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Emily Barker supports King Creosote at Warwick Arts Centre

News by SonicPR, 27 Sep 2024

Photo: Luke Kellett

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EMILY BARKER

ANNOUNCES EXTENSIVE UK TOUR DATES

PLUS, SHARES NEW SINGLE:
"TONIGHT, TONIGHT"
(SMASHING PUMPKINS COVER)
STREAM HERE || WATCH HERE

NEW ALBUM ‘FRAGILE AS HUMANS' - OUT NOW

"Barker's writing has never been so pin sharp" - MOJO ★★★★
"tender and deep" - Ann Powers (NPR)
"truly exquisite" - Full Pelt Music ★★★★
"an overflow of talent" - The Arts Desk

Following the release of new album ‘Fragile As Humans', EMILY BARKER has announced a slew of UK Dates.

The dates are preceded by a new cover version of the Smashing Pumpkins classic "Tonight, Tonight" listen to it now.

STREAM HERE || WATCH HERE

The Smashing Pumpkins were a radio staple when Barker was a teenager in Western Australia.

"...they occupied a lot of my listening time just after I'd finished school, got my driver's licence and bought a bright yellow VW Beetle that I refurbished with my dad. The car was bought for only A$250 but I saved up to fit it with a $1k stereo so I could blast out albums like 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'."

Some years later she had a vivid dream about stepping up onto stage to play drums for The Smashing Pumpkins and wrote a poem about it.

#drummerdream
In a city of metal, glitter & stretched skin
behind a leathered band & thick black curtains
my heart beats double kick because
I'm the drummer of The Smashing Pumpkins
and we're seconds away from walloping
into a sold-out stadium set.
The crowd are amped, keen to be teens again:
Tonight, Tonight smells of unrequited crushes,
Lynx Africa & the burn of firsts remembered.
Every song cradles place, past, peers, DNA.
Curtains rise & the roar is biblical. Billy turns
to me through the smoke, his scream starts the roll
of the Cherub Rock intro on snare. I raise sticks
above my head, count ONE! TWO! THR –

When she was recording her latest album "Fragile as Humans" at The Wool Hall, producer Luke Potashnick suggested they do a couple of covers - 'Tonight, Tonight' felt like an obvious choice for Barker and the band set about creating a version that took the song in a rolling, acoustic Beck "Sea Change"-esque direction.

Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Western Australia. Her song "Nostalgia" was the theme for the acclaimed BBC crime drama "Wallander" starring Kenneth Branagh. Her songwriting has been acclaimed by The Guardian ("Emily Barker has a gift for great melodies"), NPR ("one the most literate and probing folk albums of the year") and The Australian ("irresistibly catchy"). She has toured extensively, including with Frank Turner and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and was the 2018 UK Americana Artist of the Year. Barker's first collection of poetry "Where The Black Swans Swim" was published this year through UK publisher Broken Sleep Books.

Barker is on tour in the UK, first in November supporting King Creosote, and then again in 2025 for some headline dates with her full band.