the use of ashes

WHITE NIGHTS: GLOWING LIGHTS

The Use Of Ashes' previous full-length »White Nights: The Hand Of Tzafkiël« saw them return to their roots as a psychedelic folk ensemble. Still marked by their experimental excursions into the realms of sound art and remixes, however, it was also an eccentric and gloomy work, combining tender melodic pieces with ghostly drones and surreal collages. »White Nights: Glowing Lights« is a direct continuation of its predecessor's approach, but places even greater importance on the band's talents as intuitive songsmiths.
As a result, the focus of these occasionally no more than two minute long tracks is firmly on acoustic guitars and Peter van Vliet's voice, with organs, sitars, tablas as well as an array of vintage analogue synthesizers providing a colourful backdrop. The dark, claustrophobic and nightmare-like ambiance of The Hand Of Tzafkiël has evaporated and given way to a more luminous, airy and laminar sound – especially so in floating instrumental sections filled with undulating harmonics and dreamy mellotron melodies. As has been revealed, the record is the second volume in an ambitious cycle of interconnected releases.
The Use Of Ashes have certainly entered a new period of prolific productivity after a relatively quiet phase spent with re-evaluating the future of the project: even though Glowing Lights contains enough ideas to see other bands through an entire career, yet more white nights material is to follow soon. As Peter van Vliet promises after all: "Like all stories, this one has not yet come to an end."

The album has been released on November 3rd in two versions which are mixed and mastered to format: a 180 grams black vinyl LP, and a CD edition in deluxe mini album cardboard sleeve with obi. To coincide with the release of »White Nights: Glowing Lights«, a CD edition of »White Nights: The Hand Of Tzafkiël« is now also available, and also in deluxe mini album cardboard sleeve with obi.

All editions can be ordered from the tonefloat shop.

Visit the band's myspace for music from the new album.

White Nights: Glowing Lights
Tonefloat, TF72
180 grams LP / CD

01. Morgenstern (the umbrella jigsaw man)
02. Falling From The Sky
03. Stranger In Paradise
04. Forever Comes With The Morning
05. Zeit
06. Kiss The Light
07. Dark White Planet
08. Dongal Taleteller (part 2)
09. White Night *
10. King Of The Moon *
11. Lazy Daisy Day
12. Eidolon (days are darker nights)
13. The Sky-cracked Children
14. The Prince With The Golden Hair
15. Stiller Berg
16. 9 Glowing Lights
17. White Dream
18. Endstille *

* available on the CD version only

TONEFLOAT LABEL NIGHT 28 APRIL 2010

Last year's Tonefloat Label Night turned out to be a celebration of intricately layered and imaginatively looped music with performances by Theo Travis, Fear Falls Burning, and Sand Snowman. This year's edition will focus on the zone between songs and sounds, and we are proud to have some of the finest Tonefloat recording artists on board: Tim Bowness & band (England), Microphonics (Belgium), and The Use Of Ashes.

Defined by the intimate setting of the legendary jazz and improvised music club Paradox in Tilburg, The Netherlands, there will only be a very limited numbered of tickets available for the Tonefloat Label Night. They can be obtained directly from our Tonefloat Shop at the friendly price of a mere 10 euros.

THE USE OF ASHES LIVE AT »DAG VAN HET VINYL«

Rock Venue 013 (Tilburg, The Netherlands) hosted a day that celebrates vinyl in all of its glory: "Dag van het Vinyl". The event included workshops, record stalls, and a live performance by The Use Of Ashes. A special clear vinyl 7inch with a track each by The Use Of Ashes and DeWolff (the other performing artis) was available for free to the first 300 visitors. Maarten van der Vleuten (who remixed a couple of tracks from Ice67 for a 12" in 2005) kickstarted the day with a dj set from Noon to 1PM. Pictures of the Use Of Ashes performance, taken by Leon Versmissen, can be found here. A review of the day (in dutch) can be found here.

THE USE OF ASHES LIVE AT VASIM POP

The Use Of Ashes performed their first concert in nearly a decade as a special performing artist on Vasim Pop, in hometown Nijmegen, on November 21. The festival took place at De Vasim, a cultural centre in a former industrial estate in the harbour district of Nijmegen, with The Use Of Ashes acting as a three piece with Peter van Vliet, Maarten Scherrenburg, and Simon van Vliet, who left the band just after their transcend from Mekanik Kommando to The Use Of Ashes in the late 80s. Pictures, taken by Baselice Dumatubun, can be found here.

THE USE OF ASHES AT KINK FM'S X-RATED

The Use Of Ashes (Peter van Vliet, Maarten Scherrenburg) were interviewed by Bob Rusche and Arjan Grolleman, during the X-rated show at Kink FM radio, on November 15, discussing the new album, Mekanik Kommando, and also performing The Prince With The Golden Hair live acoustically. You can download the programme here.

THE USE OF ASHES INTERVIEW IN TONEFLOAT MAGAZINE

The first issue of the newspaper style Tonefloat Magazine features an interview with Peter van Vliet of The Use Of Ashes, discussing »White Nights: Glowing Lights«, recording techniques and the future of the band: "We have the idea, a nice idea, to do a Use Of Ashes car-CD, 0dB autobahn-music. One of my material wishes is a Jaguar XJ (1975-1980); endless driving from Nijmegen to St. Petersburg, meanwhile playing our own car-cd, repeat on ... repeat on ... it’s like flying ... doing a concert ... and driving back ... repeat on ... repeat on ... hey Simon ... hey Maarten ... still flying."

Please click here for the interview.