Artist: Alison Eales
Title: Fifty-Five North
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika094SG1
Release date: 5th January 2023
Bandcamp | Spotify
Fifty-Five North is the first single to be taken from Alison Eales’ debut album Mox Nox. A song firmly rooted in Glasgow, and expresses how a place can be both transformative and overwhelming. The song features samples from the Glasgow subway, with a rhythm track from the sounds of the train doors closing, and a melody made from the ping of the turnstiles.
Alison is a long-standing member of the band Butcher Boy, playing piano, accordion and other keyboards as well as arranging for choir and brass. The band’s three studio albums: Profit in Your Poetry (2007), React or Die (2009) and Helping Hands (2011) have all been well-received, with React or Die featuring in The Times’ top 100 pop albums of the 2000s. The band have also released two EPs. A compilation album, You Had A Kind Face, was released on Needle Mythology in 2022, along with three new songs, with tracks mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. Butcher Boy have supported Belle and Sebastian, Scritti Politti The Wedding Present and more.
Alison is also a member of Glasgow Madrigirls and has collaborated with bands including The Color Waves (USA), The Just Joans (Glasgow) and Featherfin (Norway).
Mox Nox is released on vinyl and digitally in March 2023 on Fika Recordings.
“The single has parallels with another album track titled Ever Forward, but while both are about struggling with the change of the seasons, this song is rooted firmly in Glasgow and expresses how a place can be both transformative and overwhelming. The song features samples from the Glasgow Subway, with a rhythm track made from the sounds of the train doors closing, and a melody made from the ping of the turnstiles.The use of found sounds is both remarkable and quirky over which Eales’ uplifting vocals bring an enchanting vibrancy and colour. Fifty-Five North is also our Song of the Day.” Folk Radio UK [video premiere]
“a perfect fusion of indie-pop and electronica, nodding to bands like Firestations and Stereolab, as it combines glistening vocal lines with glitchy beats and transient synth melodies” For The Rabbits
“the track almost seems like a purely vocal performance, a remarkable one at that” Austin Town Hall
“‘Fifty-Five North’ is delicately crafted and far more complex and nuanced than it may initially appear. Breezy but chilly, it’s a pleasant and charming debut” Whisper and Hollerin
“a lovely piece of music, with a hint of some of the gentler sounds that were occasionally offered by the late Kirsty MacColl. It’s an ode to Glasgow from someone who is not a native but now calls it home after many years of studying, performing and working.” The New Vinyl Villain