Tinkering about somewhere between the earthy and the ethereal, Sweet Billy Pilgrim scrape strings and tap away at laptops trying to make beautiful things with steady hands and empty pockets. After the TV flickers out and the credit cards have been declined, and we're returned to hearts and heads, Tim, Alistair and Anthony would love to be called in as the happy architects of small corners in both. It's all about the hairs on the back of the neck, they say.
Their debut album was "we just did what happened and no one came", a collection of songs recorded in a warm shed where hope floats and faith taps at the door (sometimes a little too quietly to hear). Mojo magazine awarded it four stars and The Sunday Times called it, 'a rather special debut', making the single 'Stars Spill Out of Cups' one of their songs of the year. The band were just pleased as punch to find it in the racks of HMV in Watford, sandwiched between The Sweet and Swervedriver.
Since then, they've turned those careful hands to remixing, most notably 'bringing a fierce pop quality' to David Sylvian's 'The Heart Knows Better' for his 'The Good Son vs. the Only Daughter - The Blemish Remixes' project, and adding drum loops and banjos to Steve Adey's 'Mississippi' for a remix EP. Steve Jansen's 'Conversation Over' from the 'Slope' album has also fallen victim to their meddlings, Tim also contributing vocals and lyrics to the album for the song 'Sleepyard'.
Second album, 'Twice Born Men' was released on David Sylvian's Samadhisound label recently, to four star reviews in Mojo and Uncut, and a 5 star 'CD of the Week' in the Sunday Times. Following collaborations with folktronica luminary Adem, Norwegian electronicists Punkt, and successful shows at the Royal Opera House and festivals in Spain and Norway, Sweet Billy Pilgrim are building fires to warm their little musical corner while they wait for planning permission to build their ramshackle beach huts on those tiny, storm-bruised plots inside us all. Should it not be granted – hell… they're prepared to settle for a gazebo. About the single:
"Achingly Beautiful." - Shifty Disco
"A lifetime's career may be built upon an original, convincing viewpoint. Stars Spill Out Of Cups suggests that they might be one of those relatively rare bands capable of achieving this." - Colin Buttimer (The Milk Factory)
