Work, pleasure and community: it’s all there in the name of this British nine piece folk group. Describing folk music as ‘the organic cultural product of the labouring classes’, Shovel Dance Collective treat folk as a landscape to explore, not a tradition to obey.
Following the success of groups like the Irish Lankum, Shovel Dance Collective reinvent doom-laden ballads, workers’ songs and music from former colonial territories. In a dramatic blend of drones, found sounds and field recordings, they stretch the boundaries of Britain’s unique folk song tradition by relating it to queer histories, feminist narratives and rebellious working class movements since the industrial revolution.
More Sounds Now at Ultima 2024: check out Laura Bowler’s Advert, or Nischal Khadka’s A Song of Woes, We Offer Steeps