Twelve Ways To Count album reviews:
" ...their lush orchestro-folk is so heartbreakingly beautiful, it reduces anyone who hears it to a weeping mess."
8/10 NME
"Recorded in the front room of singer James De Malplaquet’s Brighton home, The Miserable Rich’s striking, fully fledged debut immediately sets them apart. Five in number, they play what can perhaps be best described as acoustic chamber pop, everything coming decorously draped with the rather mournful accompaniment of cello and violin. Beyond that, though, it’s De Malplaquet’s warm, hazy voice coupled with the songs’ ruminative aspect that impress most, from tales of drunks and bonnie barmaids to such beautifully tender moments as Boat Song and The Knife Thrower’s Hand. A handsome, original start."
Q
"Breathtaking... Easily the best record of 2008" Americana UK
"There is no other band around at the moment who creates music like this, and yet Twelve Ways To Count shows how simple and effective it is. With delicate singing, plucking strings and floating violins, any of these twelve tracks can lift you up and carry you along a cloud into a tranquil equilibrium... they have created a piece of art that is gentle brilliance which needs to be introduced into your life." Bearded
"warm acoustic loveliness" Rocksound
" A beautiful, intelligent and smart album, Twelve Ways To Count shows The Miserable Rich are a rare find." 4.5/5 Subba-cultcha.com
"...a cracking album full of tender, dark, warm, thoughtful and euphoric songs that'll keep you humming along all day long" Piccadilly Records - Record of the Week
"If you've stumbled across their inspired reworking of Hot Chip's 'Over and Over' on your music-buying travels, you'll know that these guys are something special. If not, fear not, this is the perfect place to start. The band describe themselves as a "bar-room chamber quintet", a fair description in truth, but as with most things this beautiful, this heart-warming and this special, you really need to ditch the soundbites, swerve the superlatives and check them out for yourselves. Amazing!" *****
"Leftfield Single of the month" DJ MAG
"It's amazing how a band so fresh can have so much quality......one of the best sessions we've ever had" Marc Riley, BBC 6Music
"Destined to be one of the singles of the year" Gideon Coe, BBC 6Music
"One of the few bands to unite the entire office, which is a rarity enough to earn them a place, but more so because they write the kind of tunes capable of uniting nations." Top 20 bands of 2007, Source magazine
"British band The Miserable Rich offers beautifully reflective sounds, influenced by classical compositions. Serene strings back softly expressive vocals. Exquisitely written, arranged and performed. This is music to sigh to." Palo Alto Daily News
"Today I found out about a new UK quintet that goes by The Miserable Rich. They make beautiful acoustic chamber pop that I find stands up well alongside like-minded artists (and TYS favs) like Lost in the Trees and Brooke Waggoner. One listen was enough for me to start posting this, and even though I know next to nothing about this band, I know I want to pay attention to what they’re doing. They have an album out in Europe come March titled 12 Ways to Count, but beyond that all I know is you can listen to 4 tracks of theirs on their blog as well as the ones on their myspace. I’ll keep you all posted when I know more, but I figured this is just too good to keep a secret. Great for sitting back, closing your eyes, and relaxing. In the meantime, enjoy the cover they did of Hot Chip’s “Over and Over.” Bet you never knew that you wanted that song to have a dark chamber pop reworking, did you? Enjoy…" The Yellow Stereo.com
"this is homage not fromage" Rob Da Bank, Radio 1 playing our cover of Hot Chip's 'Over and Over'
"The Miserable Rich Steal Hot Chip’s Hot Bitch
The history of the cover version has thrown up many corkers, amongst them Soft Cell (Gloria Scott’s 'Tainted Love'), Jimi Hendrix (Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’) and Aretha Franklin, trumping Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’ and making it her own.
The Miserable Rich tossed their car-keys into the song-swap fruit-bowl, leaving arm-in-arm with Hot Chip’s most attractive offering, ‘Over & Over’ and whisked her off for an evening of luke-warm loving. Making off with the best Hot Chip had in their harem is one thing, but returning her with a cheeky glint in her eye, and a grateful smile on her lips is quite another. It’s classy, it’s cheeky and it’s a bit fucking weird…" Beatmag.net
"The latest from Stateside - four musicians and two film-makers in the back of a rather hot taxi in Texas"
The Miserable Rich, whose name derives from an experience they had playing at the wedding of two ultra-rich aristocrats in Rome, grew from a 'bedroom electro-songwriterproject'. Cellist/pianist William Calderbank and singer/percussionist James de Malplaquet formed their string quintet intending to 'produce quirky acoustic modern music' - and they do just that. But not just that. The Miserable Rich's bar-room chamber music, styled with fierce but beautiful vocals backed by serene, acutely arranged strings, has been described as 'pop music that could soundtrack a nursery rhyme created by Tim Burton'..
Last year, following the reaction to both their barnstorming cover of Hot Chip's 'Over and Over' and their debut singles 'Pisshead / Boat Song' and 'The Time That's Mine', their debut album "Twelve Ways To Count' was released and toured in Europe, to critical acclaim. The album, released in November in the UK, made many best of 2008 album lists, was album of the day on BBC 6Music, and was described as 'so heartbreakingly beautiful, it reduces anyone who hears it to a weeping mess' in the NME.
Having toured extensively in many countries, sometimes playing three shows a day in different cities - in headlines, festival slots, and major supports for the likes of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - the band have honed their sound; and the intensity, honesty and closeness to be found at their concerts is unlike any other band currently touring.
Alongside The Miserable Rich, the band are founder members of a wider movement called the Willkommen Collective, a group of Brighton-based bands who share various members, including The Leisure Society, Sons of Noel and Adrian and Shoreline.
Catch them while they're still playing small venues and cheerily selling they're own t-shirts and bags.
If you like 'em, let 'em know.
They'd like that.
And may all your ships sail safely through the night.
"Muswell" by The Miserable Rich on my radio show, The British Breakfast on WRIR 97.3FM Richmond, Virginia USA and streamed live on www.wrir.org this Saturday between 9-11AMEST which is 2-4PM UK time Cheers, Gene Special Guest: Jess, the first co-host will be on the mic with moi :-)
Hey , what a great perfomance on the balcony....I love that song! What a shame the bass didn't fit on the "stage"...it sounded good all the same. Keep up the good work- much love and inspiration from Germany
My Dear the miserable rich, I want you to know that your music and your songs are my passion. I am addicted. There is something that pulls me towards them. Keep it up the miserable rich. Te PS:Follow Me Twitter at http://twitter.com/iaent
Hey guys...wow - you guys are sounding fantastic - just checking in after a two year absence on myspace and you're looking good..I'm sure 'Muswell' was called something else back then tho' but can't remember now. Anyway, my floorboards aren't squeaky at the mo' so thanks for the good wishes such a long time ago! Bless and take care
A good musician is not a person who stands on the stage and directs the whole attention on himself but someone who makes the listener to the real protagonist of the event by forcing him to an auditory inner view. The music, which is transported, is the more or less stable and sustainable bridge to these inner pictures. The musician himself is the loyal companion who knows the way quite well.
Online!
