Debut Album

Three Cane Whale

is a new multi-instrumental trio, playing acoustic miniatures which draw influence from folk and minimalist music.

Alex Vann (mandolin, bowed psaltery, music box) is mandolinist with the hugely innovative and influential band Spiro. Pete Judge (trumpet, harmonium, lyre, glockenspiel) plays trumpet for the equally highly-regarded Get The Blessing (BBC Jazz Award-winners) and for the duo Eyebrow. Paul Bradley (acoustic guitar) is the maverick genius behind legendary Bristol band Organelles, and has his own one-man music-and-storytelling show, The Owl. Alex and Pete have also worked together previously as musician-performers with Kneehigh, the acclaimed Cornish theatre company.
 


Three Cane Whale's eponymous debut album was recorded live (by Spiro's Jon Hunt) in an eleven hour shift in an eighteenth-century Bristol church last summer. Distant snippets of birdsong occasionally spill into the mix, which also celebrates the eccentric creakings and clickings of the trio's unusual instrumentation. The music encompasses both a cinematic sweep and an intimate delicacy.  

Reviews

'Perfect'  (Cerys Matthews, BBC 6Radio)

'Ever-inventive' (Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3's Late Junction)

'Elegant and atmospheric. An impressively original debut. Four stars' (Robin Denselow, The Guardian)

'An air of enchanted impressionism. Album Of The Week' (Tim Cumming, The Independent)

'A hazy shimmer. Four stars' (David Honigmann, Financial Times)

'Unusual and enchanting. Waves of delightfully understated melody and rhythm. A distinctive pleasure. Four stars' (The Irish Times)

'Measured, elegant, boundary-denying...Three Cane Whale's unsentimental yet kind precision will lighten your load. Four stars' (Mojo)

'Think of the way light refracts through a raindrop. Intricate, atmospheric and simply beautiful. Four stars" (R2)

'They bestride not just centuries of instrumentation but genres. Mesmerising' (Q)

'Snapshots of music that sound like they’ve been drawn from nature. A warming cinematic landscape, a magical journey. Rewarding listening indeed' (Songlines)

'Captivating, singular and intricate' (Uncut)

'Unutterably lovely compositions altogether too delicate for concrete description. A team of watchmakers, each crafting their own bejewelled cog, and intricately splicing together a glorious whole'  (Venue)

‘This trio hoe their own row, and do so very successfully, creating singular, contemplative and seductive moods and atmospheres. Wonderful’ (fRoots)

'Without doubt the kind of album that will grow with further listening and a good bottle of something alcoholic. Pleasing and unexpected' (Jonny Trunk, Record Collector)

'The kind of album that, once the secret is revealed, the listener will want to share, to compel their friends to listen, to explore. This album can be full of mirth or solemn, it can be as fresh and open as a deep blanket of snow, or as full of texture, colour and chaos as a pile of autumn leaves the moment the wind hits. Five stars' (Folk Radio)

'Superbly executed, melodically uplifting. An album of understated quality. I was reminded of the very best of the Incredible String Band' (PennyBlackMusic)

'An aesthetic that speaks to a wealth of musical traditions and triggers a broad range of emotions. Each piece finds its own tone, tweaking the presiding atmosphere in a multitude of interesting ways. Four stars' (The Skinny)

'A mesmerising collage of jazz, alt-folk and acoustic lo-fi rumblings that plays out like the soundtrack to a particularly obscure French arthouse film. A beautiful, fragile and utterly absorbing collection of music that is one of those rare beasts, an album that needs to be played through from start to finish. 8 out of 10' (The Digital Fix)

'Simply beautiful' (AAA Music)

'Hard to categorise but peculiarly affecting: through your headphones, the world seems a delicate, pastoral & slightly surreal place' (Word)

'There's nothing like the sound of a great group of musicians coming together under a new and fresh banner. Wonderfully alive and organic' (The Liminal)

'Bristol's experi-folk trio build works of minimal instrumental beauty to eccentric, uplifting and spellbinding effect' (Time Out)

'A quiet gentle beauty. Mesmerising" (Bristol Evening Post)

'A fantastic record deserving of all kinds of exposure' (The Local)

'Unique, hypnotic and genuinely lovely' (Strange Things Are Happening)

'Enchanting. A piece of gold leaf, ready to gild the nearest ears it comes in contact with' (Sloucher)

'Vraiment très beau, très mélodieux, très poétique. 8.2/10' (Des Chips et du Rosé)

'An instrumental masterpiece. Spellbinding, inventive and uniquely uplifting' (Rhythm and Booze) 

'A pristine purity of vision. Very lovely' (Listomania)

'Minimalism, simplicity and lucidity. Three Cane Whale tick all my boxes for instrumental music' (LiveMusicFM)

'Beautifully resonant acoustics, jittery rhythms and intimate arrangements. You can almost hear the history behind the old instruments seeping through the speakers in the atmospheric tones that they generate' (Vanguard Online)