| Songdog | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales |
| Genres | Folk Noir, Acoustic, Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1970s– present |
| Labels | Evangeline Records, One Little Indian Records |
| Website | Songdog Website Songdog on Myspace |
| Members | |
| Lyndon Morgans Karl Woodward Dave Paterson |
|
Songdog are a Welsh three-piece folk noir band noted for their intelligent lyrics and sparse (often acoustic) musical arrangements.
Contents |
Band members include Lyndon Morgans (vocals, acoustic guitar and songs), Karl Woodward (electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, keyboards) and Dave Paterson (drums, keyboards, percussion).
Lyndon Morgans was a playwright before going into music. He wrote a play entitled Water Music which was shown at London's Cockpit Theatre in 1992.
The band’s debut album, The Way of the World, was self-released. Nevertheless, it received some positive press, including a four (out of five) star review from Martin Aston of The Times in June 2001. Morgans "is smitten by that old salty Belgian dog Jacques Brel, as shown by the sparse, candlelit arrangements and tremulous vocals".
In 2003 the band’s second album, Haiku, was released on Evangeline Records. The album received a four (out of five) star review in Uncut.[1] "If 2001's superb 'The Way of the World' was a fittingly damaged, literary affair for a songwriter in thrall to the Beats, Brel and Dylan, 'Haiku' ups the ante with more extreme, nerve-jarring tales of love and sex in all its obsessive, voyeuristic, clammy glory".
By the time of the third album in 2006 the band had signed to One Little Indian Records. Again the album received some positive press, including a 4.5 out of 5 star review in The Sun newspaper. "There's a raw honesty to Morgans' acute insights set in sparse, intimate musical surroundings... The Time of Summer Lightning is one of those albums you can get lost in for weeks. Another example of why quiet might just be the new loud".[2]
2008’s A Wretched Sinner's Song was a double album released to mixed reviews. The NME wrote that Lyndon Morgans’ “storytelling hints at a real gravity”.[3]
On A Life Eroding, the band’s fifth album, “Lyndon Morgans’ lyrics are as evocative as ever, but his graphic, oddly magical songs haven’t previously enjoyed such well-plotted arrangements”.[4] Mojo awarded the album four (out of five) stars.
Celebrity fans include Bruce Springsteen, who covered "Days of Armageddon" (from 2003 album Haiku) for "walk in music" on his European tour and personally requested a copy of their third album, The Time of Summer Lightning. Haiku, the title for Songdog's second album, means a Japanese verse of three short, unrhymed lines. Tracks from the third album received radio airplay on Jonathan Ross' BBC Radio 2 show and John Kennedy's XFM show, amongst others.
Songdog have supported Joan As Policewoman, Ed Harcourt, The Handsome Family and The Go-Betweens, Australian indie rockers.