a lightness and grace that is quite beguiling" The Fugitive Motel
"this is as close as it comes to being the type of personal, fearless statement of a great artist that are too infrequent today. 8/10" Foxy Digitalis
“Beautifully ramshackle and gloriously human. It is not a question of if Aidan Smith will be huge, but when.” Music Week
“The keyword is charm, and Smith has it in spades.” Q
“It’s not hard to imagine him becoming a house-hold name” The Independent
“A round peg in a square world, Aidan Smith defies simple explanation. Treasure him.”
i-D
Tracklisting:
1. Morning Was Your Picnic 2. Pockets 3. Drapes Of Black 4. Note To Barbette, An Acrobat, Paris 1824 5. Tree and Animals 6. One-Bedroom
Flat 7. Murder Ballad
8. Wearing Your Clothes 9. Sore Thumbs, Sore Fingers 10. Living On Allotments
11. The Regret Rap 12. Lament Of A Victorian Prostitute, London 1865
13. Snakes And Ladders 14. The Sack
Having already established his bashful genius with three acclaimed mini albums and the off-kilter quirkiness of debut long-player Fancy Barrel, Aidan
Smith returns with the next chapter in his captivating story. Allotments takes the listener on an epic journey, visiting London, Paris and ‘The Bull’s
Head’ and introducing more of the tragi-comic characters that have peppered Smith’s remarkable canon of work so far.
Reminiscent of Kurt Weill’s woozy cabaret and Rufus Wainwright’s touching melodrama, but anchored by a traditional pop ideology, Allotments is a
perfectly-formed oddity; its realism and surrealism runs through every beguiling jaunt.
Opener Morning Was Your Picnic announces itself with dizzying brass and organ, immediately confirming Smith’s unparalleled understanding of
melody, while lyrical vulnerability runs hand in hand with a streak of biting black humour.
Murder Ballad provides a fresh new take on the oft-ubiquitous Saturday night tale of woe, Smith’s startling wit and candour sitting alongside barbershop
quartet harmonies.
Future single, Wearing Your Clothes, is a sweet account of one man’s adventures in his partner’s wardrobe (“tie your ribbon through my thinning
hair…”), while Lament Of A Victorian Prostitute, London 1865 is a tender, sideways look at the world’s oldest profession. Dramatic arrangements and
flawless musicianship send Smith’s eccentric characters straight to your heart.
With breathtaking shows supporting Yo La Tengo, Badly Drawn Boy and Calexico already under his belt, Aidan Smith devotees are already hiding in
parks, cafés and libraries across the country, but Allotments, arguably his finest achievement, is going to see numbers grow, and grow and grow…

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