August Gilde shares new single, “Animals”

Featuring sand artist Kseniya Simonova

Produced by Tali Trow

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

NEWS PROVIDED BY
August Gilde

Ahead of the release of his second album, Animals, August Gilde – singer, songwriter and Yorkshire Dales cabin-dweller – unveils its lead single. Out [date] on Priory Lane Records, “Animals” is an unadorned, deceptively serene recognition of our animalistic compulsion to be individual, to the point of holding extreme opinions just for the sake of it. Produced by Tali Trow (Miranda Lee Richards) and featuring gorgeous pedal-steel playing by Stephen Barlow (Pixie Lott, Gemma Hayes), it’s Gilde’s first new music since his acclaimed 2021 debut, A Different Kind.

Gilde, who lives and makes music in a log cabin at the top of a hill in rural North Yorkshire, explains: “I was thinking about the natural divide of people - everyone’s divided, no one’s wrong, everybody’s talking loud. People will argue about anything, and even if something is proven, there will still be people who make it their business to be against it for no other reason than to be different. This got me wondering why. I came to the conclusion it was an animal instinct. Then I applied it to other scenarios in which what we see in society is also us acting on animal instinct.”

Despite the fretful subject matter – “Everyone fights and no one’s wrong…they all come to feed at sundown…animals,” Gilde sings over feathery guitar accompaniment - his warm, enveloping voice draws you in. Barlow’s pedal steel adds a high-lonesome bluegrass accent, as the song unhurriedly makes its point. It’s very special.

The video was conceived and performed by Britain and Americas Got Talent golden buzzer sand artist Kseniya Simonova, who creates striking animations by drawing entirely in sand on an illuminated board. Her abstract rendering of “Animals” involves elephants, and a snail, among other things, but that description doesn’t do it justice – it demands to be seen. “We agreed she would draw her interpretation of the song. It’s not as I imagined it!” Gilde laughs. “But it was great to see someone else’s interpretation.”

As the first taste of Gilde’s new album, which is due [date], “Animals” portends intriguing things from a singular artist

About

August Gilde Short Bio

Autumn is a particularly beautiful time in the Yorkshire Dales, where August Gilde lives and writes songs in a log cabin at the top of a hill. And autumn is what comes to mind when listening to his new album, Animals, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2021 debut, A Different Kind. It evokes oak and hazel leaves changing colour, and the feeling of the year winding down. It’s also there in his warm voice, and in the introspective music itself. This is a record that feels like a gilded sunset on a November afternoon.

He was raised in one of the most beautiful places in England, the 12th century Bolton Priory estate. It shaped his worldview: he loves the tranquillity of the countryside, but has an equally fierce intolerance of injustice. When Gilde gave up his career hand-crafting country furniture to make music fulltime, he poured everything into his lyrics: hopes, fears, and ambivalence.

While Animal’s ten songs feel tranquil at first listen, there’s an undercurrent of unease. Even the album title speaks to Gilde’s disquiet about the mess the world is in. “We see ourselves as gods, but animalistic traits come out in us when bad things happen,” he explains. On the title track, Gilde’s voice and guitar are accented by Steve Barlow’s exquisite pedal-steel playing. It’s as beautiful a piece of alt-folk as anything that’s come out in the last decade. Animals is a quiet, impassioned statement in a world full of noise. You won’t hear anything else like it.

Source August Gilde