Graham Reynolds is an Austin legend. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, grew up in America’s northeast, and then relocated to Texas and became part of the furniture as half of the Golden Hornet, man handling punk’s DIY ethic into classical music. He tumbled into movie soundtracks (‘A Scanner Darkly’, etc), theatre pieces and became renowned for an annual re-imagining of festivities with the live extravaganza ‘Graham Reynolds Ruins the Holidays’. Having become a regular audio foil for Richard Linklater’s movies, highlights of which include the acclaimed score for the closing chapter of the Before.. triptych ‘Before Midnight’.
In the hustle and hub bub of SXSW, the annual hometown highlight of Graham’s regular live shows have become renowned for long queues and lasting memories – last year’s at counter-culture flagship Levitation featured an Orchestra Drum and Water Cooler Bottles, making a mind blowing percussive crescendo for the packed crowd.
Since then, Graham has re-focussed his talents yet again, beginning with an EP, ‘Music For Prophet (Parts 1-4)’ that’s the perfect pre into what’s promised to be a spectacular debut solo album later in 2024. The single ‘An Endless Tower’ is a stripped down, mood swing, a weird hybrid of loose jazz, Eno-like ambience and Reynolds’ inspired dynamism that lets the grandeur of his soundtrack work come full circle into our orbit.
Out today, the new EP includes a “couple of abstractions’, while the album, set for release later this year, heads in new directions, traversing territory that brings together the inspiration and experiences from many parts of Graham’s effervescing past.
So, why a solo career a mere 20 years into proceedings?
“Anything that’s new is exciting to me. I like doing something that I haven’t done before. I like getting pushed in different directions. I’ve made short pieces before with an almost pop song structure but that’s not typical for me. I haven’t done a lot of solo performing either; it’s so simple to just stay home and do scores. But, it’s exciting to try different things, to see if this solo set actually works and what the response is. I’m very curious, to see what happens.”
Never one to take the easy route, Graham Reynolds adds a new dynamism to what we hear. The grandeur of his soundtrack work permeates this solo sojourn as it swings and swaggers between the brooding hues of Peter Talisman’s renowned neo-folk electronica and the soulful drama of Marta Del Grandi, and way out beyond. Condensing it into a suitcase for live dates will be a Darwinian escapade, it’s unpacking to an expectant audience, an experience to never forget.
13 Mar: SXSW, Rozco’s, Austin, TX, US
15 Mar: SXSW, Elephant Room, Austin, TX, US
16 Mar: SXSW, Seven Grand, Austin, TX, US
26 Apr: Two Palms, London, UK, w/ Marta Del Grandi
27 Apr: Forty Years Of Fire – The Giant Syndicate, Earth, London, UK, w/ Giant Sand, The Dream Syndicate, Kristin Hersh, Islet, Bas Jan, Marta Del Grandi, Graham Reynolds, Immaterial Possession
01 May: The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, UK
02 May: Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, UK
04 May: NeoAncients Festival, Stroud, UK
05 May: The Cube Cinema, Bristol, UK
10 May: Focus Wales (Fire 40 Showcase), Wrexham, UK
