KINGSLEY FLOOD SET TO UNLEASH 2015 DOWNPOUR OF NEW MUSIC: EP ‘TO THE FIRE’ OUT JANUARY 13, FOLLOWED BY SUMMER EP, FALL LP, VIDEOS, TOURING, ETC.

NPR WORLD CAFÉ TO FEATURE BAND AS “NEXT” ARTISTS WEEK OF DECEMBER 22

NEWPORT FOLK FEST MAIN STAGE ’13 SET LAUNCHED BAND TO NAT’L RECOGNITION

Kingsley Flood will be unleashing a deluge of music throughout 2015, including the January 13th EP ‘To The Fire,’ a summer EP, a fall full-length album, multiple music videos, and a rigorous touring schedule. The ambitious volume of output from the Boston and DC-based six-piece recognizes that the music business has changed and moved on from the era of the traditional album cycle. It also represents a shift in leader Naseem Khuri’s songwriting, channeling his personal journey as the son of Palestinian immigrants struggling to make change.

Since their breakout set opening the Newport Folk Festival in 2013, Kingsley Flood has opened tour dates for Lucius and Josh Ritter; earned raves from AV Club, Paste, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NY Times; played a session for Esquire; and premiered a video with NPR Music.

For ‘To The Fire,’ the fast-rising band partnered with producer Paul Kolderie (Radiohead, The Pixies, Speedy Ortiz) and crystallized the musical traits that help it stand out: the horn/violin combination that alternates between epic orchestral sweep and lush, low-key ambience, electric guitars that move from melodic arpeggios to howling feedback, an ever-expanding palette of keyboard textures and a versatile rhythm section, all topped off by Khuri’s raspy, desperate lead vocals.

On To The Fire, Khuri turns the focus inward, shifting from the chronicles of failed American dreams depicted on previous release (and Boston Music Awards Album of the Year) Battles, to his own struggle as a wanna-be do-gooder struggling to change the world around him.  Shaped by his Palestinian-American heritage and his hard-working immigrant parents, he spent his twenties working for organizations focused on conflict and inequality, in the Middle East and in his own backyard. The songs showcase both biting ambition and a reckoning that change is hard to come by.

To The Fire begins to explore that evolution.  “All In All” sets a danceable beat to the voice of political leaders in Khuri’s adopted home of Washington who leave their own behind on the way up.

“Set Me Off” may be the hardest-rocking Kingsley Flood song to date and one of its catchiest. The leftfield Ellie Goulding cover “Anything Could Happen” is reinvented as an indie rock song with hints of desperation. The Beatles-influenced “Thick of It” reality-checks that burning desire to change the world. The piano-based “Cavalry” fights complacency with the need to feel alive with Randy Newman-esque detail.

But like everything from Kingsley Flood, it’s the energy, dynamics, and musicianship that give life to Khuri’s reflections. From intricate arrangements and inspired lyricism to flashes of punk, the band behind To The Fire still delivers an experience that Paste Magazine said “is rapidly making an impression nationally [with its] rowdy on-stage anthems."

Upcoming Tour Dates:

January 9: Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
January 10: Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA
January 16: Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
January 17: Stone Church, Newmarket, NH
January 30: The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA

‘To The Fire’ Track List
1.     Set Me Off
2.     All In All
3.     Thick Of It
4.     Anything Could Happen
5.     Cavalry

Of the band’s Newport Folk set, Rolling Stone said, "Kingsley Flood kicked off the main stage, shirking the rain with puddle-splashing, foot-stomping folk rock and their signature high energy."

SIGNATURE SOUNDS RECORDINGS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS WITH CONCERT SERIES, NEW COMPILATION, AND CELEBRATION AT 2015 GREEN RIVER FESTIVAL

Signature Sounds Recordings – the Northampton, MA-based Americana and folk music label home to Chris Smither, Lake Street Dive, Eilen Jewell, and others – will celebrate 20 years with a series of events:

+ Thanksgiving weekend, November 28, 29, and 30, four concerts will take place at the Academy of Music (274 Main St.) and at Signature’s home venue The Parlor Room (32 Masonic St.) in Northampton, MA, featuring label best-seller Lake Street Dive, subject of a new tribute album and Smither, noir starlet Eilen Jewell, the reunited Crooked Still, and 13 other acts. Smither is celebrating fifty years in music.

Spotify playlist on the artists at the concert series.

+ March 3 sees the release of ‘The Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection,’ featuring favorites and rarities from the label’s over 150 releases, featuring Lake Street Dive, Smither, Crooked Still, Jewell, Josh Ritter, and fourteen more artists and bands.

+ A spring tour featuring artists from the ‘Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection.’ Dates and artists to be announced.

+ A celebration of the label will be held at the Green River Festival July 10-12, 2015 in Greenfield, MA. Here’s a look back at 2014’s sold out festival, which featured over thirty bands on three stages, including Ritter, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Trampled By Turtles, Lucius, Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin & The Guilty Ones, Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

2014 has proven to be a watershed year for the label. In February, Signature released Lake Street Dive’s ‘Bad Self Portraits’ album, which entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #18 and has become the best selling album in label history. Rolling Stone exclaimed, "Lake Street Dive: This year's best new band." Lake Street Dive has made appearances on numerous network TV shows including The Colbert Report, Late Show With David Letterman, CONAN, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and CBS Saturday Morning.

From the beginning, Signature has been involved in presenting live music, initially programming the popular Green River Festival and later presenting shows at clubs and theaters around the Pioneer Valley. In 2012, the label moved into its current headquarters in downtown Northampton and opened The Parlor Room. The intimate venue quickly proved popular and has hosted over 100 performances.

Signature Sounds was formed in 1994 by Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer to promote the burgeoning roots music scene in the Pioneer Valley. Signature has played a part in launching the careers of such notable artists as Ritter, Lake Street Dive, Erin McKeown, Mary Gauthier, Crooked Still, Jewell and others while also working with long-respected singer-songwriters like Chris Smither, Patty Larkin and Richard Shindell.

NPR MUSIC'S BOB BOILEN PREMIERES KINGSLEY FLOOD'S NEW VIDEO

NEWPORT FOLK FEST; OPENING DATE FOR JOSH RITTER; AND PASTE VIDEO SESSION NEAR

Kingsley Flood is set for a huge summer as NPR Music's Bob Boilen premiered the new video for "Sigh a While," writing, "this song from Boston's Kingsley Flood, is written to inspire."

Over the next month, they will:

• Make their Newport Folk Festival debut July 26 at 2:30pm on the Fort Stage
• Record an acoustic session for Paste Magazine at the Festival
• And open a concert for Josh Ritter.

Filmed as one continuous, unedited shot, "Sigh a While" finds the band staging a series of car crashes and the filming saw interventions from cops and concerned bystanders. With the light fading and after a mad dash to the hardware store for more roadside flares, they had one last chance to get it right and director Christopher Cannucciari nailed it. Khuri still has a scar on his wrist from holding the flare during the shoot.

FOR BREAKOUT ALBUM 'BATTLES,' KINGSLEY FLOOD TAPS PRODUCER SAM KASSIRER, WHO "HAS SHAPED SOME OF THE FINEST RECORDS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICANA MUSIC" (BOSTON GLOBE)

Sam Kassirer – the producer who has helmed three albums by Josh Ritter as well as projects by David Wax Museum and Langhorne Slim – speaks highly of his experience working with band Kingsley Flood on their breakout album 'Battles' (out now). He says, "What excited me about working with Kingsley Flood was their ability to write songs that one can sink their teeth into but also just bob their head to in the car. 'Battles' dips in and out of those musical depths in a really rewarding way for me."

The producer was recently the subject of a Boston Globe feature, which goes into depth about the Great North Sound Society, Kassirer's farmhouse/studio in southern Maine. Of the Kingsley sessions, he recalls, "The whole band spending two weeks in a farmhouse in rural Maine really brought everyone together creatively to make the most powerful statement possible and I think this comes across on 'Battles.'

Kingsley Flood will make its Newport Folk Festival debut this summer and has seen tracks debut at Rolling Stone and MTV.com.

Kingsley Flood bio

Boston and Washington, DC based six-piece Kingsley Flood released their first full-lenth Dust Windows in 2010, generating both critical acclaim and a passionate fan base. In 2011, the band issued the six-song EP Colder Still, with tracks that were touted by NPR, Esquire, and Paste.The band, described recently by the Boston Herald as a “Rolling Thunder Revue with a punk rock sneer,” has supported Grace Potter and Nocturnals, Angus and Julia Stone, Langhorne Slim, and Brett Dennen, among others, and is a two-time winner at both the Boston Music Awards and the Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll.

In 2013, Kingsley Flood has no plans to sit still. Battles, their latest full-length (released Feb. 5), is the band’s most honed, complex, and meaningful project to date. Recorded with producer Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim, David Wax Museum) at Great North Sound Society in rural Maine, Battles amplifies the band’s pension for dynamics — rock songs that can fill music halls, quiet songs that sound two feet away.The resulting sound blends Dylan-esque storytelling, Kinks-inspired melodies, and the urgency of the Clash. With songs inspired by everyone from delusional dictators to spray-tanned politicians to laid-off workers trying to get back on their feet, Battles winds a deliberate path from self doubt (opener “Don’t Change My Mind”) to quiet determination (closer “This Will Not Be Easy”).The band is:

• Naseem Khuri: vocals, rhythm guitar
• Jenée Morgan: violin, saxophone, vocals
• Chris Barrett: trumpet, keys, percussion, vocals
• George Hall: lead guitar, vocals
• Nick Balkin: bass, vocals
• Travis Richter: drums, percussion