I'M HEADING INTO MY LOCAL INDIE RECORD STORE.....

.....where I hope to get my hands on Falling Down A Mountain, the 8th studio album by Tindersticks which is due for release today.

I've been a fan of this lot since I first heard them back in 1993, and I must have seen them play live on at least 15 occasions, including one memorable open-air event in the splendour of Somerset House in London. On that evening, Concorde could be spotted in the sky above the venue as it made its approach to Heathrow Airport....but it seemed as if it was making a special fly-by in honour of one of the UK's most innovative bands.

I'm not going to claim that I've entirely enjoyed every single thing they've ever released - some of the more jazzy and soulful tunes just leave me a little bit cold - but some of their songs, particularly those with orchestral and string arrangements, are among my all time favourites.

I'm really looking forward to the new record, as to all intent and purposes, it's going to be the first by Tindersticks MkII. The band more or less came to a halt as a collective not long after the tour to promote 2003's Waiting For The Moon and the only studio LP released since then, The Hungry Saw from 2008 featured just three of the original line-up. Crucially from this particular fan's perspective, the departure of Dickon Hinchcliffe, the violinist, occasional vocalist but the man who arranged the brass and string parts on the records, seemed like a blow Tindersticks couldn't really recover from as The Hungry Saw was lacking a certain spark. The remaining band members seem to have recognised this and have added some more permanent members, including the highly regarded Irish singer/songwriter David Kitt who has enjoyed considerable solo success in his homeland, in an effort to get more of a band feeling rather than say a Stuart Staples solo effort.

Many of the preview reviews have been quite positive, and while that doesn't necessarily count for anything in the grand scheme of things, it is heartening that so many are predicting a return to form.

And in celebration, here's tracks taken from two official bootleg CDs from gigs in 2001 that were made available at the merchandising stall at subsequent tours and a track from the new LP that has kindly been made widely available on-line by the band and their new Label 4AD:-

mp3 : Tindersticks - Tiny Tears (live : Brussels, May 2001)
mp3 : Tindersticks - Bathtime (live : Lisbon, October 2001)
mp3 : Tindersticks - Black Smoke

Tune in tomorrow for another Tindersticks rarity among other things.....

Happy Listening.