“ENTIRELY INTRIGUING” (AV CLUB) UK INDIE SINGER MARY EPWORTH EARNING RAVES AFTER PACKED NATIONAL TOUR FOR ‘DREAM LIFE’ (HIGHLINE RECORDS)

After raves from UK outlets like Q, MOJO, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Diva, Mary Epworth’s indie-psych-folk-pop masterpiece ‘Dream Life’ has crossed the pond to the US. Epworth most recently performed on a 36-date nationwide tour with Welcome To Night Vale which saw many nights sold out. ‘Dream Life,’ previously released in the UK, was out last week on Highline Records in the US. She performs Friday in LA at Hotel Café before returning to her native UK. Here’s what we’re reading:

"Her blend of baroque pop and West Coast folky psychedelia is appealing." - Brooklyn Vegan

"A blend of Chelsea Wolfe and Mirah, Epworth puts out evocative and dreamy tunes inspired by nature and imbued with fuzzy guitar and plaintive synths. It's a little bit folk, a little bit rock, and a little bit psych, all forming together into a mix of sounds that's entirely intriguing... Fans of acts like Cat Power and Lana Del Rey should find something to enjoy for sure” – AV Club

“Soaring, expansive folk music connected by an underlying thread of keys and synths.” - Village Voice

“On her debut LP, ‘Dream Life,’ Epworth pairs the Dusty Springfield template of vintage American soul-pop made cloudly and wounded like a misty, British Sunday afternoon with some hefty riffs, traces of unexpected kraut-drone, some ’80s Kate Bush sweep and wheat field country melodies… really cool, fairly dark sonic choices.” – CMJ

“Atmospheric pysch-pop… [Epworth’s voice is] a potent blend of sweetness and power.” – Wall Street Journal

"Effervescent" - Chicagoist

“This folk sound is but one of many detours taken by ‘Dream Life,’ which also incorporates psychedelic and kosmische influences.” – Pop Matters

“Brace yourself before you listen.” – Surviving The Golden Age blog

Mary Epworth "Long Gone" video

Mary Epworth clips

Surviving the Golden Age premiere (April 6, 2015)

Pop Matters premiere (April 3, 2015)

Village Voice feature (May 25, 2015)

Brooklyn Vegan live pick (May 25, 2015)

MARY EPWORTH “HAS EMERGED AS A FASCINATING PRESENCE” (MOJO), SLAYS UK CRITICS AHEAD OF AMERICAN DEBUT

EPWORTH ADDS NYC/LA SHOWS TO EXTENSIVE TOUR WITH WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE

British indie/psych voice Mary Epworth has earned a wealth of critical raves in the UK for her otherworldly voice and arresting debut, 'Dream Life,' which is slated for release in the US on May 19 on Highline Records. The album has already playlisted three BBC 6 Music singles and earned the coveted title of Hottest Record in the World from BBC Radio 1.

She has just added several NYC and LA dates following her 36-date US tour with the chart-topping Welcome To Night Vale podcast's live show, including May 24 at Cake Shop at 11pm and May 25 at the Living Room at 7pm in NYC; and May 29 at Hotel Café at 7pm in LA.

Here’s the embeddable track "Black Doe":




"Gutsy….powerful." – The Guardian

"Psych pop splendour." - Q

"A warm, yearning musical love letter… [Epworth] has emerged as a fascinating presence." – Mojo

"Woodsy, psychedelic-demonic folk rock." – The Sunday Times

“Psych pop ‘Dream Life is a powerfully evocative album... Epworth’s mesmerising songs embody the timelessness of a fabled shanty, albeit one played through a folk-gaze fuzzbox.” – The Independent

"A distinctive new voice." – Rock and Reel

"Slow-burning harmonies, epic instrumentation, and soaring vocals." – Diva Mag

“9/10… Spell-binding and beautiful... Simply wonderful.” -Clash

MARY EPWORTH TOUR DATES

APRIL 15. TUCSON, AZ - RIALTO THEATRE
APRIL 16. MESA, AZ - MESA ARTS CENTER
APRIL 17. LAS VEGAS, NV - HORN THEATER AT COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA
APRIL 18. LOS ANGELES, CA - THE ORPHEUM
APRIL 20. SAN PEDRO, CA - WARNER GRAND
APRIL 21. OAKLAND, CA - FOX THEATER
APRIL 23. PORTLAND, OR - REVOLUTION HALL
APRIL 24. PORTLAND, OR - REVOLUTION HALL
APRIL 25. SEATTLE, WA - THE NEPTUNE
APRIL 25. SEATTLE, WA - THE NEPTUNE
APRIL 27. SPOKANE, WA - BING CROSBY THEATRE
APRIL 28. MISSOULA, MT - WILMA THEATRE
APRIL 30. FARGO, ND - FARGO THEATRE
MAY 1. MINNEAPOLIS, MN - PANTAGES THEATRE
MAY 2. MINNEAPOLIS, MN - PANTAGES THEATRE
MAY 3. IOWA CITY, IA - ENGLERT THEATRE
MAY 4. LAWRENCE, KS - LIBERTY HALL
MAY 5. ST LOUIS, MO - SHELDON CONCERT HALL
MAY 8. CHICAGO, IL -COPERNICUS CENTER
MAY 9. BLOOMINGTON, IN - BUSKIRK CHUMLEY THEATRE
MAY 10. DETROIT, MI - THE FILLMORE
MAY 12. LOUISVILLE, KY - BOMHARD THEATRE
MAY 13. CINCINNATI, OH - TAFT THEATRE
MAY 14. CLEVELAND, OH, HANNA THEATRE
MAY 15. PITTSBURGH, PA - CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD
MAY 17. BUFFALO, NY - ASBURY HALL
MAY 18. ALBANY, NY - THE EGG, HART THEATRE
MAY 19. NORTHAMPTON, MA - ACADEMY OF MUSIC
MAY 20. BOSTON, MA - BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER
MAY 21. BOSTON, MA - BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER
MAY 24. NEW YORK, NY – CAKE SHOP (WITHOUT NIGHT VALE)
MAY 25. BROOKLYN, NY – LIVING ROOM (WITHOUT NIGHT VALE)
MAY 29. LOS ANGELES, CA – HOTEL CAFÉ (WITHOUT NIGHT VALE)

Mary Epworth’s “Psych pop splendour” (Q) hits US with May 19th 'Dream Life' album release

36-date tour with chart-topping Welcome To Night Vale kicks off April 7

Highline Records | HL030 |VINYL , CD, DOWNLOAD | May 21st | www.maryepworth.com

British musician Mary Epworth's debut album, Dream Life, is inspired by nature and landscape and inhabits two worlds:  a dark, ghostly English winter, and the light of an imagined idyllic California.

Mary has been making significant waves in her home country since releasing Dream Life there on her own label, Hand Of Glory. Overwhelming radio support has included 3 singles playlisted on BBC 6 Music and ‘Black Doe’ picked as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record In The World. Much praise has come from national press, including Q magazine calling the album “Psych pop splendour... Experimentalism, melody and narrative co-existing in appealing balance” and Record Collector awarding the album five stars and hailing it as “A work of bracing originality... Immaculately sung and graced throughout with intelligent, song-serving arrangements and inspired production touches.” This attention has lead to Mary and her band performing sold-out shows in the UK including the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room in London. Recently Mary joined Boy George, Bernard Butler, Mark King and Tim Burgess to form a one-off supergroup at the Liverpool International Music Festival.

From the bold album openers ‘Long Gone’, with its brass, synth-droned chords and stately chorus, the all-out fuzz and drum assault of stand-out track ‘Black Doe’, through to the magical and psychedelically epic closer ‘Ray Of Sunlight’,  Dream Life is swirling, lush and mysterious. Using analogue synths, space echo, and kosmische drums to set rich atmospheres and create unique soundscapes, Dream Life makes nods to psych, soul, krautrock, shoegaze, and even gospel, without ever falling squarely into any genre.

Production and mixing of the record was also polar, with the majority of recording done with producer Will Twynham in a snowbound barn in Norfolk, England - coincidentally the exact area that was home to Mary's maternal ancestors, and also to Celtic queen, Boudicca's Iceni tribe - and the lion's share of the mixing performed by Thom Monahan (Vetiver, Devendra Banhart) in Laurel Canyon. It's appropriate that these places figure strongly in a record that maps feelings to landscape and uses nature as metaphor.

Mary's influences for Dream Life include Iggy Pop's New Values - the drum sound in particular was referenced so much in production that the album's working title was “Old Values" - Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys (Beach Boys Love You's brutal snare and synth, through to Holland's lush soul), to the progressive sound approaches of The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow and cult studio project Millennium's Present Tense.  Mary recently interviewed another influence, fellow psychedelic nature lover Linda Perhacs, for Shindig magazine.

Now it’s time to bring Mary Epworth and Dream Life to North America. Highline Records is releasing Dream Life on all formats, and Mary is embarking on a 36-date US tour opening for the stage show of cult US podcast phenomenon Welcome To Night Vale*, performing with Will Twynham as a psychedelic two-piece.

Mary Epworth on 36-tour with Welcome To Night Vale, 2015:

APRIL 7.  BIRMINGHAM, AL – WORKPLAY THEATRE, 8PM
APRIL 8. MEMPHIS, TN - MINGLEWOOD HALL, 8PM
APRIL 9. NEW ORLEANS, La - CIVIC THEATRE, 8PM
APRIL 10. HOUSTON, TX - CULLEN PERFORMANCE HALL, 8PM
APRIL 11. SAN ANTONIO, TX - AZTEC THEATRE, 8PM
APRIL 12. DALLAS, TX - MAJESTIC THEATRE, 7PM
APRIL 15. TUCSON, AZ - RIALTO THEATRE, 8PM
APRIL 16. MESA, AZ - MESA ARTS CENTER, 8PM
APRIL 17. LAS VEGAS, NV - HORN THEATER AT COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA, 8PM
APRIL 18. LOS ANGELES, CA - THE ORPHEUM, 8PM
APRIL 20. SAN PEDRO, CA - WARNER GRAND, 8PM
APRIL 21. OAKLAND, CA - FOX THEATER, 8PM
APRIL 23. PORTLAND, OR - REVOLUTION HALL, 8pm **SOLD OUT**
APRIL 24. PORTLAND, OR - REVOLUTION HALL, 8pm
APRIL 25. SEATTLE, WA - THE NEPTUNE, 7pm **SOLD OUT**
APRIL 25. SEATTLE, WA - THE NEPTUNE, 9.30pm **SOLD OUT**
APRIL 27. SPOKANE, WA - BING CROSBY THEATRE, 8pm
APRIL 28. MISSOULA, MT - WILMA THEATRE, 8pm
APRIL 30. FARGO, ND - FARGO THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 1. MINNEAPOLIS, MN - PANTAGES THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 2. MINNEAPOLIS, MN - PANTAGES THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 3. IOWA CITY, IA - ENGLERT THEATRE, 7pm
MAY 4. LAWRENCE, KS - LIBERTY HALL, 8pm
MAY 5. ST LOUIS, MO - SHELDON CONCERT HALL, 8pm
MAY 8. CHICAGO, IL -COPERNICUS CENTER, 8pm
MAY 9. BLOOMINGTON, IN - BUSKIRK CHUMLEY THEATRE, 8pm **SOLD OUT**
MAY 10. DETROIT, MI - THE FILLMORE, 7pm
MAY 12. LOUISVILLE, KY - BOMHARD THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 13. CINCINNATI, OH - TAFT THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 14. CLEVELAND, OH, HANNA THEATRE, 8pm **SOLD OUT**
MAY 15. PITTSBURGH, PA - CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD, 8pm
MAY 17. BUFFALO, NY - ASBURY HALL, 8pm
MAY 18. ALBANY, NY - THE EGg, HART THEATRE, 8pm
MAY 19. NORTHAMPTON, MA - ACADEMY OF MUSIC, 8pm
MAY 20. BOSTON, Ma - BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER, 8pm
MAY 21. BOSTON, MA - BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER, 8pm

*WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world and a wildly popular stage show. The twice-monthly podcasts have topped the iTunes charts in 9 different countries, remain a fixture in the Top 10 US podcasts and a cult hit the world over. Night Vale has also become an equally popular touring live show, performing dozens of sold-out shows across the US and Canada. Mary Epworth also supported Night Vale on their recent sold-out tour of the UK and Europe. Mary’s song ‘Long Gone’ was chosen as ‘The Weather’ in episode 26 of Welcome to Night Vale.

Mary Epworth publicity photos

Above Credit: Matthew-Robert Hughes