Alasdair Roberts' high-spirited new album, Pangs, is in stores on Friday - and in commemoration with this forthcoming moment of uplift, we share with one and all the newly-minted video for the title track. Throughout Pangs, Alasdair's leads a band on electric guitar, offering an evocation of the 60s and 70s folk-rockers of the British Isles - the electric warriors of Fairport Convention, the Battlefield Band, Planxty, Richard Thompson and so many others. Of course, these sounds travel through the music of Alasdair Roberts, which is set very firmly in the world of TODAY. And even a dark lament can lift the heart - the point in fact is "Pangs" itself, a skipping ode considering the phenomenon of "sympathetic birth" - where the pain of the expecting mother is shared by another. We take this to be Alasdair's observation of the Brexit/Trump echo, a collapse that has been heard across nations.

It makes sense then that the "Pangs" video finds Alasdair hitching a ride through hostile counties, standing on the rock of Hadrian's Walk (the ancient Roman wall built in the north of England to mark the boundary of their empire) and returning, prodigal-son style to a remote castle where children play and a preacher leads his flock. There's magic involved, via a selenite Crystal Wand, and an evocation of end times. A stark but compelling vision that reminds us to consider others as we do ourselves. With a guitar solo too! Watch it now!

 

Alasdair's UK/IRE tour (with Alex Neilson and Stevie Jones) begins tomorrow, check if they're coming to your neck of the woods! 

 

ALASDAIR ROBERTS PANGS TRIO UK TOUR 2017

2/23/17 at Cafe OTO in London, United Kingdom 
2/24/17 at South Street Arts Centre in Reading, United Kingdom   
2/25/17 at Ropery Hall in Hull, United Kingdom 
2/26/17 at Colchester Arts Centre in Colchester, United Kingdom  
2/27/17 at The Cumberland Arms in Newcastle, United Kingdom  
3/1/17 at House Concert in  Edinburgh, United Kingdom 
3/2/17 at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow, United Kingdom 
3/5/17 at The Continental Pub in Preston , United Kingdom 
3/15/17 at Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, United Kingdom 
3/16/17 at The Courtyard in Hereford, United Kingdom 
3/17/17 at The Tangled Parrot in Carmarthen, United Kingdom  
3/18/17 at B-Bar in Plymouth, United Kingdom      
3/19/17 at Noah's Yard in Swansea, United Kingdom 
3/21/17 at Smokey Joe's in Cheltenham, United Kingdom
3/23/17 at  Prince Albert in Stroud, United Kingdom              
3/24/17 at Bodmin Folk Club in Bodmin, United Kingdom              
3/25/17 at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, United Kingdom
 
All gigs trio (Alasdair with Stevie Jones and Alex Neilson)