Lail Arad & JF Robitaille + Hannah Ross at Gullivers Lounge, Manchester

  • Wednesday | 06.12.17
  • 7.30pm
  • Band on the Wall, Manchester
  • £6 ADVANCE / £7...

Band on the Wall presents two of the most exciting singer/songwriters around, Lail Arad & JF Robitaille, together at the Northern Quarter’s Gullivers Lounge. Arad and Robitaille shall be performing wonderful new collaborative material, written in snowy Montreal, as well as favourites from their respective solo albums.

During a co-headline tour through Italy in September 2016, the two solo artists found their duets increasingly in demand. Recording together was the logical next experiment. A snowy winter of songwriting in Montreal was followed by a month-long residency at the legendary Society Club Soho in London. The two tested out their new material over five sold out Saturday nights and encouraged their special guests (including Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots and Charles Watson of Slow Club) to do the same. The music video for the single, directed by Flo Kohl and Ellis Pendens, was shot on the bustling final night. They soon found themselves in the studio with Mercury Music prize winning producer Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Laura Marling), creating a track which not only combines their lyrical wit, but proves a bold musical departure for both voices. Balancing effortlessly between 1969 and 2017, “We Got It Coming” is a transatlantic gem.

Lail Arad’s second album “The Onion”, released by The Vinyl Factory in 2016, received UK radio play from the likes of Lauren Laverne, Jarvis Cocker, John Kennedy, Robert Elms and Max Reinhardt. Press coverage included The Financial Times, The London Evening Standard, Paper Mag, The 405 and Clash. The album also got extensive radio and press coverage in France and Germany. In Autumn of last year Lail was awarded Women Make Music funding from PRS Foundation for a 12-date UK tour, which included two sold out shows at London’s Servant Jazz Quarters.

A brilliant lament about 16 million cases of heartbreak by the wonderful Lail Arad. – Billy Bragg

JF Robitaille has long been celebrated as one of the most engaging songwriters in Canada, his 3rd album “Palace Blues” was released by Sparks/Universal in 2016 and the single “Missing You” (feat.Julie Doiron) reached #4 on the CBC Radio 2 National charts. He has opened for the likes of St.Vincent, Jonathan Richman and Sean Lennon and has toured extensively throughout Canada and Europe.

Lyrically sincere and utterly charming. JF Robitaille could rise to be a Leonard Cohen for the new age; but with optimism, melody and a prettier voice. – Exclaim Magazine

Support comes from Hannah Ross.
‘what are the natural forms?’, the debut EP of Manchester-based singer and artist Hannah Ross, is a collection of solo songs written about broken hearts and aching bones over a summer at home in her native North West. Experiencing the physical pain of a chronic health condition only recently diagnosed, alongside grief for the end of a relationship, her songs deal with how different kinds of hurt can be expressed at once.

This is a standing show.

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