Spiral Earth's top ten albums

Delighted to report that, along with records by The Levellers, Spiers and Boden and Seth Lakeman, our 'Untie the Wind' made it into Spiral Earth's top ten albums of 2008! Read the full line up here.

Meantime, wishing you all a peaceful Christmas. We'll see you in the New Year for more, much more.

Love,

Telling the Bees xxx

Jon Boden support!

Happy to announce that we've been booked to support Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings at the Jericho Tavern on Saturday March 7th. Jon will be launching his second solo album, Songs from the Floodplain, which is, I'm told, a concept album of 'deeply resonating folkapocalyptica'. Well, quite. Should be an unmissable night - love to see you there.

Andy xxx

English Acoustic Collective

As you may know, Andy was guest tutor on the English Acoustic Collective summer school this year (July 2008). The indefatigable Matt Coatsworth recorded many of the sessions that took place there and is gradually posting them online here. Part of the ethos of the school is to encourage experimentation so these are not polished studio recordings. But they communicate some of the feel and atmosphere of the course, which is nothing if not extraordinary.

Exmoor

We had an intense but rewarding week on Exmoor, recording five new songs in total. The old Telling the Bees magic was working and we found new and surprising arrangements arising spontaneously out of the creative furnace.

It's a very wonderful thing to do, to go off to the countryside for a week with no other distractions. We've found a good way of working too - doing live takes until we've found one we're all happy with, then finishing it with the minimum of editing. To maintain that level of concentration is quite demanding, so it's wonderful to be able to walk out of the door and be in inspiring countryside, delightful walks in every direction.

Five songs is very nearly half an album, but don't get too excited just yet as we'll need at least two other recording sessions and a lot of mixing. But suffice it to say that we're well chuffed with what we've done, and can't wait for you to hear it too.

Meanwhile, here are some photos...

Exmoor and beyond

We played a cracking gig this week at a new acoustic night here in Oxford, called the Potting Shed. Watch out for more stuff happening there - it's an intimate venue with great acoustics.

Meanwhile we're off to Exmoor again to start work on the next album. Yup, that's right, we're getting it together in the country with a car-load of food, instruments, recording tat and a dog (essential, we think, to the recording process). Untie the Wind took nine months from start to finish but we're hoping that this will be a bit quicker. We'll try and keep you updated on our progress but we may not have internet connection down there. Watch this space!