Late again - The Miserable Rich

January is normally a pretty poor one for new music , usually one or two bands can take advantage of the quiet time to release stuff to a music press with little to write about and record shops wanting to get rid of the best of 2011 shelves (this year it hs been the Maccabees whose 3rd lp is excellent). All this means is I usually end up buying a few cds by bands I've missed.

This year I've just bought the second lp by Brighton band The Miserable Rich. The 5 piece might orchestrated pop music ... or chamber pop as it has sometimes been called.

I'll leave it to wikipedia to summarise the history to date

In 2006, Will Calderbank (cello) joined James de Malplaquet (vocals) to form the band Grape Authority, a live band playing the songs de Malplaquet had written under the pseudonym James Grape. The pair were playing in Brighton folk band Shoreline, and the more traditional instrumentation used in this band was taken on board. Together with Mike Siddell (formerly Hope of the States) on violin, Jim Briffett (of Clearlake) on guitar and Rhys Lovell playing double bass they created The Miserable Rich.
They recorded their debut album, Twelve Ways To Count, at de Malplaquet's house in Hove during the summer of 2007. The debut single from the album received positive reviews, including Leftfield Single of the Month in DJ Magazine and widespread airplay, with the band championed in particular by BBC 6 Music's Marc Riley, for whom they have recorded two live sessions. The album itself has received widespread critical acclaim, both in Germany and the UK.
They have toured extensively in Europe, both as headliners, and as support for Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
In November 2009 they released an EP of cover versions, featuring four reworked 1980s songs: "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers, "Gigantic" by Pixies, "Shades" by Iggy Pop and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics.
The Miserable Rich self-recorded and produced their second album, Of Flight & Fury, which was then mixed by Al Scott (The Levellers, Eliza Carthy, Asian Dub Foundation), and released in June 2010.

I am not sure why I started with this 2nd lp as last year the released a 3rd lp with each song inspired by a ghost story, which shows the type of ambition I usually go for!

Anyway here is a track from the second lp which I can heartily recommend if you like that mixture of strings , acoustic guitar , piano and a slight english folkiness and quirky songwriting

Let Me Fade - The Miserable Rich

Their website can be found here which has a shop where you can buy all their cd as I've only got their second one I'm not sure how it compares to the other 2 in terms of a good place to start. They also do some mighty fine videos