Headlong into the Unknown
(EP)
08.09.23
If you play it safe, you’ll never know what might have been.
There’s always a balance - a choice made with everything you do in life. The question is: when do you follow the familiar path… and when do you gamble on the undetermined outcome?
‘Headlong into the Unknown’ is the second EP from new indie-folk-pop trio Sylvan Weekends, arriving at the end of their first year together. It’s a four-track nostalgia funfair, written to dream about whirligig highs and midnight skinny dipping.
When Freya moved to Bristol for six months over winter, she and Matthew sent voice notes back and forth full of ideas and summer plans. These plans and memories, shared from two sides of the country evolved into the EP: Headlong into the Unknown - four tracks of anticipation, excitement and nostalgia.
The uplifting Foolhardy (I will never forget this summer), is about the best summer you ever had, when anything felt possible. Sea Lion, an indie-folk offering, narrates meeting friends of friends and all-night debates. The title track Headlong into the Unknown started life as an anthem to the buzz of cold water swimming and the finale I think you know reflects the intensity of falling in love - holiday-romance style.
Sylvan Weekends (Matthew, Freya & Daniel) was born in the forest, in the summer of 2022, a symphonic fusion of contradiction: London meets wilderness, tech meets off-grid, and folk meets electro. The ethos of contrast is seeded through every track and lyric and the melding of opposing worlds - banjos with synths, timpani with arpeggiator - creates an immersive experience to tingle your deepest intuitive desires.
Unified vocals from co-writers/producers Matthew & Freya cut through with emotional resonance: one octave up resonates at twice the frequency.
Nobody fits perfectly into one box and neither does their music.
Assigning a genre is tricky - but getting a tune stuck in your head won’t be.
Matthew fronts successful folk band Keston Cobblers Club with whom he has built an illustrious live career, including an arena support tour with Paul Heaton & Jaqui Abbot of Beautiful South, Bellowhead, selling out Union Chapel as KCC & playing festivals such as Glastonbury, Bestival & Wilderness. His songwriting has earned raucous praise from BBC Legends such as Bob Harris, Dermot O’Leary (“Every song is an absolute killer...They’re terrific”) & Steve Lamacq (“One of the best new discoveries I’ve made”).
Freya has earned a reputation for instrumental music under Freya Lily (“absolutely astounding, a melodic masterclass”) & folk music alike (“like Laura Marling meets Jade Bird”). She’s had regular podcast features on BBC Sounds, & through work as a session vocalist with LCV has performed with legends including Basement Jaxx, The Staves, Imogen Heap, Jools Holland, & more, in a host of epic venues such as The Southbank Centre, EartH Hackney & Barbican.
Daniel has completed 3 studio albums, and 7 European tours as part of folk band Stables (with Matthew), and played festivals across Europe including Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk Festival, during which he’s the king of multi-tasking - falsetto harmonies, ukulele and drums all at the same time.
Headline Germany tour:
07 Sep - Cologne DE
08 Sep - Wernigerode DE
09 Sep - Osnabrück DE
10 Sep - Hamburg DE
11 Sep - Lubeck DE
12 Sep - Steinhude DE
13 Sep - Bonn DE
14 Sep - Remshalden DE
15 Sep - Havixbeck DE
16 Sep - Oberstdorf DE
17 Sep - Munich - DE
18 Sep - Wermelskirchen DE
20 Sep - Bremen DE
21 Sep - Leipzig DE
22 Sep - Berlin DE
23 Sep - Stuttgart DE
@sylvanweekends
www.sylvanweekends.com
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