News

May/June tour dates
In support of the release of new download only single 'A Lonely Place' with the B-side a rendition of Sparklehorse's 'Gold Day' in tribute to one of the band's acknowledged influences. We're playing a number of gigs. Visit the Gigs page to see where we're heading.

Album and gigs

First up, a reminder that Survival hits the shops on the 25th! Remember to buy through your local independent store (if you don't have a local one try Rough Trade in London or Piccadilly Records in Manchester) in order to get the limited edition bonus CD in beautiful deluxe card sleeve. To celebrate the album coming out we'll be playing a couple of free shows: On February 28th we'll be playing at Fuel in Withington (South Manchester), and on the 7th March we'll be at the Gladstone in Borough (London). Both are Sunday shows with an early curfew so we'll post stage times before the night. Joining us in Manchester is our old friend Katie Blundell and the excellent Hurtful Taunts, whilst the London date is shared with locals the Magic Lantern. We're also continuing our tour of suburban Manchester with shows at Silver Apples in Didsbury on 7th Feb and at Zion Arts Centre in Hulme on 18th March.

Anna Kashfi - Survival

Q: "As it reels and twists and floats in the breeze, Survival reveals itself as a beacon of wit and invention in a genre fast losing its way in pseudo-prog pomposity"

Uncut: "Spectral arrangements that range from psych-folk to country-noir on this set of literate, often menacing songs about love, sex and God"

Mojo: "Truly outstanding... Should rich variety tickle rather than torture your palate, this is for you

Facebook
Just to let you know there is now an Anna Kashfi Facebook group.
Hopefully it should be a good way of sharing news as it comes up without being too intrusive, so feel free to join and, er, spead the good news. Speaking of news, more coming soon...

Archeology
We've finally settled on tracklisting for the Archeology album so here are the songs and their back stories:

The Sky Is Empty - originally contributed to a compilation album sold at the Music With A View festival in 2005. This version is a remix and the banjo and percussion are a recent addition
Broken Woman - an early song that appeared on a couple of compilations around
The Greatest Sleep - another very early one, completely rerecorded as a potential b-side last year.
Small Wave - the original demo of Big Wave from Palisade and a much softer version than the album recording. The melody was originally played on a indian dilruba, although Sian added a new vocal over the top of it to finish the track off for this album
Bird Of Prey - a solo track by James, dug up from a pile of multitrack disks that were threatening to take over the studio
All I Need's Your Touch - another find from the multitrack disk pile, a demo performed by Matt Hill of Quiet Loner that James recorded and played guitar on, and which both parties had long since forgotten about. Sian features on backing vocals
The Ballad Of Lucy Partington - One of Sian's darkest, written a long time ago with new vocal and a lot of recent production work
The God Delusion - the great Anna Kashfi pop hit that never was, one of our current favourite live tracks and a fantastic lyric
Nothing Can Save You - the earliest relic on the album, written in 1997, the guitar and mellotron to this version having been recorded in 1999 when we started the Philokalia record, and which we finally laid to rest last year The Loser's Reprise - the original demo, played by James on an ancient Gibson mandolin

For those of you who haven't been paying attention, it comes out Jan 19th as part of the deluxe package of Survival, indie shops and mail order only.

More advice on Survival
"Survival", the third full length album by Anna Kashfi, will be released in the UK on January 18th, 2010. In a gesture of punk-rock solidarity to independent music stores, a deluxe version will be available from indies only, and includes a bonus album "Archeology" - a collection of out-takes, alternative versions and otherwise unavailable tracks, covering ten years of Anna Kashfi history and packaged in a superb card sleeve designed by Last Harbour's Kev Craig. Amazon and HMV will have the boring single CD jewel case version, and downloaders get nothing, so you have been warned...

The usual horror of having to book dates to promote said album is beginning to make itself known, and a few shows will be added in the coming weeks. We also have the honour of opening for Josh Pearson at his show at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester on December 2nd.

Previews of Survival
Thanks to everyone who came to the London and Manchester shows, your support is much appreciated.

We've uploaded a couple of tracks from the new album to Myspace for you to have a listen to. Still waiting on an exact release date but won't be long now!

Survival tactics

We're pleased to finally confirm details of the new album, which has been christened Survival and is scheduled for release in January 2010 on the Little Red Rabbit label. The album was recorded over two years at various locations in the UK, and we're delighted to have added Samson & Delilah's Sam Lench and Willard Grant Conspiracy's Robert Fisher to our ever expanding list of contributors. Due to too many distractions and the worst British summer in living memory, we then decamped to more luxurious surroundings in Seattle to mix the album this summer.

The first 500 copies will come in a gorgeous card cover featuring the design talents of Mr Kev Craig, and includes a bonus CD mini album Prehistory , which features reworkings of a number of Kashfi related tracks we found lurking amongst piles of multitrack disks. Download and regular CD versions will also be available.

Tracklisting for Survival is: A Lonely Place; Glass House; The Loser's Prize; Drinker's Song; Red Rag Doll; Devil's Bridge; String Loop; Bumblebee; Your Baby; 1936; Chain Of Command; The Church On The Village Green. Details on Pehistory to follow.