Rise

Formats

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  0075597939996CD  £10.00Expected 14th July 2017
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  Softpack

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  0075597940008Long Player  £18.00Expected 14th July 2017
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  Heavyweight 140 gram high-performance vinyl, with download card.

Label

Nonesuch

Offa Rex (Olivia Chaney and The Decemberists)

The Queen of Heart

Nonesuch Records release The Queen of Hearts, the debut album from Offa Rex, an adventurous new project featuring English singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney and The Decemberists. Produced and recorded by Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case) and Colin Meloy at Martine’s studio in Portland, OR, and mostly arranged by Olivia Chaney, the thirteen tracks on The Queen of Hearts draw largely on traditional English-Irish-Scottish repertoire to create a transatlantic musical conversation that flirts with psychedelia and folk rock while maintaining its own inimitable identity. The origins of Offa Rex can be traced to a tweet. Meloy, a fan of Chaney’s 2015 Nonesuch debut, The Longest River, struck up a dialog with her over Twitter, which eventually led to her supporting The Decemberists on a U.S. tour. From the heady harpsichord swirl that engulfs album opener The Queen of Hearts to the warm, delicate drone of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, or the cold, grey riff that heralds Sheepcrook and Black Dog, it’s evident that Offa Rex is different indeed, upending its folk roots and imbuing these songs with exploratory verve.