Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter! Four nights and twelve bands - the perfect antidote to the January blues in the intimate surroundings of The Lexington.
Tickets £14 adv + bf from WeGotTickets. Cheaper 4 day passes also available.
Full band performances from Withered Hand and from Randolph’s Leap.
Winter Sprinter 2023 Spotify playlist here
WITHERED HAND
Withered Hand is the creative output of Edinburgh-based musician Dan Willson.
A cult figure in the Scottish music scene since 2009, Dan has released two widely acclaimed albums, New Gods (2014) and Good News (2009) and several lo-fi EPs and has toured extensively, both solo and with his band, and with the likes of King Creosote, Kris Drever, James Yorkston, Scott Hutchison/Frightened Rabbit.
A third Withered Hand album was recorded in 2022 and is set for release via Reveal Records in early 2023.
RANDOLPH’S LEAP
Randolph’s Leap started out as a pseudonym for the solo output of Adam Ross, and now includes up to 8 people in the full live band. The debut Randolph’s Leap album, Clumsy Knot, came out in 2014, with another four live and studio albums and a handful of singles across labels Fence Collective, Olive Grove Records and Lost Map. In 2018 a touring theatre show called The Isle of Love was devised around the songs of Randolph’s Leap.
THE LITTLE HANDS OF ASPHALT
After two extremely well received albums, main man Sjur Lyseid just let the project quietly fizzle out, choosing to rather work as a producer and co-writer of other people’s music. With Half Empty he’s back doing what he does best, writing lyrically dense, classic pop songs, that range from low key acoustic numbers, through deeply orchestrated arrangements, to snappy, catchy guitar pop.
Although the record is self produced and mixed, and even largely performed by Lyseid himself, it’s not an album that springs for indulgent sonic experimentation or lo-fi excursions. The songs are rather presented in a tasteful, timeless manner, which means The Little Hands of Asphalt isn’t reaching for a current radio pop sound, nor any specific subgenre. There are elements of folk, power pop and even kraut, and nods to Serge Gainsbourgh or Brian Wilson, but Half Empty is not album that regurgitates any specific influence or time period. Still, in a sense, it feels like these songs have always just been there.