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52 FRIDAYS IN 2023
We’ve tasked our easily-distracted brains with delivering 52 new pieces of music in 2023. Another each Friday! Some tracks will be demos or work-in-progress we’re excited to share with you, some will be live takes, remixes and other things. Let’s go!
SHAKESPEARE SONGS LIVE
Three songs from Shakespeare’s plays, recorded live at St Michael of the North Gate Church, April 2022. Playlist includes ‘Song For Bassanio’ (The Merchant Of Venice), ‘I Loathe That I Did Love’ (Hamlet), ‘Full Fathom Five’ (The Tempest). Video: Greg Jenkins.
‘Parallel / Gulo Gulo #2’ single
Spring 2021 self-released single ‘Parallel’ / ‘Gulo Gulo #2’ played on BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire. The A-side’s lusty harmonies sing of a secret rendezvous between a mathematician and a physicist. The B-side is a cut of guitar/tabla electronica from our ‘Gulo Gulo’ improv project. Cover art hand-drawn by Dominic Harker (instagram).
‘I Feel / Gulo Gulo #1’ single
Summer 2020 self-released single played on BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire. Both songs are products of ‘Gulo Gulo’, our anti-perfectionism improv project, completed during the 2020 lockdown with Phil from the band assembling the ideas to elegant coherence. The video for ‘I Feel’ (Gulo Gulo #3) was created by Oxford filmmaker and documentarist Roisin Anderson. ‘Gulo Gulo #1’ is a lonesome ambient piece with an accompanying video of a dreamlike fixed-camera timelapse, ideal for reflecting on these static times.
‘Tree and Fly’ single
Spring 2020 self-released single, played on BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire. A love song between the giant African sycamore fig tree and the tiny wasp that pollinates it. The B-side is a live version recorded at Oxford’s Jericho Tavern.
Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Bandcamp et al.
‘MAGPIE / BEAST’ Single
October 2018 double A-side single featuring ‘Magpie’ chosen by Steve Lamacq for his BBC 6 Music Recommends playlist and ‘Beast’ played by Don Letts on his 6 Music show Culture Clash Radio. Available on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud etc and download from Bandcamp.
‘ENDINGS’ ALBUM
Listen to our 2018 debut album Endings on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube…
Radio play for Endings:
BBC 6 Music – Gideon Coe, Steve Lamacq (Factory)
Amazing Radio – Simon Raymonde (Bella Union, Cocteau Twins) (Factory)
Radio X – John Kennedy (Factory, Succubus)
RTE RnaG – Cian Ó Cíobháin (Cartographer)
BBC Introducing Oxford – Dave Gilyeat (Factory, Succubus, Embers)
The Line Of Best Fit blog made Cartographer their Song Of The Day.
Oxford’s Nightshift wrote of Endings, “Anyone who has caught the band live will know they can be truly transcendental… On this evidence, the sun moon and stars are well within reach.”
God Is In The TV: “there’s an enduring personal quality scorched onto these shape-shifting songs, framed by a musical grandeur that echoes the more expansive works of Radiohead or Pink Floyd.”
Monolith Cocktail: “A space pop indie band with metaphysical intentions dreaming big”, referencing Arcade Fire, Klaxons, Radiohead and Depeche Mode.
LIVE
Flights of Helios have played Glastonbury Festival, Wilderness Festival, Truck Festival and London/Oxford venues including Ashmolean Museum, Natural History Museum Oxford, Foundling Museum, Cafe Oto and The Lexington.
Nightshift review of Truck Festival 2018: “The seven-piece’s intense songs remind us of Radiohead and The Irrepressibles, and despite their emotional delivery they create a friendly atmosphere in the tent.”
SOCIAL / CONTACT
Join us on Facebook for video premieres and live streams.
FLIGHTS OF WHO?
Helios is the sun god in Greek mythology. It was also a prototype solar-powered stratospheric craft built by NASA. Both stories feature headstrong experimentation and heroic risk-taking and we try to live up to their name.
Flights of Helios have featured on/at
Glastonbury Festival (BBC Introducing), Wilderness Festival, Truck Festival, BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamaqc, Gideon Coe, Don Letts, Nemone), BBC Radio 2 (Huey Morgan), Radio X (John Kennedy), Amazing Radio (Simon Raymonde), Pitt Rivers Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Creation Theatre…
PRINCE ACHMED SOUNDTRACK
LINKS
For collected photos/press/radio see Music Glue