Artist: The Durutti Column
Album: Love In The Time Of Recession
Release Date: April 20, 2009
Label: ArtfulCD64
Live Dates:
31/01 Met, Bury
16/02 Baby Blue, Liverpool
19/02 The Cluny, Newcastle
21/01 Brudenall Social club, Leeds
25/02 Komedia, Brighton
26/02 Thekla, Bristol
27/02 Firestation, Windsor
The Durutti Column return with a new album Love In The Time of Recession, due out on April 20, 2009, the second to feature new vocalist Poppy Roberts who also plays electric piano on several of the tracks.
The album opens with the 'In Memory of Anthony' which is inspired by Vini Reilly's long friendship with Factory Records impresario, Tony Wilson who died in 2007. 'He always encouraged me to follow my instincts,' says Reilly. 'And that's still how I work. All the new songs are a very true reflection of my life and that's all I want any album to be.'
'Wild Beast Tamed' is one of several tracks co-written with Reilly's girlfriend, Poppy Roberts who also partly inspired the title of the album (a romantic nod to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, Love In The Time Of Cholera).
However, Reilly's long-term friendships with Bruce Mitchell (himself the subject of an instrumental tribute, 'For Bruce'), Keir Stewart and Laurie Laptop were just as important in making the album possible. 'Without all of them I don't know how I would be able to carry on, on any level,' explains Reilly. 'And as musicians there's no one else I would rather work with.'
It's now 30 years since Factory Records released the band's debut album The Return Of The Durutti Column in 1979. Produced by Martin Hannett, this edgy, primitive LP showcased Vini Reilly's 'honey wrapped in sandpaper' guitar playing and set the tone for a career of meditative and fearless music. Reilly has drawn on influences as diverse as Fats Waller, ambient and heavy metal; experimented with samplers and chamber music, and collaborated with other Manchester luminaries such as Morrissey and Peter Hook from New Order.