Belfast’s ARBORIST Share’s ‘ALABASTER SKIN’ w/ Spacebomb Studio Video

“An instant classic.” The Guardian ★★★★
“A staggering debut of depth and substance” Uncut
“Devastatingly bleak…upliftingly beautiful.” MOJO ★★★★
“A poignant, beautiful record.” Lauren Laverne, BBC 6Music
“Reminiscent of solo Robert Forster & early Lambchop.” Pete Paphides, Soho Radio

Belfast’s ARBORIST Shares New Single ALABASTER SKIN
(Kirkinriola Records)

Alabaster Skin is the third and final single to be taken from Belfast artist ARBORIST’s forthcoming album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros released 21 April, Kirkinriola Records, which melds ARBORIST’s classic musicality with the more experimental hallmarks of producer Matthew E. White and the house band of Spacebomb Studio, Richmond, Virginia, where the album was recorded.

An intriguing and boundary pushing sound to file under John Cale, Bill Fay, Howe Gelb, Lee Hazelwood, Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born and The Go-Betweens.

The meditative and utterly mesmerising piano ballad Alabaster Skin was written during recent riots in Belfast, and at what ARBORIST calls “The older, bitter generation stroking hatred in the young, only to realise that they are not of the same mentality, their minds not as poisoned.” Its closing line “Honey, I’ve been dreaming of an awful rage. In another body, in another language” hints at the album’s dream state feel both sonically speaking and in its esoteric lyrics, with much of it written in the surrealist fugue of the last five years.

Alabaster Skin’s dreamy musicality comes curtesy of the lush strings of Trey Pollard (Faye Webster, The Waterboys, Nadia Reid) of the Spacebomb house band and Matthew E. White’s unique production. As ARBORIST expands on the song’s creation “I didn’t want any guitar on the track, however, after a few run-throughs it all felt a little naked and the piano a little exposed, so Matthew came-up with the idea of passing my piano signal to guitarist, Alan Parker’s, Microcosm Hologram pedal and allow Alan to tinker with it in real-time during the take.”

The accompanying video, shot at Spacebomb Studios, documents the studio experience so integral to the sound of new album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros.

ARBORIST ‘Alsbaster Skin’ single artwork

ARBORIST is Belfast native Mark McCambridge, he has to date released two critically acclaimed albums, Home Burial (2016), which included his Kim Deal duet ‘Twisted Arrow,’ and A Northern View (2020), with support from the likes of The Guardian, MOJO, Uncut, and Cerys Matthews, Cillian Murphy, Gideon Coe, and Steve Lamacq at BBC Radio 6 Music.

ARBORIST has supported the likes of James Yorkston, Cat Power, Low, Echo & The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey and played a series of solo headline tours, and most recently played a sold-out tour in late 2022 alongside The Delines.

ARBORIST will be on tour in UK/Europe in Spring with a full band to support new album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros.

UK/IRELAND LIVE DATES:
22nd April – KILKENNY, Cleere’s
27th April – BELFAST, Ulster Sports Club
29^th April – PORTSTEWART, Flowerfield Arts Centre
13^th May – BALLYMENA, Braid Arts Centre
25th May – LONDON, Paperdress Vintage
27th May – NORTH SHIELDS, The Engine Room
28th May – GLASGOW, Hug & Pint

Alabaster Skin is released today as a digital single alongside the video streaming on YouTube, with the album An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros following on 21 April 2023 via Kirkinriola Records and available digitally and on vinyl and CD.

ARBORIST photographed by Aaron Cunningham

ARBORIST LINKS:
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