eagleowl: No time to hibernate

[Poster artwork by Ola Rek]

Unlike their feared namesake, eagleowl the band are attracting more and more admirers around their neck of the woods. Within a few days of releasing new single 'Sleep the Winter' last week, practically every Scottish blogger and music scribe worth his / her salt had picked up on it with studied words of praise.

And rightly so. It's another wonderfully evocative release from the band, with mournful cello and languid guitar combining to conjure a cold, foreboding atmosphere, until a change of chord and the hushed words of the title gently add a layer of much needed warmth. Like the best alt-folk, it sounds timeless, permanent, but not dated.

So with the hype still feathering the Edinburgh group's nest, we thought we'd catch up with Bart 'The hardest working man in post-folk' Owl to find out what's new since Billy spoke to him in May...

Play: Sleep the Winter


Where did the idea for Sleep the Winter come from?

In some ways it came from an argument I had with Dan from Withered Hand. I had suggested that we both write Christmas songs, so that we could then do a show together at Christmas time. He said it would be "a waste of a song". I think we both have a rather laborious approach to songwriting - definitely aiming for quality over quantity. Dan thought spending ages writing a song you could only play at one time of the year would be a waste. So this was an attempt to write a song that "felt Christmas-y", but wouldn't sound too weird when played at other times of the year.

It's going to be the first release for Kilter - a new Edinburgh-based label. The people behind it were previously responsible for the Tracer Trails shows in Edinburgh, and have brought some amazing names to the city in the past (Viking Moses, Tiger Saw, Jeffrey Lewis, Woodpigeon, etc). They're friends, and we have quite a close working relationship, but I just really respect their approach to promotion, and the effort they put into every conceivable detail.

What have you been up to since we last spoke?

Since we last spoke we finished the recording and mixing of the single. There's also an EP recorded and ready for release next year, and we've recorded a track for a Jonathan Richman tribute album, which is due out on Fortuna Pop at some point next year too. We've not been playing that many shows recently, but we did do a few nice support shows in October - with ballboy, Bowerbirds, and Trespassers William. We also did the Playing with the Past event - both during the Film Festival and again in August. For this we composed and performed a live soundtrack to two short films from the Scottish National archive.

Any other plans afoot?

We're playing the Versus night on 21 January at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh. This is a relatively new night and not a conventional gig - three acts set up at once so that they can collaborate with each other. It's a really interesting idea and gives us scope to try out new things and work with some great acts that we really respect. The full line-up's not been confirmed yet, but it's shaping up rather nicely. We're also hoping to do more shows outside of Edinburgh, and outside of Scotland, next year.

Words: Nick Mitchell

Sleep the Winter is released on 14 Dec.

The launch night is at the Bowery, Edinburgh on Friday 11 Dec, with support from Jill of Sparrow & the Workshop and Dan of Withered Hand. There's also a Glasgow launch at the 13th Note on Monday 14 Dec, with Dan again and Ali from Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers.