Black Hearted Brother - Got Your Love (Ultramarine Remix) Black Hearted Brother – the new trio formed by Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3), Mark Van Hoen (Locust, Seefeel) and Nick Holton (Coley Park, Holton’s Opulent Oog) – release the ‘Got Your Love’ EP on April 1. It will be available from iTunes and all download retailers and streaming services. Get it from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/bhb-gyl-itunes The EP’s lead track is an edited version of one of the standout songs on last year’s debut album, ‘Stars Are Our Home’, which always sounded a bit like a lost indie-disco classic, mixing moody Mary Chain melancholia with a thumping electronic beat and squelching sequencers. “‘Got Your Love’ is really the poppiest song on the album,” agrees the band’s Nick Holton. “It started life on GarageBand, but we added a big floor drum, three big guitars, Mark’s bass synth and Neil’s catchy melody. It became a long song, clocking in at just under eight minutes thanks to Mark’s epic intro and outro. It actually features a massive hammer – and it is really massive – from Brooklyn as the pulsing percussion.” There is also one brand new track. “‘Don’t Take The Weight’ started life in my large vault of instrumental ditties,” explains Mark Van Hoen. “One of the privileges of the Brethren is the opportunity to cherry pick from this fruitful orchard of sonic delights, and this one did the trick. This time Nick steps up on lead vocals, as he did on several cuts on the album.” The EP is rounded out by two very different remixes of the title track. Chilean electronica artist (now based in Paris) Ricardo Tobar turns in a brilliantly wonky rework which was premiered recently on The Quietus. The other remix is a gloriously downbeat, echo-laden reworking by Ultramarine – the legendary UK techno duo formed by Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper, who released ‘This Time Last Year’, their first album since 1998, last September. Speaking of bands on the comeback trail, it probably hasn’t escaped your attention that, since Black Hearted Brother first released ‘Stars Are Our Home’ last October, Neil Halstead’s old band Slowdive have reformed and confirmed appearances at festivals around the world later this year. We’d like to think that BHB was a big step towards this being possible. Here are some of the nice things that were said about the album: “Euphoric electro-shoegaze... It is damn good to hear Neil Halstead busting the effects pedals out of storage and making a dynamic, distorted racket after years of hushed, stripped- back folk music” - The Quietus “A splendid, freeform racket” - The Times “Catchy melodies and infectious, poppy grooves” - Metro “A super group that doesn’t celebrate itself... come up with an album of mournful pop played as tripped-out psych-gaze” - The Line Of Best Fit The original version can be found on Black Hearted Brother's debut album 'Stars Are Our Home', which was released in October 2013. Order LP/CD: http://smarturl.it/bhb-album Get the album from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/bhb-itunes
