Pitstop: Dry the River

(Photo by Tom Oldham)

My discovery of British folk quintet Dry the River is due massively in part due to Spotify's feature that lets you know what your friends are listening to. One night I noticed Sam of Middle Class White Noise and Frank of Listen Before You Buy listening to extensive amounts of Dry the River and intrigued I figured I'd give it a listen as well. Turns out I had heard of Dry the River before - they were the openers on The Antlers' European tour late last year and are soon to join one of my all time favorite bands Bowerbirds on their upcoming North American tour. Sold and sold.

Despite their latest single "No Rest" peaking my interest, it wasn't until I heard "No Ceremony" that I knew for sure Dry the River would be a band I would follow to the end of their days. With big rock licks, Dry the River wouldn't be out on place in some of the UK's big stadium venues and yet their arena rock moments are grounded by a folky sincerity and intimate attention to detail all anchored by intricate, infectious melodies and agile wordsmithery. I haven't heard a song by them yet that I didn't like.


Dry the River's debut album Shallow Bed is due out in the UK on March 6th with a US date hopefully soon to follow just in time for their US tour with Bowerbirds. Until then you can listen to their tunes on their Soundcloud

Get a taste of Dry the River with my favorite track "No Ceremony":
 Dry the River - "New Ceremony" by Dry the River

Also check out the music video for "No Rest", the first single off their upcoming album:

Dry The River 'No Rest' from Academy Films on Vimeo.