You know those moments when a band plays quietly and a whole audience sings the words? Sometimes, these are the most emotional experiences - because singing together is the oldest and most basic form of human art, something primal and truly shared. So in April 2018, New Model Army did a weekend of just this, not concerts as such, but community singing events for people who came from all over the world for love of the band’s songs, for the love of singing and for the feeling of singing together with others.
Over the weekend, 49 different songs were sung. 33 of these songs have made it on to a beautifully packaged double CD/DVD which gives listeners a taster of this extraordinary event. The CD, which comes in a gatefold sleeve and features a colour booklet with photographs from the shows, is released on the band’s Attack Attack Records in February 2019.
New Model Army vocalist Justin Sullivan said
“Singing together is the oldest and most basic form of human art, perhaps the most communally bonding of all, and goes all the way back to the very beginning of our history. When we first came up with the idea for this event, it seemed so obvious that we were amazed that, to the best of our knowledge, no band has ever done it before, or at least not quite in this way, providing full-on backing for a thousand voices. Of course we didn’t really know what would happen or how to best present it, so it was mostly guesswork and we are indebted to the many people who worked on the project but especially to everyone who came from all over the world, to sing their hearts out and share something really special. Whether we ever do it again remains an open question. For now, we hope these recordings give a true feeling of what occurred on those remarkable nights”.
