Hear Minotaurs "Eat Yr Hate" Online

Up until now, I haven't used this blog for scene reports, figuring Toonwaves.co.uk does that pretty well anyhow, but I'm going to look to pitch in now and again with some reccomendations.

Anyone that was at the Okkervil River gig in November of 2007 will have seen South Shields' Minotaurs providing the opening support slot.
To the best of my know how, (and I've been a scene exile for a year), the band haven't played all the much in the interem period. Here's why: they've been working on putting together Eat Yr Hate, their long anticipated debut record.

The band are shipping 500 copies of the LP, and you can order it at: http://minotaurs.bandcamp.com/

Here's some words:
"Originally birthing in 2006, South Shields sextet Minotaurs have been all too quiet for the past year or so. Luckily the bulk of that time has been spent writing, honing and recording their long-awaited debut album 'Eat yr Hate' in deepest Northumberland with Woodpigeon producer, Arran Fisher. Giving weight to their choice of name, as performances by the band became less frequent their mythology seemed to grow. A live performance being treat with a similar reverence as the sniffing out of a truffle. In 2007 The Guardian writer, Laura Barton, dedicated an entire column to the band after stumbling upon them on a whim and its only recently they've thankfully started gigging again. Supporting Twilight Sad in October.

Despite being preoccupied by the darker side of human nature, Minotaurs are far from cynical gloom peddlers. Their music is loaded with two things rare in contemporary British guitar music; sincerity and substance. They find the lust behind sentiment, the worm in the apple, shards of glass in the glitter and make lifes ugly truths both beautiful and haunting. Old Hollywood images of red-dress clad women being carried into the sun are contrasted with the uncomfortable reality of relationships red in tooth and claw. Intricate arrangements and striking melodies take the edge away from lyrics dealing with loss, co-dependence, the stifling and occasionally recuperative nature of home.

Each song on 'Eat Yr Hate' is like a contemporary ghost story loaded with snapshots of regret, stagnation and missed opportunity but amongst there lies one important quality, hope. That hope is achieved through escapism and tenderness. While Sarah's pitch-perfect vocals soar, Andrew's crack and falter striking a heartbreaking dichotomy. While Belle and Sebastian, Fairport Convention and even Prefrab Sprout have been used as reference points Minotaurs are that rare thing; a band that sound more like themselves than anyone else. In an age dominated by cynicism, careerism, imitation and artifice they're something to cling to."

Andrew Richardson, January 2010