Richard: Guitars, vocals, piano, electric bass, little bits of glockenspiel and mandolin and things. Robin: Production, engineering, double bass, charango, ukelele, the odd chime. Johanna: Backing vocals. Ed and Niall: Percussion.
Influences
Nick Drake, Jacques Brel, Tori Amos, Elliott Smith, The National, Yuri Norstein, Marina Tsvetaeva, Dziga Vertov, Jean-Luc Godard, St Anthony, My wife.
Sounds Like
The bent back grass, silver birches rustling, heart strings stretching and snapping, a stream trickling, "that Leonard Cohen fella".
RICHARD GODWIN, born in 1981, is a singer/songwriter (and sometime journalist and author) from north London. Backing himself with finger-picked acoustic guitar, he sings haunting, dramatic, occasionally humorous ballads in a louche baritone that has drawn comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel Tom Waits and Nicks Drake and Cave.
Godwin's compositions draw heavily both on French chanson and English vaudeville tradition, often singing in character (a sexually frustrated butler on “One of Many”; a cracked music hall performer on “Variety”). As TALE OF TALES, however, he has betrayed a woodsier, folksier, slightly more mystical bent, the lush pluck of his guitar underpinning songs such as "Part of That World", "Black Horse" and "The Song of Songs".
In November 2009, he will release his debut LP, BEASTS OF THE FIELD, on
MODIFYTHEVAN records. He is currently putting the finishing touches to the project at Blue Door Studios, Hackney, with the aid of vegan songwriter extraordinaire,
ROBIN GREY. RICHARD GODWIN features on the MODIFYTHEVAN label sampler, which you can download BY CLICKING THIS LINK.
SOME CRITICAL PRAISE:.
"...a voice that leans over the microphone like a drunk, simultaneously terrifying and charming the barmaid, rambling and vulnerable... All the helplessness - sad and happy - of any relationship is in there, and yes, it is beautiful"
THE TORTURE GARDEN
"...rich, deep and comforting as well...This EP manages to be arch and witty without ever actually seeming arch and witty... If ever artifice and cleverness can seem really sincere and uncontrived it is here, which I suppose is an odd concept and a concealed compliment."
SONG BY TOAD
"Melancholy loveliness of the highest order, beautiful lyrics and some great guitar parts."
TINY DANCING
Hey Richard it was great to meet you last night and I really enjoyed your set. Definitely msg Acoustic Stage and come to Cambridge! Let me know if you get it organised and I'll be there. Good luck with the gigging and all your music. See you around no doubt :) ck
yeah...I put a rush on it on Saturday morning, but it looks pretty good. If you send me your e-mail I'll send you the file and you can get it amongst friends as well.
hey my friend amanda just saw your pic and thinks you are really hot!She wants you to hit her on msn messenger at avitty86pink@hotmail.com she said shes waiting
A massive thank you to all those who played last night! To those of you on myspace wanted to say a huge thank you! Last night was one of the best nights so far and I wanted to thank all those involved... a lot of hard work phew! but if we can keep the night running like that it will be a even bigger succsess than last year and I couldn't have done that with out you guys so thank you.... soph x
i've put Some old, nEw, borrowed and bLue songs onto my proFile, take a listen. PROmise MOre new stuff To be put up In the next mONth or so. happy christmas richard.
