A.A. Williams Shares “Golden”

Posted on August 16, 2022August 16, 2022 by danielle

With her new album As The Moon Rests due out 7th October via Bella Union, and having previously shared a video for lead track ‘Evaporate’, today A.A. Williams unveils new single “Golden”. Commenting on the track Williams says: “It is sometimes possible to find ourselves in a situation unable to be objective, unable to see one’s part in the greater picture. Sometimes we are even the root of a problem we didn’t even realise was occurring. Golden speaks of the push and pull between enjoying being in a loving situation, yet simultaneously, unwittingly, ruining it.”

“Traditionally, your second album is the worry; where there’s the weight of expectation,” A.A. Williams contends. “But I must create music I like myself, and I’ve had more time on this record; I’ve felt more confidence and conviction. As The Moon Rests is both heavier and softer, there’s more texture and weight, and a string ensemble. It’s Forever Blue times ten!”

Released in July 2020, Forever Blue was the London-based singer-songwriter’s album debut, a brilliantly dramatic, unique and intimate walk on the dark side that fused bold and smouldering hues of post-rock and post-classical. By turns, it was glacial and volcanic, blissful and violent, through moments of disarming quiet and explosive volume, equally appealing to alt-rock and metal camps.

“The shifts between moments of high drama and quiet tension point to her kinship with Chelsea Wolfe and PJ Harvey,” stated Uncut. “Stirring and evocative… The chances of a more heartrending and fully formed debut emerging this year are practically zero,” reckoned Metal Hammer.

As Williams contends, As The Moon Rests amplifies the scale of her ambitions, crystalised by ‘Evaporate’, the first track released from the sessions. It comes with a video that embodies the thrilling tensions of Williams’ world, where emotions walk a fine line between control and chaos. Likewise, the impact of William’s deep-trawling voice and lyrics that ask all the right existential questions throughout As The Moon Rests: who am I? What can I change? What can’t I change?

Forever Blue had already set in motion Williams’ quest for self-improvement, but the pandemic presented more challenges. As Forever Blue was about to be released, she started posting solo videos – cover versions suggested by her fans, such as Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, Nick Cave’s ‘Into Your Arms’ and Deftones’ ‘Be Quiet and Drive’, alchemised to fit her own crepuscular sound and vision. Songs From Isolation, as she called it, “was a positive experience to focus on through the overwhelming reports of bad news. And I could have a dialogue with my listeners.”

Songs From Isolation subsequently turned into a nine-track album of covers, a definite and heartaching document of solitude and fortitude. Next came arco, a re-imagining of Williams’ debut (self-titled) EP for just voice and strings. She’d played the string parts (as well as guitar and piano) on Forever Blue, but here she wrote the arrangements for a ten-piece ensemble, transposing the rhythm and low end of a rock band into sumptuous and elegant orchestrations.

The string ensemble returns for As The Moon Rests, bolstering the album’s cinematic dimensions and underlining the palpable drama of Williams’ quest to forge a more liberating path. The album’s opening track ‘Hollow Heart’ sets out the emotional terrain: “Give me time and I will learn / that I am only human,” she sings before the instruments begin their slow climb to boiling point. Williams’ voluminous guitar and keyboards are embellished by co-producer (and husband) Thomas Williams’ bass guitar, Geoff Holroyde’s drums and engineer / mixer Adrian Hall at his London studio Clever Pup (as opposed to the Williams’ two-bedroom flat for Forever Blue). “We had better equipment, and more experience at hand,” says Williams. When they were finished, As The Moon Rests clocked in at a mighty 62 minutes. “I was expecting to take a few recordings away after we’d finished, but the consensus was that everything was good, and worked as a collection.”

The album takes its title from the closing track. “For me, ‘As The Moon Rests’ jumped out as evoking a change in direction in the lyrics,” she explains. “It’s a love song, not necessarily romantic, but between two people with an unwavering bond. It seemed poignant and prominent enough to work as the title.”

That unwavering bond could equally exist between two conflicting parts of the self. “Most of Forever Blue’s text was quite insular,” she recalls. “I was trying to understand myself, trying to cure, or eradicate, parts of myself. But I realised that if you remove things; you might remove parts of your personality too. You just need to learn how to manage things, to be kinder to yourself. It’s all a journey, a progression.”

Williams would rather not specify any incidents, triggers or memories behind each individual song. “It’s all part of an overriding arc,” she says. “With hindsight, some songs I figure things out, others I disappear into a hole. For example, in ‘Evaporate’, I’m trying to keep a lid on fizzy complicated thoughts, which just explode. Other times, I’m more relaxed. Mostly, writing is more retrospective, not about the here and now. The lyrics are the place where I figure things out.”

Now Williams and her live band – Thomas Williams, Wayne Proctor and multi-instrumentalist Matthew de Burgh Daly – get to figure out a proper headline tour in support of an album, since lockdown meant that their first headline show on London’s South Bank in early 2020 became her last for well over a year, until a short headline tour in Autumn 2021 that at least gave them the chance to commune with fans and feel the white heat and spark of performance. In August of this year, they’re supporting Japanese post-rockers MONO, Williams’ collaborators for the 10” vinyl single ‘Exit in Darkness’; in September, to launch As the Moon Rests, comes their biggest headline show yet at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Following that, Williams will undertake her first comprehensive headline tour: a 6-week trek across the UK and Europe, taking in 34 shows over 12 countries. Williams’ journey may have been held up by events, but in all other aspects, everything that culminates in As The Moon Rests is incontrovertible proof that it continues to build and thrive.

Thursday 18^th August – Bristol – Arctangent Festival

Sunday 21^st August – Oslo – Kulturkirken Jakob

Monday 22^nd August – Stockholm – Sodra Teatern

Tuesday 23^rd August – Copenhagen – Pumpehuset

Wednesday 24^th August – Hamburg – Uebel & Gefahrlich

Thursday 25^th August – Berlin – Hole44

Friday 26^th August – Koln – Luxor

Sunday 28^th August – Antwerp – Kavka Zappa

Wednesday 31^st August – Zurich – Mascotte

Thursday 1^st September – Paris – Le Trabendo

Saturday 3^rd September – Barcelona – Apolo 2

Sunday 4^th September – Murcia – Garage Beat Club

Monday 5^th September – Seville – Sala Custom

Tuesday 6^th September – Porto – Hard Club

Wednesday 7^th September – Lisbon – RCA Club

Thursday 8^th September – Madrid – Mon Madrid

Friday 9^th September – Biarritz – Atabal

Sunday 11^th September – Bensancon – L’antonnoir

Monday 12^th September – Lille – Aeronef

Saturday 19^th November – Dunkerque – Les 4Ecluses

Saturday 17^th September – London – Queen Elizabeth Hall

Sunday 13^th November – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club

Monday 14^th November – Milton Keynes – Craufurd Arms

Tuesday 15^th November – Birmingham – Hare & Hounds

Wednesday 16^th November – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach

Thursday 17^th November – Falmouth – The Cornish Bank

Friday 18^th November – Bristol – Thekla

Saturday 19^th November – Dunkerque – Les 4 Ecluses

Sunday 20^th November – Savigny -le-temple – L’Empreinte

Tuesday 22^nd November – Nantes – Le Ferrailleur

Wednesday 23^rd November – Rouen – Le 106

Thursday 24^th November – Lyon – Hard Rock Café

Friday 25^th November – Metz – L’Aerogare Station Lothaire

Saturday 26^th November – Strasbourg – Artefact La Laiterie

Sunday 27^th November – Duffel – Cinema Plaza

Monday 28^th November – Tilburg – Cultuurfabriek Hall Of Fame

Wednesday 30^th November – Hamburg – Hafenklang

Thursday 1^st December – Copenhagen – Vega

Friday 2^nd December – Aalborg – 1000Fryd

Sunday 4^th December – Bergen – Landmark

Monday 5^th December – Oslo – Bla

Tuesday 6^th December – Stockholm – Hus 7

Thursday 8^th December – Helsinki – Kuudes Linja

Saturday 10^th December – Gdansk – Drizzly Grizzly

Sunday 11^th December – Warsaw – Klub Hydrozagadka

Monday 12^th December – Krakow – Hol

Tuesday 13^th December – Wroclaw – Akademia Club

Wednesday 14^th December – Berlin – Urban Spree

Friday 16^th December – Milan – Bloom

Saturday 17^th December – Lucernce – Sedel

Sunday 18^th December – Karlsruhe – Stadmitte

Monday 19^th December – Frankfurt – Brotfabrik

Tuesday 20^th December – Cologne – Buhmann & Sohn

Wednesday 21^st December – Haarlem – Patronaat

A.A. Williams to release “arco” EP

Posted on August 18, 2021 by danielle

Following the success of her recent Songs From Isolation album, A.A. Williams today announces arco, a strings and vocal reimagining of her debut EP, out 15th October via Bella Union and available to preorder here. To mark the occasion Williams has shared a transfixing and unsettling b/w video for “Control”, the EP’s opening track, directed by Mogwai collaborator Craig Murray.

Making her stage debut in April 2019 and selling out her first headline show at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre less than a year later, A.A. Williams hit the ground running. Similarly, the acclaim for her performances and her music has been unanimous from the start. After one self-titled EP and a collaboration with Japanese post-rockers MONO, the London-based singer-songwriter signed to Bella Union and released her stunning debut album, Forever Blue, in July 2020.

That Southbank show would prove to be the last time she would take to the stage for a long while as the world struggled to cope with unforeseen and extreme challenges. Never a musician to sit still, the classically trained multi-instrumentalist focused her creativity on arranging – firstly, by stripping songs back to the most delicate bones on her Songs from Isolation covers record, and now with a complete reimagining of her own material as the four songs from her debut EP become arco.

Not many musicians have the ability – or indeed bravery – to rework a collection of their own full band ‘rock’ songs into a string-and-voice arrangement. A.A. Williams, however, is not like many musicians and the minimalism of Arvo Pärt and Gorecki has long since sat beside Vaughan Williams’ folk-inspired classical work as important influences on her music. Indeed, the intention with the EP was for Williams to challenge herself by not retaining guitars and drums, meaning arco had to be truly reimagined with a full string ensemble. As Williams describes it: “The main focus of the arrangements is trying to maintain the authenticity of the original songs that, whilst embodying some of the more familiar elements of the full-band settings, draws focus on the voice.”

Conducting the ensemble of string musicians in the studio, A.A. Williams has evolved her own compositions with new instrumentation and arrangements, encapsulating the singular vision of a unique artist.

A.A. Williams announces 2021 Autumn tour

Posted on May 19, 2021 by danielle

Following the release of her Songs From Isolation covers album earlier this year, A.A. Williams has announced news of her first-ever headline UK tour, taking her band on the road in September and October of this year to perform songs from her acclaimed debut album, Forever Blue. The tour also includes a London Bush Hall show performing the Songs From Isolation album in its entirety, while later in October Williams will give a stripped-back performance at London’s Scala supporting Bella Union labelmates Lost Horizons.

Making her stage debut in April 2019 and selling out her first headline show at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre less than a year later, A.A. Williams has hit the ground running. Similarly, the acclaim for her performances and her music has been unanimous from the start. After one self-titled EP and the 10” vinyl collaboration Exit in Darkness with Japanese post-rockers MONO, the London-based singer-songwriter signed to Bella Union and made a stunning debut album, Forever Blue, released in July 2020.

A rapturous blend of post-rock and post-classical, Forever Blue smoulders with uncoiling melodies and haunted atmospheres, shifting from serenity to explosive drama, often within the same song. Williams is a fantastic musician as well as songwriter, playing the guitar, cello and piano, and her voice has the controlled delivery of a seasoned chanteuse whilst still channelling the rawest of emotions.

Having taken music lessons from the age of six and been immersed in classical music, Williams’ life was forever changed when she discovered Deftones in her mid-teens, “and after them, all things heavy,” she recalls. “It was music that made me feel included, that tapped into me.” Yet it was only years later, when she found a guitar in the street with a note attached, “please take me, just needs work,” that Williams started playing guitar, and only started writing songs as a way of learning how to play. “I wrote in different styles to find a sound I was comfortable with,” she says. “Likewise, with singing. I’d never before thought of singing with a microphone in front of other people. It’s been quite a journey.”

Happy Release Day to A.A. Williams

Posted on March 19, 2021March 19, 2021 by danielle

In 2020, A.A. Williams released her much acclaimed debut album Forever Blue, and less than a year later we are graced once again with an equally effecting project titled Songs From Isolation. The Songs From Isolation project began at the beginning of the UK’s nationwide lockdown in March. A.A. Williams took songs suggested by fans and created a series of videos presenting the tracks with stripped-down instrumentation, recorded and filmed from her home in North London. The album represents a continuation of the project into a full collection of recordings and features cover versions of The Cure, Pixies, Deftones, Nick Cave, Gordon Lightfoot, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and more. Williams has previously shared cover versions of Deftones’ ‘Be Quiet And Drive’, ‘Lovesong’ by The Cure, ‘Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans’ by The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind’ from the album.

Critical acclaim for Forever Blue, A.A. Williams’ July-released debut album:

“Williams moves with ease between singer-songwriter territory and post-metal heaviness… Forever Blue is a remarkable accomplishment, confirming that Williams has already built a world of her own.” MOJO – 4 stars ****

“Revelatory… Minimalist singer-songwriter material blending with elements of classical, metal and post-rock to make a distinctive whole.” The Observer (One To Watch)

“Darkly beguiling… A.A. Williams’ songs maintain an eerie delicacy whether she chooses a setting that’s spare, ornate or pulverising… The shifts between moments of high drama and quiet tension point to her kinship with Chelsea Wolfe and PJ Harvey.” Uncut

“blending moments of introspection with soaring post-rock crescendos and classical elements, this is a compelling debut throughout.” Q – 4 stars ****

“An impressively confident sound-world… cinematic and majestic.” Financial Times

“Beautifully meditative… music that hypnotises… An impressive debut.” PROG

“A masterful work of melancholy and bruised beauty… One of the most wonderful new British artists of recent years.” Planet Rock – 5 stars *****

“Stirring and evocative… We’re only halfway through 2020 but the chances of a more heartrending and fully formed debut emerging this year are practically zero.” Metal Hammer – 9/10

“Enduring the emotional abyss with breathtaking grace and grit on her debut album; A.A. Williams’ Forever Blue is a record that reveals more of its sublime poetry each time it’s listened to.” The Line Of Best Fit – 9/10

“A stunning eight track debut… Her vocals are stirring and emotive, while conveying raw emotion that perfectly encapsulates the anxieties and addictions of love and loss… Just sublime.” Clash – 8/10

“A concise yet profound debut album that displays incredible craft both lyrically and dynamically.” Secret Meeting – 8.5/10

“A debut of richness, depth and genuinely shattering emotional engagement – pure melancholic majesty to lose yourself in.” Beats Per Minute – 8.2/10

A.A. Williams covers The Moody Blues

Posted on January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 by danielle

With her new album of cover versions Songs From Isolation due out 19th March via Bella Union, A.A. Williams has today shared another new track from the LP. “Nights In White Satin” is a beautiful piano and vocal reimagining of The Moody Blues classic from 1967 which serves to showcase Williams’ unique vocal talents. Of the track Williams says: “I’ve always been drawn to the vintage textures and beautiful melodies of Nights In White Satin. A simple cover for solo piano and voice, this version focuses a little more on extended harmonic suspensions and on the text, a heartfelt reinterpretation of a 60s classic.”

The Songs From Isolation project began at the beginning of the UK’s nationwide lockdown in March. A.A. Williams took songs suggested by fans and created a series of videos presenting the tracks with stripped-down instrumentation, recorded and filmed from her home in North London. The album represents a continuation of the project into a full collection of recordings and features cover versions of The Cure, Pixies, Deftones, Nick Cave, Gordon Lightfoot, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and more. Williams has previously shared cover versions of Deftones’ ‘Be Quiet And Drive’, ‘Lovesong’ by The Cure, ‘Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans’ by The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind’ from the album.

Critical acclaim for Forever Blue, A.A. Williams’ July-released debut album:

MOJO – 4 stars ****