Record Store Day 2023 Read More

📻 Guest Mix Drift'in with Paul Hillery. Listen Now.

Pre Order - Black Country, New Road, Big Star, Protomartyr, Alison Goldfrapp, Benefits, Talking Heads ...  Read More

March Record of the Month: H.Hawkline - Milk For Flowers.

Esben And The Witch - Hold Sacred

Esben And The Witch - Hold Sacred

$27.00
Subscription Save


This item is scheduled to be released on 12th May 2023.

Format

Description

Esben and the Witch — comprising Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher and Daniel Copeman — began in Brighton in 2008, later decamped to Berlin, and is now split three ways across the UK, Germany and the US. Their winding geographical journey feels representative of their path as a whole. The band have snaked through various scenes and sonic worlds across their 14 years together, while always squirming away from an easy genre classification. Their first two albums, 2011’s Violet Cries and 2013’s Wash the Sins Not Only The Face — both released on Matador Records — offered gothic, electronic-tinged dream pop and post-rock. Beginning with the Steve Albini-produced A New Nature (2014, self-released on their own Nostromo Records), they came to explore heavier post-punk and metal textures, which they intensified through 2016’s Older Terrors and 2018’s Nowhere (both via Marseille-based metal label Season of Mist).

Hold Sacred represents a reset in many ways. After Nowhere, Davies felt exhausted and disenfranchised with music, and for a while entertained the possibility that Esben and the Witch had come to an end. If they were to make a new album, they needed to take everything back to basics. They departed from their record label, returning to independence through Nostromo. They expanded operations, too, with the launch of Haus Nostromo, an online emporium and journal through which they branch away from purely music, selling “a curated collection of books, zines, art prints, clothing and more”. It’s aimed at building community, celebrating the act of collaboration, and offering an ethical, passion-driven and truly DIY platform for artists across various mediums. “Similar to the spirit of Esben, it’s always been essential for us to do everything on our own terms,” says Davies.

In the summer of 2019, the band retreated to a villa outside of Rome, with no expectations or pressures but simply the intention to enjoy each other’s company and see what musical inspiration may arise from that. This is where the rough sketches of the songs that would form Hold Sacred came to be. “It was a wonderful, restorative retreat,” Davies says. “It felt free again, and a reminder that perhaps there was still a spark left for us to unearth.”

The songs that were emerging were different than any previous. They’re brooding, gentle, almost ambient; there are no live drums, and the instrumentals comprise simple, sparse guitar and keys. “We wanted to create a softer, calmer record; a record we’d listen to when we need soothing, like the ambient records we find comforting and, dare I say, almost spiritual,” says Davies. The band used no outside producers or engineers, keeping the process limited to the three of them from start to finish — harkening back to the spirit of their earliest days when Copeman would record them in his bedroom and bathroom.

Format Info

+ Available on limited Silver colour vinyl.

Tracklisting

1. The Well
2. In Ecstasy
3. Fear Not
4. Silence, 1801
5. True Mirror
6. A Kaleidoscope
7. Heathen
8. The Depths
9. Petals of Ash

Artist: Esben And The Witch
Label: Nostromo
Catalogue: NOS10LPS
Barcode: 5053760097914
Format: LP or CD
Release Date: 12th May 2023

This product is a pre order and is scheduled to be released 12th May 2023.

This product is available on preorder with a limited discounted price.

                               

Preorder FAQs

When is this released?

Esben And The Witch - Hold Sacred is available for preorder now and has a scheduled release date of 12th May 2023. In the event of any delays to this date, we will try to keep this page updated, specifically in the 'release updates' tab. Sadly, we are seeing a lot of date changes in 2022 so please bear with us.

When will I get it?

So long as there are no delays in the manufacturing and distribution processes that would delay the release as scheduled, we aim to ship it to you to arrive on or as close as possible to release day.

Please note, If you make a purchase that includes a preorder item together with an in-stock item in the same order, we will typically hold your box until all items are in stock before we ship. You can read more about our shipping policies here.

What is the discount?

Esben And The Witch - Hold Sacred is listed at a special discounted pre order price (usually between 10-15 percent) that will revert to full price during the week of release.

Shipping

Free Shipping

We offer free delivery on orders of £85 and over, sent within mainland UK. To qualify for free delivery, your order will be sent as one dispatch.

Read More.

Click & Collect

On all orders, we offer a Click & Collect option for you to come and collect your order in Totnes. You will be offered shipping and click & collect options during the checkout process.

Contact Drift

Royal Mail Tracked®

✔️ End-to-end tracking
✔️ SMS or email notifications
✔️ 48 hour delivery aim
✔️ Compensation cover up to £100
✔️ Change your delivery options before delivery is attempted

Read More

Drift Playlist

Drift Recommends


Alongside a weekly playlist of new and old tracks (tune in via the news section), all of the Drift staff also contribute to a weekly 'Drift Recommends' playlist.

Updated every Friday, it's full of new tracks that we love, absolute bangers that have popped back into our heads and all sorts of other weird avenues. It is supposed to sound a little bit like that feeling of walking through the door at Drift.

You can subscribe to it via our Spotify public profile.