Ik blijf nog even de folk kaart trekken met dit trans-Atlantische duo. Een folksong zoals o.a. een Cat Stevens die zou schrijven. Ook qua zang doen de heren me aan de man die zich al bijna drie decennia Yusuf noemt, denken. Sons of Town Hall is een gevalletje part waar je je eens in zou moeten verdiepen. Van de balladesque songs over de Victoriaanse kostuums en straffe visuals tot de (comedy-fictie) podcasts Madmen Cross the Water, David Berkeley en Ben Parker weten wat storytelling is.
Of Ghosts and Gods verschijnt in 2025.
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The podcast features witty writing, cinematic production, and a beautiful original score. It is a must-listen for fans of indie folk music and off-kilter storytelling with "Wild Winds" setting the stage for the two fictional characters—Josiah Chester Jones, played by American songwriter and author David Berkeley, and George Ulysses Brown, portrayed by British songwriter and producer Ben Parker, the duo's frontmen. Listen to Episode 1 of the podcast to explore the story behind the song, and watch the accompanying music video.
The pair dreamed up this wildly imaginative concept in a London pub nearly a decade ago and have been thrilling audiences around the world ever since with their rare vocal blend and hilarious repartee. So their story goes, the two craft their songs while crossing the seas on a raft of their own making. That raft is more than just a mythic touring vessel and a creative springboard, it also allows them to retain their infectious hope and humor while transcending time and space. Dressed in threadbare Victorian outfits, their show is part concert, part performance art, and unlike anything you have ever seen.
This fictional world they create allows them a rare artistic freedom both as writers and performers onstage and in the studio. “It is a kind of performance art, I suppose,” Berkeley explains. “We are, in a sense, characters in a fiction we have dreamed up and re-create with our audiences every night.” Parker adds that “maybe the most surprising benefit of the ‘act,’ is that it allows us to be more honest and direct both in our songwriting and in what we say between our songs about human struggles. The costumes, in the end, somehow enable us to be more ourselves.”
Hosted by a modern-day superfan and performed by the duo, the series unfolds as a music history deep dive charting the pair’s misadventures as they travel the world armed with relentless optimism, mesmerizing harmonies, with each episode reenacting the outlandish adventure behind each song on their new album. The first single and video for “Gods” introduced the comedy fiction podcast, which is set in the early 1900s about the folk duo themselves with their mythical origin story that will unveil their album song by song through the 15-episode series. Sons of Town Hall take the concept album to the next level with each song helping to build their world.
