As two-thirds of Manchester’s Doves, the Williams brothers Jez and Andy achieved major success. Following a break after Kingdom of Rust in 2009, guitarist Jez and drummer Andy gradually found themselves making music together once again and launched their new band Black Rivers.
The guys decamped to a remote cottage in Anglesey last winter in order to write and record new material. Sharing vocal duties, they boosted their sound with Jez playing bass and keyboards, and Andy contributing piano in addition to their regular instruments.
The album is self produced and primarily mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer (Johnny Marr, Interpol, Muse, Temples).
“Some bands are rooted in the reality of the here and now,” says Jez. “I suppose we’ve always been about escapism: searching for something. That’s the link, but I wouldn’t want to think we sound too much like Doves. The exciting thing about Black Rivers is that we had the freedom to go wherever we wanted.”
The eagerly-anticipated self-titled debut album is released early next year and includes the singles Voyager 1 and The Ship.