Cargo Records

Rosemarie

Virtuoso acoustic playing, rich double harmonies, a poetic vision of rustic life and a capturing of the ancient spirit. "Beguiling and lovely" Johnny Marr "They're so folky it hurts" Radio 1's Rob Da Bank, after proclaiming the band Kings and Queens of The Green Man Festival 2007.

Big Bertha Records are proud to release the debut album by Thistletown, a Cornish five-piece who live on a boat, grow their own vegetables, and make some of the most elegantly romantic music you have ever heard. The band formed a little over a year ago after Tiffany and Lydia bonded over a shared love of nature, 70s maxi dresses and folk-rock acts like Pentangle, Heron and The Trees. Lydia's boyfriend Ben had been busy developing a unique acoustic guitar style while Tiffany's multi-instrumentalist boyfriend Jarvis had been playing accordion, trumpet and glockenspiel in folk clubs along the Cornish coast. A chance meeting with percussionist Matt, who had been lugging his Indian drum up and down The West Country in search of some good people to play it with, made Thistletown a reality. The band might well have been happy to confine their blend of medieval melodies, Breton folk and Krautrock grooves to an audience of fishermen at their local pub in the coastal village of Flushing had it not been for Michael Tyack, who fell in love with the band after catching their set on Christmas Eve 2006. Tyack introduced Thistletown to Big Bertha's Will Hodgkinson, who signed them the moment he walked up the gangplank of their boat and heard the haunting melody of 16th century ballad La Pernette wafting up from the stern alongside some wood smoke and the smell of peppermint tea. The band duly got to work and, with help from Michael Tyack and the ultra-talented Benet Walsh of Deep Elem, recorded the album over summer 2007 in the kitchen, bathroom, living room and sculpture-filled garden of a tiny cottage in Mabe, Cornwall occupied by Jarvis's artist dad Steve.After triumphant performances at The Llama Festival in Devon and The Green Man Festival in Wales, Thistletown have fashioned a style that is as timeless as the land they sing about. This album, recorded live in the space of a few days, captures a moment in the band's history.