Sydney band Belles Will Ring left the city behind and escaped to the country to record their long-awaited second LP Crystal Theatre. The result is a striking collection of hazy, sun-drenched songs laced with the band’s signature psychedelic style and a deeper, darker tone.

Crystal Theatre follows on from the band’s lauded 2007 album Mood Patterns and 2008’s mini-album Broader Than Broadway. Since its release in May 2011, the album has been making waves in Australia and across the globe, grabbing Album of The Week slots with Sydney’s FBi 94.5, 2SER and Drum Media, and Album of The Month in The Age.

“Crystal Theatre is genuinely striking – a hazy mix of alt-country, folk and haunted psychedelics … this is a huge leap forward for the band and a seriously impressive return.”                  4 1/2 stars – Music Australia Guide

Recording throughout 2010, the band holed themselves up in houses outside Oberon and the tiny town of Portland, in central western NSW, in an effort to soak up feelings of isolation and darkness, both recurring themes on the album.

“Certainly that helped us in crafting the feel we wanted for the songs because we literally were kind of isolated,” singer and guitarist Liam Judson said. “There was only us, there was no one else around, no visitors, only snakes and birds. The whole process was a bizarre mixture of elation, occasionally despair, it was all there; it was a total mixed bag of emotions. I’ll always look back on it as a bizarre yet really satisfying period of our lives.”

The band worked to expand their sound, adding a wilder and weirder texture by experimenting with vintage keyboards, trumpets, flutes, character voices and found sounds.

The album, named after Portland’s historic main street cinema, brings to life small-town characters and surroundings, but is not a concept album, Judson said.

“A lot of the songs do keep referring to certain places, whether it be the village green or the river, or places around this mythical style rural town. But it’s more about a feeling than a story. “

Crystal Theatre was produced by the band themselves, in an effort to keep the sound and emotion genuine. “We could do it entirely within our own circle, within the band, the whole thing is set out from within the band.”

There has always been plenty of buzz about the band, including Craig Mathieson of The Age: “(Come To The Village) is something else: a menacing invocation that uses paranoid harmonies and serrated guitar parts to turn rural wistfulness into a nightmarish prelude”

Crystal Theatre is set to satisfy the band’s established fan base, and attract new interest with its fresh sound and focussed songwriting. The making of Crystal Theatre was a long and intense process, which is definitely worth the listen.

BELLES WILL RING are:

Liam Judson (vocals, guitar)

Aidan Roberts (guitar)

Lauren Crew (vocals/keys/tambourine/flute)

Joe Driver (drums)

BOOKINGS CONTACT

AUSTRALIA: Rob –  rob@selectmusic.com.au

All other enquiries go to Joel Connolly –  joel@umbrellamusics.com