DAKOTA SUITE - "Waiting for the dawn to crawl through and take away your life" (Glitterhouse / Differ-Ant). Sortie février 2007

"I really didn't want to make another record. I really lost my way after the last tour which ended in Feb 2003 and I didn't even pick up an instrument for a year. I don't know why but the process of playing live for several weeks and re-living all those emotions really made me never want to play an instrument again.

Then I started just playing the piano for fun, writing long drawn out instrumentals which will form most of the new instrumental record I will be doing with David Darling this year. Eventually I started writing songs on the guitar again but I still had no intention of making another vocal record. The fear of putting out my fears and the weight of what I carry around felt too much to bear.

I was on holiday in San Francisco so I just spent some time with Bruce and he played on some of the demo's I was doing and before I knew it there were a load of songs.

I have to say that listening back to these songs is almost impossible for me. We played a festival in Spain in November 2006 and I stared off with one of the new songs, "Over a Loveless Winter". I sang the opening verse,"I only you could see, how lonely we have become, you'd see that it's more than I can bear". I hadn't sung these words since I wrote them and it tore me in half. A lot of people thought the show was amazing but I brieflyconsidered suicide afterwards so I am not sure how extensively I can play in the future. The shows cost me too much.

Anyway here we are with the new record. The title, "waiting for the dawn to crawl through and take away your life" really sums up how I see the world and my place in it. I find it hard to deal with the extensively that makesup every joined up moment of my existence and the music comes from that place. The image also sums up how distressed and broken I am. They are also all hymns to Johanna and how disappointed I am that I can't treat herlike she's as important as my next breath. That really floors me and sucks out all my will to live.

The recording was done very quickly as usual, we did basic parts at the house here in Leeds and also at other houses in Nashville and at Bruce's studio in Oakland. Then we just got other people in to colour what we heard, Colin and Ed as usual on strings and brass and he lovely Anna Elias on harmony vocal. As per usual it doesn't really sound like I thought it could and I did consider scrapping it all on several occasions and starting again. I listened to a song of Tow Waits' new triple CD before it was finished called "if I have to go" and ended up listening to it obsessively for three hours on replay. That song also nearly me me scrap the record, I mean how can you live with that ??

I hope it strikes chord with people. I desperately feel that there is really a limit to what I can do, this is the best I can do and I fear it isn't good enough.

Thank you for listening".

- Chris Hooson 11/01/07

"Musique du silence. Une production d'orfèvre, des mots et mélodies d'une tristesse inouïe. (...) On se demande juste ce que l'on pourra entendre de plus beau cette année." F. Mazzoleni, Vibrations (disque du mois, mars 2007).

"Dakota Suite, groupe anglais broyant du noir avec un tact infini...une beauté vertigineuse". R. Robert, Les Inrockuptibles

"l'un des songwriters les plus importants et originaux de la musique moderne." G. Duhem, Magic.

"disque au spleen paisible et parfait. Dans la lignée d'Idaho ou des Red House Painters" TGV Mag.

Contact promo France: sean@talitres.com - 05 56 91 71 45 - Glitterhouse France