John Metcalfe

2018-07-02T16:23:00.001+00:00

Really looking forward to playing at Underneath The Stars festival on Saturday 21st July! We are on at 8pm but there's loads more great bands playing. Underneath The Stars

Piano Day

2017-03-29T15:16:00.003+00:00

Very please to have a track up on the official Piano Day Soundcloud playlist alongside some fantastic musicians. You can have a look here; Also there's a little clip of me chatting about things piano-ish here

Q3 Ambient Festival Postdam

2017-03-29T14:53:00.001+00:00

Delighted to say I am performing a solo set at Q3 Ambient festival on April 8th alongside some wonderful musicians. For tickets please go here;

Berlin

2017-03-02T13:29:00.001+00:00

Very happy to announce our first concert in Berlin at the Roter Salon on the 9th April this year. The concert will feature the full band with Daisy Palmer on drums, Ali Friend on bass and vocalist Rosie Doonan. Please go here for more info and tickets. Hope to see you there.

2017-02-20T18:02:00.003+00:00

Making my conducting debut at the Brit Awards on Wednesday. The track is a secret until the show but it's going to be beautiful I think.

Tracks from ‘The Appearance of Colour’ feature in BBC documentary

2016-05-24T09:05:00.001+00:00

The recent BBC4 television documentary From Eastenders to Hollywood: Antonia Bird includes multiple tracks from John Metcalfe’s album The Appearance of Colour.

The programme is now available to watch on the BBC iPlayer. Listen out for Parsal, Sun, The Silver Track and Besancon, which feature throughout the documentary.

Find out more about the late director Antonia Bird on The Guardian website.

New Wrapped EP out today

2016-05-06T10:09:00.003+00:00

John Metcalfe's new EP, Wrapped, is available to download today from iTunes.

The EP features four tracks, the title track of which includes the soulful voice of Rosie Doonan (Birdy, Peter Gabriel)...

Wrapped (feat. Rosie Doonan) Radio Edit
Flood, Tide
Parsal
Wrapped (feat. Rosie Doonan) Full Length

Watch the video for Wrapped below:

The tour begins Sunday 8 May in Bristol, where tracks from the latest album, The Appearance of Colour, as well as Wrapped, will be performed.

Order Wrapped from iTunes.

View all UK tour dates here.

Teaser from new video for 'Wrapped'

2016-04-21T14:35:00.001+00:00

The full video for Wrapped is coming shortly... in the meantime, here's a taster featuring vocalist Rosie Doonan. More to follow soon!

New single ‘Wrapped’ from John Metcalfe available to pre-order today

2016-04-08T08:58:00.001+00:00

A brand new track from John Metcalfe is the centre-piece of the Wrapped EP, available to pre-order digitally now. The four track Wrapped EP features the soulful voice of Rosie Doonan (Birdy, Peter Gabriel) on the title track.

Although largely known for his instrumental compositions, when Metcalfe met Rosie on a Peter Gabriel tour, he was unable to resist writing some material for her.

“I clearly remember the first time I heard Rosie sing,” explains John. “I was with some fairly hardened touring musicians who aren’t easily impressed and we went round the front to listen to Rosie sing a couple of songs before the main Gabriel show. We were all transfixed. I usually write instrumental music but this seemed like the time to change that and it seemed crazy not to collaborate with her.”

Pre-order Wrapped EP from iTunes now and receive a radio edit of the title track to download immediately. The track is also available to stream today too.

The news follows the announcement of John Metcalfe’s tour dates in May, where tracks from the album The Appearance of Colour, as well as Wrapped, will be performed.

Pre-order on iTunes | Listen on Spotify

Remix Ep

2016-02-29T16:10:00.000+00:00

Around the release of The Appearance of Colour we commissioned some remixes for some of the tracks on the album.

I’m delighted to say that these are now available together as Remix EP.

The track listing is:

Sycamore (Etherwood Remix)
Kite (Red Snapper Remix)
Parsal (Grasscut Remix)

The EP is released on 11 March but if you pre-order now then you get Sycamore (Etherwood Remix) to download immediately

John Metcalfe UK Tour May 2016 confirmed

2016-02-10T14:47:00.002+00:00

John Metcalfe has confirmed a series of dates in May 2016.

Producer and arranger to the likes of Coldplay, Peter Gabriel and Blur, Metcalfe’s latest solo album 'The Appearance of Colour' beautifully unites the disparate strands of his kaleidoscopic musical world. Within the album are powerful rhythmic strings evoking the world of systems music, moments of transcendent solo piano, shimmering electronics and guitar, elements of drum and bass, and of chamber music. For these live shows Metcalfe’s has assembled an incredible line up of musicians from the worlds of post-classical, electronica and pop: the crisp, jazz-influenced beats from Rae Morris’ drummer Daisy Palmer, deeply felt groove from Red Snapper's bassist Ali Friend and the exquisite voice of Rosie Doonan, fresh back from touring with Birdy.

“I’m excited to share the music with these incredible musicians to see where we go with it” says John “Should be amazing”.

Hopefully we’ll see you at one of the shows below:

8 May BRISTOL Colston Hall Lantern

www.colstonhall.org 0844 887 1500

13 May CORK Triskel Arts

www.triskelartscentre.ie +353 (0)21 427 2022

15 May MANCHESTER The Castle Hotel
www.wegottickets.com/event/351598 0161 237 9485

19 May BRIGHTON Great Escape Festival
www.greatescapefestival.com 0870 264 3333

20 May OXFORD The Bullingdon

www.thebullingdon.co.uk http://www.wegottickets.com

21 May STROUD, SVA, Brunel Goods Shed
www.sva.org.uk 01453 751440

28 May LEICESTER Cookie

www.thecookieleicester.co.uk 0116 253 1212

29 May LONDON Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room

www.royalalberthall.com 020 7589 8212

John Metcalfe live in September

2015-09-07T11:10:00.000+00:00

John Metcalfe and band have a couple of live shows coming up during September where they'll be playing, amongst others, tracks from his new album 'The Appearance of Colour’

On stage with John will be Daisy Palmer (drums), Ali Friend (bass), Tom Cawley (piano), Louisa Fuller (violin), Will Schofield (cello) and Rosie Donovan (vocals).

Hopefully you’ll be able to join us at one of these shows:

19 September - Galeri Caernarfon - Details here

26 September - Kings Place, Hall Two, London - Details here

Listen to 'Just Let Go’ ft. Natasha Khan

2015-04-27T16:53:00.002+00:00

"I like the ambiguity of these lyrics as they leave the song more open to interpretation." – John Metcalfe

Listen to 'Just Let Go’, the new single from John Metcalfe's forthcoming album The Appearance of Colour. The track features vocals from Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) and has seen support from the likes of Pitchfork, NME and Stereogum.

‘A stirring, atmospheric slow-burner that pits cinematic pianos with Khan's auto-tuned vocals, 'Just Let Go' is a perfect marriage of two innovative artists in harmony.’ – NME

'...a sparse, piano- and string-driven song that’s not so out of place in this everlasting winter the Northeast’s been fending off this year' – SPIN

'AutoTuned vocals against a mystically creeping orchestral slow build and, eventually, a deconstructed trip-hop thump. It’s a marvellous piece of music, so listen to it.' – Stereogum

New album 'The Appearance of Colour' out 8th June

2015-03-23T17:48:00.002+00:00

"This is my most rigorous album to date. It's music of big contrasts but sonically unified with the intention to create a complete album with an intense emotional arc." - John Metcalfe

'The Appearance of Colour' presents Metcalfe as a solo recording artist - as front man, maestro and manipulator of sounds. To get a taster of the new album, listen to the track 'Gold, Green', available instantly when you pre order 'The Appearance of Colour' on iTunes.

Pre order 'The Appearance of Colour':
iTunes / Real World

Brooke Fraser

2014-11-19T12:11:00.001+00:00

Also did some orchestral arrangements for fellow Kiwi Brooke Fraser in Abbey Road 2 with David Kosten (Bat For Lashes) producing. Fab sound as always from Paul McCartney's engineer Steve Orchard.

Rae Morris

2014-11-19T12:09:00.001+00:00

Just done some arrangements for Rae Morris. Good tunes...

The Durutti Column

2014-05-19T10:11:00.001+00:00

I will be playing with The Durutti Column this Wednesday as part of Chorlton Arts Festival in Manchester.

This show is now sold out.

thedurutticolumn.com.

Lone Survivor

2014-03-08T10:44:00.002+00:00

My arrangement of 'Heroes' for Peter Gabriel was used for the end credits and trailer of 'Lone Survivor' starring Mark Wahlberg.

Coldplay arrangements

2014-03-08T10:43:00.000+00:00

I have arranged and conducted the strings for a couple of songs on Coldplay's new album 'Ghost Stories'. The strings were recorded at George Martin's Air studios and also at Abbey Road. The songs are 'Oceans' and 'True Love'.

The National

2013-11-12T23:11:00.001+00:00

Playing (as a temporary member of the Smith Quartet) with The National for their 2 shows at Alexandra Palace. 13th and 14th November. These shows are sold out.

Arranging...

2013-09-09T10:31:00.003+00:00

Arranged some songs over the summer with a very famous band which were recorded at George Martin's Air Studios. Not allowed to say who... Currently working with Imagined Village's Sheema Murkherjee for her next solo album.

Montserrat Caballe

2013-09-09T10:28:00.001+00:00

Produced some tracks at Abbey Road with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for soprano Montserrat Caballe's next album. Steve Orchard (who worked with me on Peter Gabriel's orchestral albums and is currently with Paul McCartney) engineered.

John Metcalfe Band live at Goldmark Gallery

2013-06-08T09:25:00.001+00:00

The John Metcalfe Band will play a special concert at the very intimate Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham on Saturday 6 July 2013 at 8pm.

Tickets are priced £25.00 available direct from The Goldmark Gallery. There's only 60 seats so be quick!

Goldmark Gallery
14 Orange Street
Uppingham
Rutland

Tel: 01572 821424

Metcalfe's Monomedia Podcast

2013-05-04T14:57:00.000+00:00

Check out a podcast of John Metcalfe talking about the Monomedia series happening at Kings Place from 9-11 May.

John Metcalfe on Twitter, Facebook & Soundcloud

2013-05-02T20:10:00.000+00:00

You can now follow The John Metcalfe Band via all your popular social media sites:

Twitter

Facebook

Soundcloud