Sophocles. Dennis Potter. The painter El Greco.  Not the usual collection of influences that go towards shaping an album, but then Trembling Bells are not your usual sort of band. The Sovereign Self is a remarkable work from remarkable musicians – one of Britain’s most distinctive and exciting groups.

The Sovereign Self – named after a line from Dennis Potter, the late television auteur – is the fifth album from Glasgow’s Trembling Bells, their first since 2012’s The Marble Downs, a collaboration with Will Oldham.  It is a driving, dramatic and at times hallucinatory work, filled with a great sense of tension and release; a witches’ brew, a psychedelic stew mixing up the range of the band’s musical interests – everything from ramshackled ballads to ancient May Day chants, swaggering acid rock to swirling prog epics.

The range of cultural and counter-cultural interest from the band is apparent on the front cover of The Sovereign Self – a series of twenty portraits painted by Lavinia Blackwall: an eclectic gallery of genius from Emily Dickinson to Aeschylus; Lou Reed to Ovid.

Another key influence, psych-folk pioneers the Incredible String Band, has loomed large in the lives of Trembling Bells in recent years. They have toured with ISB co-founder Mike Heron, performing tracks from his songbook.

Having released five cracking LPs in six years, in addition to a number of side-projects, Trembling Bells show no signs of slowing down. Already, work is being done on solo records from three members, and there are plans for an album of reworked traditional folk songs with vocals from comedian Stewart Lee. This is quite simply a group of people with music pouring out of them.

Sovereign Self will be released on 29th June on Tin Angel Records.

Live  dates:
25 June – Bristol, Cube Cinema, 
26 June – Glastonbury, Bandstand Stage
28 June – Leigh Folk Festival, Leigh-on-Sea
29 June – Colchester, Colchester Arts Centre
30 June – Album launch, Cafe Oto, London (w/ Alasdair Roberts, Family Elan/ Death Shanties)
1 July – Album launch, Cafe Oto, London (w/ Mike Heron, Martin Carthy, Dan Haywood, Crying Lion)
2 July – Wymondham Music Festival, Norfolk (with MIke Heron)
3 July- Wymondham Music Festival (with Crying Lion)
5 July- “All In The Downs”- tribute to Shirley Collins, Southbank, London
25 July- Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
26 July- Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
27 July- Brighton, The Greys (with Elle Osborn)
28 July- Ramsgate, Music Hall (with Elle Osborn) tbc
29 July- London, 229 Venue
30 July- Port Elliot festival, Cornwall
31 July-  Tretheene, Treen, End of the Earth Festival
1 August- Exeter, Phoenix
2 August- Bath, The Bell
3 August- Coventry, Tin Music & Arts
5 August- Birmingham, Kitchen Garden Cafe
6 August- Oxford, The Cellar (with Jackie Oates)
7 August- Supernormal Festival, Oxfordshire
9 August- Leeds, Hyde Park Picture House (with Alasdair Roberts & Horseloom)
10 August- Leicester, The Musician (with Alasdair Roberts)
11 August- York, The Basement (with Alasdair Roberts & Horseloom)
12 August- Preston, Continental (with Alasdair Roberts & Horseloom)
13 August- Newcastle, Cumberland Arms (with Mike Heron & Horseloom)
14 August- Glasgow, Glad Cafe (with Alasdair Roberts & Horseloom)
22 August- Bert Jansch festival, The Bell, Ticehurst, Sussex
23 August- Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival, Scotland

Trembling Bells are:
Lavinia Blackwall – vocals, organ, piano, electric guitar, glockenspiel
Mike Hastings – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Alasdair C Mitchell – electric guitar, organ, glockenspiel, vocals
Alex Neilson – drums, percussion, whistle, vocals
Simon Shaw – bass, vocals