Debt Records

An independent record label based in Manchester

News Stories about Alabaster dePlume

Christmas In Hospitals

Alabaster dePlume, Felix Hagan & The Family, T.E. Yates, The Bedlam Six

Music In HospitalsThough not as evergreen as the trees they are sung around, Christmas carols can survive a bit of reinterpretation from time to time. So it is with great pleasure that we announce a compilation of classic Yuletide numbers on one record, released in the second (Bleak Mid-)Week of December.

All proceeds from the release will go to the wonderful charity Music In Hospitals, an organisation that a number of our artists work with.

The album includes the choir-rock stylings of Felix Hagan & The Family’s “Gaudete,” T.E. Yates’ “Little Drummer Boy,” The Bedlam Six’s sleazed-up “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” Alabaster dePlume’s “Away In A Manger” and many other aural stocking fillers from our roster of artists.

Music In Hospitals (MIH) is a charity whose mission is to improve the quality of life for adults and children with all kinds of illness and disability through the joy and therapeutic benefits of professionally performed live music in hospitals, hospices, day care centres, special schools, nursing and residential homes.

Needless to say, Christmas is a time when people in hospitals need as much cheer as possible.

Alabaster’s Letter To Mina

Alabaster dePlume

A Letter to MinaPaperDolls, a creative and collaborative aerial performance group, present “A Letter to Mina”, starring Alabaster dePlume, on 26th, 27th and 28th October, 2012.

PaperDolls meet Bram Stoker in a Victorian inspired exploration of the female and the monstrous.

Featuring performance and writing by Alabaster DePlume, an original score by the darlings of Dublin’s alternative music scene Estel, and a diverse display of talent and skill from Dublin’s rogue cabaret and subterranean theatre culture, PaperDolls performance company are creating a Gothic theatrical playground of ideas and physicality, for three nights only in the ever malleable D-Light Studios.

An engrossing visual feast incorporates new writing, original music, aerial, circus skills, suspension and theatrics. A Letter to Mina is an immersive and site specific performative adventure which oscillates between beauty and disgust.

Copernicus – The Good Book Of No

Alabaster dePlume

CopernicusAlabaster dePlume releases his long awaited solo debut “Copernicus – The Good Book Of No”.

After the crater, Copernicus is named for the presence of an absence, on the moon’s face; a face timeless in beauty, that is made out of scars.

Material written in isolation in a cabin in Dartmoor, is performed with live improvisation, spontaneous choral backing, and theatrical poetic delivery set in a perfectly prepared musical bed. Sound and song serve to focus sharply on the point of lyrical delivery, in a word-based musical collection, reminiscent of Ivor Cutler, that has been described as “harrowingly funny”.

With dramatic monologues punctuating blissfully lilting instrumental landscapes, Alabaster means to have his audience disgusted, and delighted, and as doubtful of the distinction between the two, as possible.

Producer Paddy Steer’s own compassion is audible in his triumph in capturing tone, atmosphere, communication and character alike, on analogue tape. The fine piano accompaniment of John Ellis glistens throughout and elevates the somewhat unusual material from captivating to sublime… A performance poet, singer, composer and saxophonist with Liz Green and Honeyfeet, Alabaster has extended the breadth of his skills into the comically bewildered depths of himself, in a hope to reach others, with a record crafted meticulously over a period of two years. With methods centered on the personalities of those involved, the resulting piece means to focus on the interaction of people in the creative process, of a work that has us consider our acceptance, and enjoyment, of the distance between one another.

It is now available from Alabaster’s online store, and will be on general release (iTunes etc) on 28th May.

Alabaster dePlume releases not just a single, but also a book

Alabaster dePlume

I Don't KnowWe are thrilled to announce that Alabaster dePlume’s debut solo release, “I Don’t Know”, is now available to buy from all the usual digital retailers. Not only that, he has also written a book of poems, “I Hate Spoo”, which can be purchased from the Alabaster dePlume online shop.

Alabaster also performed the song for Manchester Scenewipe.

A few words about the release:

During a spell of complete seclusion in a remote cabin in Dartmoor, Alabaster dePlume took an opportunity to write a short book of poems, and this song. He tells us it is terrifyingly easy to spend time without humanity, and that gathering firewood does wonders for wistful pentatonic melodies. On the porch, in the moonlit-dark, by a chair reserved for a far-distant friend, with occasional fauna passing by in the stillness, the singer personified something of a ludicrous and pretentious stereotype, whilst creating an original and genuinely sincere piece of work. The song addresses a number of characters, known all the more clearly, at the time, for their absence. It was put to tape by the inimitable Paddy Steer, of Homelife, who also plays double bass on the recording.

Alabaster dePlume is currently on a UK tour with The Miserable Rich and his full album will be released on Debt Records in the new year.

For more information about Alabaster dePlume, visit his website.

Debt at the Dancehouse

Alabaster dePlume, Becca Williams, Events, Richard Barry, The Bedlam Six

Debt at the DancehouseOn Saturday 16th October 2010 – as Manchester’s In The City delegates nurse their wine-hangovers and fringe promoters stack up the unused chairs – Debt Records will throw open the doors of the beautiful Dancehouse Theatre for its annual live extravaganza.

For one night only, the Northern Ballet School’s sumptuous art deco headquarters will be transformed into a hub of independent music and performance, brought to you by Manchester’s cooperative imprint Debt Records.

Debt is a label ready to admit that the music industry is currently in a condition whereby live performance is, for the first time since the formation of EMI in 1931, the only dependable way in which a artists can realistically and sustainably ply their trade. What better place then to hold this independent label’s annual party than in the splendour of a 1930s proscenium arch auditorium?

The timing is not insignificant. The three day ITC conference that precedes Debt At The Dancehouse is a world famous music industry event that will facilitate (albeit naively) many local bands being seduced into performing for no pay by fringe promoters promising them the attentive ears of hungry and sympathetic industry representatives (who, in reality, will all be half a mile away in a hotel getting drunk). Debt Records is not opposed to the ITC conference – indeed a number of Debt associates are taking part and Debt’s technical director Dan Watkins is on the team recording the event – but this showcase will be an antidote: an evening of exceptional entertainment free from agenda or artifice.

The Debt Records team believes that no space should be ignored when planning a concert. They have to date performed and organised shows in museums, churches, libraries, olive groves and derelict buildings but, for their yearly label celebration at least, they prefer to be old fashioned: a theatre is the proper place for an evening’s entertainment, especially in a time when the world outside seems so uncertain.

According to BBC Manchester, last year’s Debt At The Dancehouse elicited “a general feeling of bonhomie”. This is precisely the sentiment musical performance should be associated with rather than the commonly accepted posturing of the recorded industry. It is with a spirit of inclusion – as well as independence – that Debt Records is run. Come see for yourself on 16th October 2010.

The line-up is as follows:

John Fairhurst – “As gripping as it is totally different” – The Guardian
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six – “Excellent in every way” – BBC 6 Music
Becca & The Broken Biscuits – “Thoughtful, emotional music that cuts to your heart and feeds your soul” – BBC Manchester
Red Tides – “Music that sounds like the last day of summer, like shadows creeping across golden fields, like the echoes of a time long past finding their way into modern-day dreams” – Manchester Music
Richard Barry & The Chaps – “A talent that Vivian Stanshall would roll around in flames for” – 3 Weeks Magazine
Alabaster dePlume – “Absolutely stunning, evocative, confusing, tragi-comic. I felt like laughing and crying – I didn’t know whether it was poetry, music or theatre, all I know is that it was wonderful” – Shambala Review
Hannah Miller (from Moulettes) – “Complex & beautiful… Intriguing & unique” – Mojo

Plus a special Debt Supergroup to close the night…

£5 advance; £8 on the door.

Tickets available in person from the box office (0161 237 9753) and online.

We hope to see you there!