CULT psych-folk outfit United Bible Studies bring their school of exploratory noise meets twisted tradition to Belfast for a one-off appearance in July.
The multinational outfit hit Framewerk Gallery on the city’s Upper Newtownards Road on July 8, supported by Northern Ireland’s own one-man dark industrial abstraction meets Video Nasty soundtrack experimentalist Black Mountain Transmitter.
With a set likely to combine oneiric folk, freakout skronk and psychotropic improvisation, United Bible Studies are keeping their full plans veiled but promise their performance will conjure “the fire on the mountain, the witch in the woods and the shapes that lie beyond”.
That may sound like a tall order but for a group that has drawn comparisons ranging from Richard Dawson to Sun Ra to “a wyrd-folk Buttholes jamming with Timothy Leary in an abandoned church”, by this point it’s a habit that fits.
Over 200 people from around the globe have performed as members of the amorphous outfit since its inception in 2001, with the current performing roster including Alison O’Donnell from legendary 1970s Dublin psych-folk group Mellow Candle and cult Irish underground mainstay David Colohan of Raising Holy Sparks.
Recent studio release “The Ale’s What Cures Ye” won rave reviews from The Wire, Dusted and fRoots as well as featuring on Uncut Magazine editor John Mulvey’s best albums of 2015 list, while the live experience is as likely to witness blissed-out freak folk as twilit chamber pieces, frostbitten traditional song or psychedelic noise – often in the same performance.
Hailed as “musicians who tackle folk in the best way possible; by taking the past, revering it and then injecting a modern perspective” (Dusted) and “a mesmerising group sound, the sense of journey is epic on many levels” (The Wire), United Bible Studies are always “compelling, expectation confounding’ (fRoots Magazine) and ‘one of Europe’s finest when it comes to free folk” (Evening Of Light).
Their Belfast stop is the only date on the island of Ireland in a series of summer shows taking in appearances in London as well as several festival dates in England, and will see the band performing under a commissioned unique folk horror compilation film.
United Bible Studies appear at Framewerk Gallery on Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, on July 8. Doors are at 8pm, entrance £5, BYO drinks.
Praise for United Bible Studies:
“Every spiritual path, every religion, every devotional practice being equal – this is just the tip of the slow floating menacing iceberg that is UBS’s sonic output in this world.” (Light In The Attic)
“Having had my mind levitated by them on two separate occasions, I can testify to the power and intensity of the live experience… like a wyrd-folk Buttholes jamming with Timothy Leary in an abandoned church.” (Terrascope)
“United Bible Studies have honed an original and at times unmistakeable sound in their prolific recording history… full of natural grandeur and musical inventiveness.” (Folk Radio)
“This is real modern folk music, respectful of its past but in no thrall to have to fit within any conventions. You could find no better school to study at. Open your books and begin the lesson.” (The Active Listener)
Lessons of the Bible Students: Room (Video)
The Shore That Fears The Sea (Live)
united-bible-studies.bandcamp.com