Gathered In Song have been a bit quiet of late but they return with a flurry of gigs this autumn (I'll pretend we had a Summer), the first of which is in Clwb and features two members of Wilco.

Wilco’s soft-psych subsidiary The Autumn Defense produce a shimmering haze of gentle tunes dipped in honey-sweet harmonies. Delicate strumming. Is that a Hammond? Neil Young and Cat Stevens. A stack of LP’s on top of which lie well-worn copies of Notorious Byrd Brothers, Forever Changes and Harvest. Fitting company for the unlikeliest of sunshine supermen – The Autumn Defense. You might expect John Stirratt, bassist for Grammy winning alt-heroes Wilco and country-punk forefathers Uncle Tupelo, to mine further the well-tilled twang-rock soil but the music of The Autumn Defense is closer in spirit to the pastoral vibe of Laurel Canyon, a groove Wilco flirted with on Summerteeth then left behind on the genre-defying Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

The Autumn Defense is essentially a collaboration between Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone who has produced records for the likes of Andrew Bird and Joseph Arthur and has since also become a mainstay in the Wilco line-up. They have released three albums of beautifully arranged, organic, wispy folk-rock and singer-songwriter musings. As HUGE Wilco fans, needless to say Gathered In Song are absolutely stoked to be hosting an intimate little gig for them at Clwb Ifor Bach. Get your tickets quick!

"Soft, dreamy and bittersweet” Washington Post

"Warming, gorgeous and delightful” David Fricke, Senior Editor, Rolling Stone

"Comfort music for the soul...4/5” Uncut

Support comes from Plush which is basically Liam Hayes. He appeared as himself in High Fidelity and his band Plush's long lost masterpiece 'Fed' is currently receiving rave reviews across the music press including 5/5 in Uncut, 4/5 in Mojo, Q, Plan B etc.

A regular collaborator with Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy), Hayes appeared on keyboards across the Palace era output, but his own tale is mostly concerned with the promise of new recordings, scrapped sessions, rumour and speculation concerning Hayes’ quest to match the songs in his head with the recordings in his hand. Despite being somewhat sporadic, the music that has managed to see the light of day has been received with cult-like adulation. Hayes has nearly completed the follow up to Fed, “Bright Penny” which will be released in early 2009. It promises to be his most accessible to date, an album that, according to Hayes, “reaches out to the listener, any listener,” still challenging the pop status-quo, whilst bearing all the hallmarks of his unique songwriting and arranging talents. It should be the album that finally sees him breakthrough in a big way, and this is a rare opportunity to hear a preview that is guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

“the dazzling symphonic album he always threatened to produce” UNCUT 5/5

“a soulful symphonic masterpiece” ROLLING STONE

7:30pm | £9/£10. Tickets available from Diverse and Spillers

Labels: folk, gathered in song, the autumn defense