As a young Mancunian teenager, Paul Baird hung around at a recording studio often enough that they eventually gave him a job. This led to Baird being involved in (read: cleaning tape heads, answering the phone and making brews) the recording of Teenage Fanclub’s album, Thirteen and the remixing of The Who’s seminal live album, Live at Leeds. Baird soon cut his teeth as a sixteen-year-old guitarist in Manchester punk band, Breather, receiving national press attention and gigging throughout the UK, including an official show at In the City, in Dublin, at the request of the late Tony Wilson, before suddenly departing the group, to paint abstract canvases and study philosophy, no less! Unintentionally scuppering Breather’s plans (of signing with RCA Records) in the process.
Baird later went on to front Manchester dream-pop acts; Glass (Soviet Union Records & Caserta Red Records), I See Angels (Mimic This Records) & Just Everywhere (Ramber Records), chalking up A play-listed singles on the likes of NME radio, playing shows at venues such as the 02 Apollo Manchester and The Fuzz Club (Athens, Greece) and found himself the focus of interviews by the BBC, XFM and the Manchester Evening News, before retreating once more, this time to raise a family, just as things were beginning to look promising.
Ever the outsider, Paul Baird is Hostile Tribes these days… His swooning vocal instantly recognisable as it carries gorgeous melodies across otherwise digitally corrupted indie-pop, synth-pop and dream-pop. An accomplished singer, guitarist, and producer, amongst other things, Baird often throws several synth-led bouts of songwriting into his mixes, reverberated vocal loops and fragile harmonies surging alongside electronic loops and classic hip-hop influenced beats, pretty instrumental interludes, the aching hum of ambience and fuzzy guitars.
An aggressive acid eats away at Baird from the inside; his tracks play urgently as a result, whether they’re of the dreamy electronic variety, psychedelic pop, or short stabs of art-punk, periodically running riot with distortion pedals and protesting guitar squeal. Pin Baird down with any precision to a location and his momentum goes haywire. Track his speed and lose the man in space forever.
Locals, Everything’s Crowded, Passive Acceptance & Une Brave Femme are the first teaser tracks to be released from the well-crafted debut LP, Ecstasy & Sweet Communion, showcasing Baird’s gift for melody, textures, production and his fondness for splicing genres. Arguably Baird’s most original and accessible sounding collection of songs to date under any guise, Ecstasy & Sweet Communion releases on limited edition cassette and digitally across all major music-streaming platforms on 1st May 2020.
Ecstasy & Sweet Communion
A1 “Passive Acceptance”
A2 “Une Brave Femme”
A3 “Locals”
A4 “Perfect Girl”
A5 “With The Snow”
B1 “Blood Runs Cold”
B2 “Everything’s Crowded”
B3 “Marilyn’s Pill Bottles”
B4 “Bright Flashes In The Dark Sky”
BANDCAMP – DEBUT LP PRE-ORDER LINK
HOSTILE TRIBES
Release: Ecstasy & Sweet Communion (LP)
Producer: Paul Baird
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