Signed copy of Like Animals

Pre order now (you will receive your copy w/c June 15th) Release date is 19th June.

For her tenth album ‘Like Animals’, Charlie Dore turns away from the expansive science and space metaphors of 2017’s ‘Dark Matter’ to focus on the internal landscape of the human brain and just what makes us tick.

A new collection, sewn through with Dore’s trademark dark wit, lyricism, and distinctive melodic voice, Like Animals explores some of our most basic instincts and how we’re often hi-jacked by our emotional responses. Fear, anxiety and aggression figure but on the plus side, intense joy and love are in the mix as well.

Charlie says of her songs and subject matter:
“I’m the first to admit I’m merely an interested bystander when it comes to the workings of the human brain, but when I started reading about the Amygdala and how it shapes our emotional behaviour, decisions and even our memory I was completely riveted. You don’t need a degree in psychology to notice that however sophisticated we imagine we are, we haven’t evolved all that much. We’re still animals, it’s just that we wear suits and we know how to make gunpowder.

Collateral
For the power-hungry, anything or anyone who gets in the way of your plans becomes collateral.

Rivers of Cortisol
Inspired by a panic attack I had whilst driving over the Golden Gate bridge. I couldn’t drive on motorways for nearly 20 years after that so tried all sorts of methods of handling the dreaded adrenaline-cortisol rush. Even singing.

Animal Brain
A conversation between me and my subconscious.

Ray and Lisa, Lisa and Joe
Infidelity. Lisa lives with Ray, but when he’s asleep her night begins. With Ray.

A Hundred Miles of Nothing
A small hymn to silence, space and slowing down, but where there’s a vacuum …

Terrible Lie
A child asks questions about an increasingly frightening world, so his mother lies to protect him and then wonders if he’ll do the same for her when she’s old and vulnerable.

Sleep Like A Starfish
A saying in our house. The starfish is the shape you can make when you sleep alone. Meanwhile in the dark, life goes on in miniature as the silverfish and spiders go about the business of survival, sending a small message of hope.

Leaf Blowing
I recorded a leaf blower here in the garden in January and found it was in the key of Bb, so just for the fun of it I sang a melody over the top. When it started up the birds disappeared, but after a very short while they returned and just carried on singing above the drone. Looking at the leaves and the birds I felt there was a kind of parallel with the regeneration aspect of both birds and leaves.

Ordinary Names
Memory. Names that have dropped out of fashion. It seems (to me anyway) that everyone used to have an Auntie Joan, Auntie Margaret, Uncle Frank or Uncle Arthur so it was easy for the names to conjure up pictures of elderly relatives, yet in their heyday those names could inspire love, excitement and even glamour.”

Recorded with her long time co-producer-writer and friend, the multi-instrumental Julian Littman of Steeleye Span, the album also features contributions from folk icon Jackie Oates, esteemed double bass & cello player Gareth Huw Davies, leading UK trumpeter Quentin Collins and the highly celebrated violinist Jessie May Smart. Founding member of The Magic Numbers, Michele Stodart is also featured, dueting with Charlie on ‘A Hundred Miles of Nothing’, which they wrote together.