Stornoway

Stornoway are a British indie folk band from Cowley in Oxford, led by ornithologist Brian Briggs as singer and main songwriter, with multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman. Their sound incorporates an ever-changing selection of stringed instruments and keyboards, supported by a typical pop backline of guitar, drums and bass guitar, embellished with avant-garde percussion including DIY hardware (saw & axe), cutlery, and Welsh gravel. The trio typically performs live with additional musicians including Thomas E Hodgson on trumpet and percussion; Susie Attwood on violin and percussion; Charlotte Glasson on violin, percussion, saxophone and flute; Felix Higginbottom on drums, percussion and backing vocals; and Adam Briggs on trumpet and percussion. The band is named after the Scottish town of Stornoway on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, having never been to Stornoway when they decided to name themselves after the town. They have since visited multiple times, the first expedition comprising a performance on 9 April 2010 and the signing of their recording contract with label 4AD. They have explained "We were looking in books about knots and [...] guides to natural history of the seashore [...] this [Stornoway] was the only one that stuck, and it was reinforced by the fact that if you see the BBC weather forecast, Stornoway is up there... so we get this wonderful free promotion every time there's a weather report". Starting with Dig The Mountain! (and subsequent reissues of Beachcomber's Windowsill & Tales From Terra Firma as well as 2026 album Beyonder), the band have released their music chiefly on recycled materials and packaged in sustainable card packaging. They are informally linked to many nature conservation trusts including BBOWT, HIWWT, RSPB, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, British Trust for Ornithology, and the Woodland Trust. They have also pioneered economic sustainability in local music scenees, particularly their hometown of Oxford (by performing in alternative performance spaces), and particularly with reference to birds & birdsong. Stornoway's first radio play came in March 2006 with a demo version of "I Saw You Blink" on BBC Oxford Introducing. Radio presenter Tim Bearder was an early champion of the band and was suspended from work after barricading himself in the studio and playing an hour of Stornoway songs from their demo EP The Early Adventures of Stornoway, which had been positively reviewed by local scene mag Nightshift. That collection of 5 demos was followed by a further 2 self-released EPs: Letters From Lewis (2007), and On The Rocks (2008). They headlined the inaugural Wood Festival the same year. A 2009 appearance at Radio 1's Big Weekend (Lydiard Park, Swindon) led to more festivals later that year (including six sets at Glastonbury festival 2009) documented in a weekly column authored by Jon for UK national press. On 1 September they played a free concert at Tate Modern, London, supported by Reverend and the Makers, launching the 10:10 climate change campaign. 2nd single "Unfaithful" was launched on 21 September at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Their first UK tour took place from 16 to 30 October 2009, culminating in a concert at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, accompanied by the Oxford Millennium Orchestra. They were the first non-classical group ever to play in the centuries-old building. In November 2009 Stornoway became the first-ever unsigned band to appear on Later... with Jools Holland, and performed alongside Sting, Norah Jones, Jay-Z, and Foo Fighters. The attention gained by this appearance led to tens of thousands of views of their homemade YouTube videos, and the band were playlisted on the BBC's national radio stations. In December 2009, Stornoway were announced as entrants onto the longlist of the BBC's Sound of 2010 competition, having been selected by a panel of some 165 UK-based tastemakers. They toured Scotland and Ireland in March 2010 (dubbed the Highlands, Islands and Ireland tour), and signed their record deal in the castle grounds at Lews in Stornoway, after playing in their namesake town for the first time. Signing to independent record label 4AD, on 22 March 2010 they released 3rd single "I Saw You Blink". Debut album Beachcomber's Windowsill launched on 24 May. Brian Briggs said in December 2010 that any initial apprehension to signing to a label has since faded: "we were used to doing it our own way. We'd put out EPs ourselves in Oxford and we were used to being the decision makers on everything. Having never worked with a label before, we were nervous that it would mean we would lose some say or having people twisting our arms doing certain things. And 4AD convinced us that wouldn't be the case and that we would have creative control over everything and they were supportive of that and it's worked really well so far, and they've stayed true to that." The band organised three small shows to 300 hometown fans at Oxford's A1 Pool Hall in Summer 2010. On 30 May, Beachcomber's Windowsill entered the UK Albums Chart at number 14, spending five weeks in the UK Top 100. An "unplugged" session of four songs was recorded for 4AD at the Rotunda, an abandoned doll's house museum in Iffley Village, Oxford in August 2010. They played at Glastonbury Festival 2010 and Womad Charlton Park in July 2010, along with main-stage slots at a great number of UK and European festivals. The rest of the year saw the band tour England, North America and, in February 2011, Australia as part of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival. Their last performance in their home country for 2010 was in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, to a sold-out crowd of 2,000, their biggest headline audience to date. The band performed the music from Beachcomber's Windowsill with extensions and additions to the instrumentation for many songs; in addition one older song and two new ones were performed, including two unplugged performances with acoustic instruments. Beachcomber's Windowsill won Album Of The Year at the 2010 XFM New Music Awards. Capitalising on a brief visit made during mid-2010, in December the band undertook their first formal tour of the USA touring with Head and the Heart (which would later lead to a return in May 2011 with Sea Of Bees, and again in May 2013 with Horse Thief). Following the second German tour and their first performances in Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland, Stornoway spent early 2011 at home in Oxford writing towards their second album. In April they announced a return to Glastonbury for the third year in a row to open the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 25 June. Returning to America in May 2011, they would then spend the rest of the year performing at home in the UK and recording in Oxford, after a homecoming concert for summer 2011 at London's Somerset House on Saturday 9 July with orchestral backing from North Sea Radio Orchestra. A secret Somerset House warm-up show, with support from Dry The River, was announced in April. The band's first concert in Oxford since November 2010 was held at the Regal, Cowley Road, on Saturday 3 September 2011 alongside fellow Oxford bands The Epstein and Dreaming Spires. Proceeds from the evening, as well those for an auctioned-off Epiphone S-210 signed by all members of the band, went to the Sumatran Orangutan Society, Earth Trust, and RSPB. Other charity fundraising from the period include releasing song "You Don't Know Anything" in aid of BBOWT, and two contributions to BBC Oxford Introducing's local music scene copmilations (both in aid of Children In Need). On 19 November 2012 Stornoway announced the release of their second album, Tales from Terra Firma, which was released on 11 March 2013, after spending most of 2012 recording. The album's lead single "Knock Me on the Head" premiered for radio on 1 January, premiered to video in late February, and was released alongside the album on 11 March. Tales From Terra Firma entered the UK Albums Chart at number 26,