Frukie-an awesome radio station-check it out. They also had the immense good taste to playlist technicolour wilderness.

This is a brilliant internet radio stream and it's a complete honour they've playlisted us. Check it out.

Spring
is unquestionably here, with new things popping into existence in every
bit of municipal greenery. And so it is with our website and album,
both of which now undeniably exist. Four or five addresses, many
hundreds of miles and a fair bit of processing power later, the
Candythief Album Technicolour Wilderness is done, ready, baptised into
being with the unguents of live performance and wine, and sets sail
upon the high seas. You can buy it here http://www.candythief com & here : http://www.fencerecords.com/artists.php?id=15

It has all the modern conveniences you would expect of a cd album: a
box, a colourful cover (designed by my fair sister, a most talented
painter), crinkly hard-to-remove cellophane, a barcode (so we can sell
a few million copies in America, of course), songs with words, singing,
drums, bass, guitars, more bass, ukelele, fiddle, percussion, strange
keyboards, some pop songs, some rock songs, one or two folk songs and an
avant garde experimental instrumental section which you can fast
forward if you don't like. In other words, it is both authentic and
hand crafted, but also high fidelity and technology. Like a batch of
supernutrient chocolate cakes made by a cyber granny.


It is a bonfide indie blood/sweat/tears endeavour and people with no
connection to me have enjoyed it and bought it of their own free will,
and some of them even played it on National Radio.  I am in fact rather
proud of it in itself, as well as slightly astounded I actually managed
to bring it into being.  Have a mooch round the website, which is brilliant & designed by very clever man called Ben Ceglowski, watch the
short film we soundtracked, buy the album, if you feel so inclined!

Here
is some commentary we've had which is of course designed to make you
think, how marvellous, I must acquire their album at once!

‘Immaculate orchestration and incredibly erudite songwriting make for an extremely rewarding experience.’ Rough Trade
‘From
the Fife-based musical family that gave us The Beta Band, Lone Pigeon,
KT Tunstall and King Creosote, comes the latest amazing find. Simply
beautiful range of songs in this off-kilter take on folk.’ Pure Groove
‘Swoonsome
and lovely… a melodic tour-de-force from light-folk, to 70s dark rock…
like a less weird Joanna Newsom.’ Is This Music? (about 'like/unlike')
'...joyous..sublime..a cracking set of songs' Is this Music? (about 'Thrum')
‘One
of the very finest on Fence, combining striking songwriting and great
vocals. Semi-acoustic country/folk singer-songwriting that deserves
praise heaped upon it… thoroughly recommended.’ Small Fish
‘A
delight to behold, as it amalgamates a whole host of different
influences to produce some really beautiful music.’ Marmaladya.com
'Singer
Diana's voice is the kind that would make you mix your metaphors and
make you happy to crawl over hot broken glass, just to ask her to sing
you to sleep at night. It's genuinely lovely - rich, dreamy and
innocent enough to sound slightly dangerous.'

'Earlier
recordings, Like/Unlike in 2006 and Thrum the following year, have
earned her widespread critical praise, a solid fan base, and slightly
sloppy comparisons with Cat Power and Joanna Newsome. The orchestration
is impressive but it’s her vocals that really stand out, and on
‘Foreign Sands’ she’s at her noisy best. Candy Slick’s influence can
clearly be heard, and perhaps the name is a deliberate reference.
Whatever, her psychedelic folk songs possess a uniquely powerful,
footloose quality.

So the snowflakes are spinning wildly past my window, it’s late morning and I’m still in my pjs, and I’m writing lists of what I need to take to Scotland for the homegame (ear plugs, lots of oatcakes and some responsibly grown UK Braeburns...maybe a feather pillow too...)

Among finding my sleeping bag, restringing my guitars and all that stuff I also need to burn a bunch of cds and do the artwork so we’ve got something to sell...It will probably be something with a few of the tracks off the new album, might have a really rough new demo and a remix or two.

The line up will be fantastic - fiddles, drums, bass and geetar. And the singing. Can’t wait. Before the fest I’m going to Glasgow to do some vocals on a Viva Stereo track which will be fun. We collaborated on something on their last album.

We’re also due to play LLAMA fest in June which is a delightful occasion, and various other fests under discussion.

No gags today. Only on first cup of tea. Jesus, you’ll be wanting the moon on a stick next...
And did I mention we came 2nd in the Is This Music? poll....!

Well,

yesterday I arrived back home after roughly 3000 miles I'd driven between xmas eve and now. Spent 2 nights in that time in the same bed. Played lots of ceilidh music. Had adverse motoring conditions like exploding windows in gale force winds and tracking down emergency tea in the highlands of Scotland on New Year's Day when not a mouse was stirring. Played tunes on the Isle of Skye. Was very much uplifted by these adventures. Drank tequila. Whiskey. Port. And hot chocolate in great quantities. None of this has any relevance to greater Candythief news, I am just idling away the minutes until I have to confront the unwashed socks.