Twelve Ways To Count album reviews:
" ...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
With their layers of delicate, elegant strings and rich vocals you might expect The Miserable Rich to be winking at the sommelier as they win another debate about philosophy to a round of applause. But despite travelling around Europe – playing their own gigs and supporting the likes of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – plus staying at home self-producing lush albums in their bedrooms, being a favourite guest of Marc Riley and grabbing iTunes Song Of The Week and 6Music album of the day, they seem to have become mishap magnets - there have been traffic accidents and breakdowns, missed planes and deadlines, though they will be the first to admit that some of this might be self-inflicted, like trying to discuss business agreements while guzzling absinthe backstage at a German festival.
But any bad luck seems short lived. Passports that have been lost between passport control and the aeroplane turn up. Wallets with all the band’s cashflow get found hours later, exactly where they were dropped in the middle of a busy venue. And no one takes the whole tour cash when they leave it on a Berlin hostel’s pool table for several hours.
“There’s generally too much drinking,” admits singer James de Malplaquet. “Especially in Europe when the drinks are always free.”
But ‘life happening’ is not necessarily a bad thing for a band who work so much honesty into their songs. Not for the Miserable Rich are lyrics comparing girls to flowers. No, songs like ‘For A Day’ struggle with the internal debate of whether to pack yourself off home from a decaying, debauched party or take another pill. Drugs also pop up in the post-cocaine regrets of ‘Chestnut Sunday’; while ‘Hungover’, at least on one level, speaks for itself. These are songs that have been lived.
Yes, second album ‘Of Flight And Fury’ is beyond beautiful but the prettiness hides some murky elements, times The Miserable Rich have certainly lived though.
“If there are any diamonds in the band they’re certainly rough,” smiles James, with the charm that you just know gets him out of trouble.
Not all of the album is about getting hammered though. Named after a Brighton school, ‘Somerhill’ tells of the seduction of a yummy mummy which is not quite as quiet and private as it could be. ‘Let Me Fade’ – the closest to a traditional break-up song – adds barbershop harmonies to lines that explain how the former object or James’ affection no longer has orgasms. It’s not the sort of story cellos and violins usually provide a score for.
“Acoustic music tends to be a lot about love affairs and unrequited love,” explains James. “We try to avoid that because we feel that there’s so much more to write about. I think we’re like that musically too. We never want to make things too obvious. But it still has to be approachable – it needs to be very human, we don’t want it to be too intellectual.”
Led by violin and cello, with acoustic guitar and double-bass holding down the rhythm, it would be easy for these Willkommen Collective members to be chin-stroking clever-clogs. Intead, a variety of influences come together to form a swirling, warm, inviting sound that’s rich with feeling. The strings have an indie element from Mike along with a classical influence from Will, while Jim brings classic rock from his Clearlake days. Meanwhile Rhys’s jazz props up the bottom end and James’ vocals have the rawness of his soul upbringing. But this isn’t maths and that equation comes out with something unique. It’s as rooted in late 60s and early 70s widescreen psychedelia musically as it is in the modern world lyrically. If one day someone digs up a lost Love acoustic album they’ll say, “Oh, it sounds like The Miserable Rich.”
“We all know each other really well and we all have a good old time together. We wanted to reflect that,” says James.
Ah, good times, that’s what it’s about. Like the in-band competition they had to see how many words they could get out of Mark Lanegan. Jim won, prising out, “Alright bro”.
There’s no moping around for The Miserable Rich, unless they’re hungover.
By James Kendall
PS - If you like 'em, let 'em know.
They like that. Don't we all.
"Bye Bye Kitty" 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 9-11AMEDT which is 2-4PM UK time. Cheers, Gene Pembleton (Facebook)
enjoying your chamber pop immensely and nice collaboration with the brothers pleasant/ autumnal plume for chestnutty sunday, super catchy tune as are most of yours. obviously you are willkommen to pop by mine and take me to your leader anytime. Missed you by a whisker for your final gig in brighton sadly but hope to see you soon. good luck. paulbanham
.. Click on the image above to read our EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with THE MISERABLE RICH - in the May 09 issue of XYZ MAGAZINE! xyzmagazine.co.uk/blog/wordpress
Hi Guys, Thanks for letting me be your friend. I saw/heard you for the first time in Manchester on Tuesday and now I'm a fan. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. spk
"Somerhill" 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 morning between 9-11AM which is 2-4PMUK time. Cheers, Gene Pembleton
