Elliot Galvin signs to Gearbox Records and shares new single ‘From Beneath’ ft. Ruth Goller & Sebastian Rochford
Elliot Galvin | Photo Credit: Arepo
Today, award-winning composer, pianist, and improvisor Elliot Galvin returns with a new single titled ‘From Beneath’, his first release on independent London tastemaker label Gearbox Records (Binker & Moses, Abdullah Ibrahim, Cahill//Costell), and since 2020’s ‘Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton’ on Edition Records.
An artist with little need for introductions, Elliot Galvin is a long-time trailblazer in the UK jazz firmament with four solo albums that have seen him top album of the year lists at the likes of Downbeat and Jazzwise, as well as being a member of the Mercury nominated Dinosaur, and collaborating with Shabaka Hutchings, Emma-Jean Thackray, Norma Winstone, Marius Neset and Mark Lockheart. Galvin has also earned a fierce reputation as a borderless improvisor having released records with the likes of Mark Sanders and his now labelmate Binker Golding. His latest solo release was an entirely improvised piano album and was named The Guardian’s album of the month and BBC Music magazine’s album of the year. Outside of this Galvin is a composer Commissioned by the Sinfonietta, and an audio artist with works exhibited at the likes of Turner Contemporary Gallery, and more.
Recorded with GRAMMY, Mercury, and MOBO nominated recording and mixing engineer Sonny Johns (Tony Allen, Ali Farka Touré, Laura Jurd), his latest single ‘From Beneath’ features renowned bassist and vocalist Ruth Goller, as well as Polar Bear drummer and Patti Smith / Damon Albarn collaborator Sebastian Rochford. The track builds from undulating piano lines, underpinned by glitchy drum machines, and stirring vocals, before the tension breaks to fervent percussion work and charging basslines that chop and dart around Galvin’s staccato electronic manipulations.
Speaking on the single, Galvin says “I have admired Ruth and Seb for a number of years and their music has been a big influence on me, especially Seb’s band Polar Bear. This track is an exemplar of the evolution of my musical voice over the past 5 years since my last record. Over lockdown, and in the years after, I took a break from releasing my own music to build a new approach influenced by a growing sense of disquiet with the direction of the world and my own life changes, resulting in a darker sonic world, rich in life experience. Here I incorporate modular synths, drum machines and samplers, whilst retaining my identity as a unique piano improviser, alongside Sebastian’s iconic drumming and Ruth’s haunting vocals and visceral electric bass improvisations, to produce a track of bleak beauty and heavy, broken grooves.”
Hear / share ‘From Beneath’ here
With his signing to Gearbox Records and further new music planned imminently, ‘From Beneath’ marks a new start for Galvin. Fans will get a chance to see the result of this new chapter in 2025 with Galvin and his band hitting the road in February 2025. Full dates are as follows:
Live dates:
15th Nov – St Catherine’s College Chapel, Cambridge (solo)
2nd February - Hot Tin, Faversham
8th February - Listen, Cambridge
12th February - Lescar, Sheffield
13th February - Assemble Rooms, Leeds
14th February - The Rose Hill, Brighton
15th February - Kings Place (Hall 1), London
16th February - Mac, Birmingham
19th February - Fasching, Stockholm, Sweden
20th February - Unterfahrt, Munich
22nd February - Opus Jazz, Budapest
27th February - Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall, Cardiff
28th February - Brilliant Corners Festival, Belfast
1st March - The Clinker, Dublin
26th March - Spin Jazz Club, Oxford
27th March - Freerange, Canterbury
