Delighted to announce that our latest album, Maison Mouton Sessions Vol 1. & Vol.2, is released today. Vol 1 and Vol 2 are available to buy as two separate digital downloads or together as one gatefold double album on CD only. 

How did this album come about?

I’m glad you asked. Between October 2021 and March 2022 I was invited to spend three separate weeks at Maison Mouton, a residency for musicians and sound artists in Provence. The result – a double album of sparse reworking of twenty-odd songs from our back catalogue of 22 years, and all thanks to the patience and hard work of the team at Maison Mouton.
Alongside these mellow acoustic versions lie a few surprises: a grittier version of our very first single Put the Bird to Sleep; a droney Velvets-esque reworking of our 2012 single Winter in a Strange Town and an acoustic, orchestrated version of We Will Be Here with haunting vocals from the three women running Maison Mouton. 
Vol.2 also contains a cover version of Mir by the old Brighton band Chimp, which originally appeared on our B-sides LP Dust.

Maison Mouton also features long-time band members Al Strachan and Emma Papper (aka Space Horns), some sheep and a thunder storm. 

We hope you like it.

Somewhere in the mountains of Sussex
David Oddfellow

The 9th studio release from Oddfellow’s is an album of earth, feet, marches, burials and the passing of time. It takes its title from one of William Blake’s many colourful names for Isaac Newton and belies the record’s themes of our relationship with the the ground below our feet, from land rights  and protest to the earth as our final resting place. The opening track – and single – was inspired by Nick Hayes’ The Book of Trespass, and is a passionate call to arms for new land rights, paying tribute to the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932 and the Greenham Common protests. It also features – with their blessings – the voices of author Nick Hayes and performance artist Lone Taxidermist. Elsewhere on the album is an electronic re-interpretation of Melanie’s 1972 song Summer Weaving; a psychogeographical journey from the Suffolk coast to a remote Dutch island in the track Ameland, the breezy Pixies-esque Emily and the twelve minute epic, Beware My Love the Autumn People which, lyrically, jumps from the horror-writings of Ray Bradbury to themes of loss and the landscapes of Sussex.

The album ends with The Quiet Man and his Dutch Wife, a drastic re-working of a track from 2002’s Yellow-Bellied Wonderland, that finally explodes with the mantra, ‘we all wake up at the end of the world.’

The album is dedicated to Dave Mounfield, close friend of the band and best-known for his roles as Geoffrey and landlord Jack in BBC Radio 4’s Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show.

Pre-order digital and CD versions now from Bandcamp

David Oddfellow 

Somewhere in the mountains of Sussex 

Exclusively on Bandcamp we’re now selling David Oddfellow’s book The Haunted Moustache which, amongst other things, tells the story of how the band got its name. Also on Bandcamp is Music from The Cult of Water as limited edition CD and digital download.  News of a new album to follow shortly.

Six years in the making, The Cult of Water is a hypnotic journey along the Don, an industrial river that shaped the childhood of singer-songwriter and author David Bramwell. Mixing spoken word with Oddfellow’s trademark pastoral electronica and psych-folk, the narrative follows the Don through Sheffield and into the Pennines back in time and back through history to its source, in search of the water goddess Danu, who gave the river its name.

A mesmerising and shimmering mix of music, spoken word, field recordings and archive audio The Cult of Water also features the voice of author and magician Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell). It comes with a booklet, as part of an occult and witchcraft series by Rough Trade Books, with illustrations by Pete Fowler, best-known for his work with Super Furry Animals.

Copies of the CD, booklet and digital download are now available on Bandcamp. 

Our second single of 2021 is from the forthcoming album The Cult of Water, which mixes spoken word, music and field recordings, and is themed around South Yorkshire’s river Don and the goddess Danu from which the river took its name.  
From Swerve of Shore to Bend of Bay is the opening sentence of James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake and the track begins with the mighty voice of comic book author Alan Moore discussing Joyce and Dublin’s River Liffey before moving on to explores rivers in myth, folklore and literature, and as gateways to other worlds.

Fans of the Moog synthesiser might not be surprised to learn that we bought one shortly before recording this track. 

You can support us by buying a download of the track for £1 from Bandcamp here. 

You can also listen to it on Spotify here. 

For a download copy and press pack for review or radio play please contact us via email. 

Stoking the winter fires somewhere in the mountains of Sussex. 

David Oddfellow 

Last Orders at The Shoulder of Mutton is a track written in memory of Dave Mounfield, a friend of the band who died in 2020. Mounfield was best-known for his roles in the award-winning BBC Radio 4 comedy series, Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show. For many years Dave Mounfield and David Oddfellow co-hosted the popular podcast series The Odditorium.The track is available exclusively on Bandcamp. All proceeds go to Martlets Hospice Charity. 

Some generous and enthusiastic reviews of the new album have been rolling in over the last couple of weeks. Here are a few lines from our friends and supporters.

‘A record appropriate to these difficult and crisis-ridden times.’ Ben Graham (Quietus journalist)

‘Folk music that looks to the future as much as it looks to the past’ Graham Duff

‘While this is music inspired by the margins, it doesn’t itself belong in the margins. An album of sustaining depth.’ 9/10 MusicOMH

‘The music and stories that lie within are enthralling and captivating and a must listen.’ 9/10 Maximum Volume Music

‘One of the finest and most subtly distinctive songwriters operating today.’ News from Neptune

‘It is the pop lightness of his writing and the refined romanticism of the sound solutions that decisively impregnate the songs of “Burning! Burning! and fully confirm the brilliance of inspiration of an artist of exquisite class.’ Music Won’t Save You

Digital downloads of the album can now be found on Bandcamp and limited edition signed CDs direct from the website. The album can also be found on iTunes and Spotify.

The next release (three are planned over 12 months) will be the Cult of Water, a mix of spoken word and music, and part-collaboration with the author Alan Moore. Expected release end of October.

Stoking the summer fires. Somewhere in the mountains of Sussex.

David Oddfellow

Burning! Burning! is the first of three album releases over the next 12 months, to mark our 20th anniversary. It will be on sale from August 7th but you can pre-order a signed copy from the shop. P&P is included in the price for both UK orders and global orders.
There are ten brand new songs, including the singles Marian Marks and Sol Ra; plus a cover of the Nico song, Frozen Warnings.

Stoking the summer fires, somewhere in the mountains of Sussex.
David Oddfellow

A brand new song from the soonish-to-be-released album, Burning! Burning! Part-inspired by a visit to the house of author Alan Garner. Marian marks and daisy wheels are the names of symbols left in the doorways and staircases of medieval houses to ward off evil spirits. Garner’s 15th century house is full of them. If it sounds like an end-of-album wave your lighters kind of track, that’s because it is. Big thanks to Tim Sheinman for the pedal steel solo.More to follow soon.

Marian Marks