Blackpool’s cinematic rock band blanket are proud to reveal an alternative version of Beacons, which features on last year’s stunning debut album How To Let Go. Mixed by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Myrkur), the track scales new heights with the addition of vocals from Slow Crush’s Isa Holliday.
Beacons drops ahead of blanket’s one-off performance of How To Let Go under Luke Jerram’s Museum of The Moon – a spectacular 24ft replica of the moon, which will be held at Preston’s Harris Museum Art Gallery & Library on 23rd February. The performance is now sold out.
The Museum of the Moon is a new touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter, the moon features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 5km of the moon’s surface.
2019 also marks 50 years since the original moon landings.
“Our record ‘How To Let Go’ is based around the concept of how we are no more than a small blip on the radar of the vast and endless universe, something that was reinforced with the advent of space exploration, the Moon landings and the space programs that would follow.”, explains [BAND MEMBER], “With this version of ‘Beacons’ we wanted to expand on that and talk about the ways in which we abuse our planet and how projects such as the Moon landings and the further universe are the beacons of hope for new horizons. The track was initially recorded it as an instrumental, but when we heard Slow Crush, who are one of our favourite new bands, and their vocalist Isa Holliday we knew we needed to have her on the track. With Isa’s mesmerising voice, the track has evolved into something really special”
– Matthew Sheldon, blanket (Bass) “I was utterly flattered when Blanket got in touch asking to guest on one of their new tracks. And then terrified when they sent the Beacons track through – a few seconds in and I was hooked. The song was so good, I was initially worried I wouldn’t do it justice. The guys were absolute gems to work with and I’m really happy with how it turned out”
– Isa Holliday, Slow Crush (vocals)
blanket signed to Music For Nations to release their debut full-length How To Let Go last year – a blissful 55-minute exploration of imagination, wonder and the human spirit, designed to uplift, enchant and provide a beautiforous escape from an often harsh and confounding reality. Receiving plaudits from the likes of Kerrang! and Prog Magazine, the record cemented blanket as a breath of fresh air in the UK’s burgeoning alternative music scene. Buy/stream How To Let Go here.
As the name suggests, blanket envelop the listener in a comforting quilt of sound, transporting them to dreamy landscapes of sweeping, celestial beauty with a kaleidoscopic symphony of soaring guitars, tinkling piano, warm bass and propulsive drums. In essence, it’s ambient music on an epic scale.
Initial ideas and early demos for blanket came together at the beginning of 2016, as guitarists Bobby Pook and Simon Morgan would routinely retire to the conservatory of their rented home in Blackpool to noodle on guitars, tinkle ivories and write intertwining melodies, all whilst gazing wistfully skywards at the stars above them. It was perhaps such a sublime view that infused the music they created within that glass retreat with such elegance, purity and grace. Pook and Morgan fleshed out their ideas even further with the addition of Matthew Sheldon and Steven Pellatt in the summer of 2016; blanket was now a fully-fledged proposition.
blanket have been making waves live, fresh from touring the UK with Zeal & Ardor, as well as performing a hypnotic, otherworldly set at the prestigious ArcTanGent Festival. They will return to the road in March 2019 to support prog metallers Cellar Darling. Bassist Matt comments, “Going out on tour with a band like Cellar Darling is really exciting for us, we like to think of ourselves as a band that cross multiple genres, and want to get ourselves out to as many different scenes as possible, in front of people who might not have heard of us before”. Dates for the run are:
21st Mar – Studio, Sheffield
22nd Mar – Hammerfest, North Wales
23rd Mar – The Globe, Cardiff
24th Mar – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
26th Mar – Waterfront Studio, Norwich
27th Mar – The Welly 2, Hull
28th Mar – Audio, Glasgow
29th Mar – On The Rox, Dublin
30th Mar – Academy 3, Manchester
31st Mar – Jazz Cafe, London