WOAH!! Stop the press – we are super pumped to be able to announce the incredible musicians from Acoustic Ladyland have reformed under a new name SILVER BIRCH and they’re playing The Rose Hill as part of their new album tour in one of 3 UK shows in total!
Their recording band is full of Rose Hill favourites including Seb Rochford (we hosted his increds ensemble Finding Ways earlier this year); Ruth Goller, the exceptional bassist and composer/songwriter who has also visited our stage in her own right over the years touring her albums “”skylla” + “SKYLLUMINA“; saxophonist, composer and producer Pete Wareham, who is probably best known as the founder of Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down but has spent the last 25 years forging a singular musical voice at the intersection of jazz, rock, electronics and free improvisation; and Chris Sharkey described bt the Gaurdian as ‘fiercely inventive, powerfully independent’ an active national and international artist, performing with Charles Hayward (This Heat) , Jack Wylie (Portico) to name a few as well as a noteable producer in his own right working for labels like Leaf, Edition, Naim, Discus, Babel, NEWJaIM..
For their live iteration they’ll be joined by the amazing BETAMAX on drums, co-founder of Mercury Prize-nominated cosmic jazz trio The Comet is Coming. What a group! Read more about their new album and the story behind it all below:
In 2011, the plan for genre-destroying, trail-blazing punk-jazz upsetters Acoustic Ladyland was to re-emerge under the new name Silver Birch. After several years of constant touring and playing together, Pete Wareham (tenor saxophone), Chris Sharkey (guitar), Ruth Goller (bass) and Seb Rochford (drums) recorded what they felt was the strongest album the band had ever made. The label at the time disagreed, the project was shelved, and Wareham soon moved on to form Melt Yourself Down
15 years later, that “lost” album – High on the Western Hill — is finally being released by Kit Records. To mark the release, a new incarnation of Silver Birch featuring Max Hallett / Betamax (The Comet is Coming) on drums will perform the music live for the first time.
The music captures the band at its most intense and exploratory: heavy grooves colliding with anthemic improvisation, mind-bending rhythmic virtuosity, extended song forms and euphoric saxophone lines. Rooted equally in post-punk energy, experimental rock and dynamic improvisation, the album now feels startlingly contemporary — a missing link between Acoustic Ladyland and the diverse compositional approaches that would later define the work of all four musicians.