Five years after their début EP was released to critical acclaim, The Pirate Ship Quintet have recorded their first full length album entitled "Rope for No-Hopers", to be pressed courtesy of Denovali Records. The record is a compendium of pieces chosen and refined from an abundance written over the past few years, during which time the band disappeared from the live scene. The five tracks on this record move through the richly melodic foundations of contemporary classical and minimalist rock. The swelling dark atmospherics give way to moments of brute force, punctuated by low level, desperate vocals. It is a little heavier and more technically diverse than the debut E.P and feels like a considered and organic evolution of the band's method.
The band's fantastically talented cellist, who has played with the likes of The London Symphony Orchestra among others, recently accepted a full-time position with the National Orchestra of Wales which is based very close to the band's home town. With all members of the group living in the same part of the UK once more and with their own small studio in the heart of Bristol they will be writing, recording and performing consistently again. The name of the new album evokes both solemnity and catharsis, while the track titles are references to abstract ideas and in-jokes, products of the bands notoriously dark sense of humour. "Horse Manifesto" for example details the imagined uprising of an equine regime, bent on recompense for man's inhumane exploitation of their kind.
The record was written, performed, recorded and mixed by the band. More than ten locations were used in the recording stages including a old chapel on the banks of the River Seven, a furniture-making workshop, the offices of The Big Issue magazine and the band's current studio space. It has been mastered by Cult Of Luna drummer Magnus Lindberg in Umeå Sweden with mountains of beautiful analogue equipment.
The Pirate Ship Quintet, in its current arrangement, consists of Ziapour (bass guitar), Jona (drums), Alex (guitar), Alphie (guitar), Sandy (cello), Moo (trumpet) and Terrence (vocals). The artwork for the record was created by Lucy Joy and Jona Sturgess.
Release Date: 24th May 2012
Source: Press Release
