Marc Riley - 09/11/2009

A hearty welcome back to Manchester once again to the Brighton band The Miserable Rich. They've got some cracking tunes which Marc plays and plays and plays then plays some more. The Miserable Rich, whose name derives from an experience they had playing at the wedding of two ultra-rich aristocrats in Rome, grew from a 'bedroom electro-songwriter project'. Cellist/pianist William Calderbank and singer/percussionist James de Malplaquet formed their string quintet intending to 'produce quirky acoustic modern music'. The Miserable Rich's bar-room chamber music has been described as 'pop music that could soundtrack a nursery rhyme created by Tim Burton'. Last year, following the reaction to both their cover of Hot Chip's 'Over and Over' and their debut singles 'Pisshead / Boat Song' and 'The Time That's Mine', their debut album "Twelve Ways To Count' was released and toured in Europe, to critical acclaim. The album, released in November in the UK, made many best of 2008 album lists, was album of the day on BBC 6Music, and was described as 'so heartbreakingly beautiful, it reduces anyone who hears it to a weeping mess' in the NME. Having toured extensively in many countries, sometimes playing three shows a day in different cities - in headlines, festival slots, and major supports for the likes of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - the band have honed their sound. Alongside The Miserable Rich, the band are founder members of a wider movement called the Willkommen Collective, a group of Brighton-based bands who share various members, including The Leisure Society, Sons of Noel and Adrian and Shoreline. The Miserable Rich release an ep of four covers on November 15th, prior to singles and a new album, 'Of Filght and Fury', due for release in Spring 2010.