Henry Carlyle – I Float
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Streaming & Bandcamp at henrycarlyle.bandcamp.com

“Our Hendrix of Halifax shredding through the drone in a glorious blaze of electric therapy” – So Young

“Sonically nodding at Damon Albarn and Pavement”
– Joy Of Violent Movement
Malcontent resisted by means of isolation, the winter bounty of the home studio of Henry Carlyle is revealed with the release of I Float, a meditative soundtrack to the Orielles guitarist’s survivalist mentality during the dusky cold months. Blindsided by the whip-crack cold snaps that suddenly closed doors to the outside world, Carlyle’s nocturnal musical motivations circled this time around circuitry and the possibilities of expression by means of electricity.

Tempting listeners into terrain that occupied thoughts and explorations that were all his own, Carlyle’s first two singles, The Ground and A Bigger Splash, drew bold lines between him and similarly adventurous artists. Enticingly disinterested, entirely relatable vocal deliveries putting his pin in the map close to Damon Albarn, while a criss-cross of guitar lines lining up alongside Television and the pained aloof of Pavement were also found present.

Unafraid to find routes into himself and away from expectation, Carlyle rested his inquisition into what’s possible with the guitar and instead worked with synths to express I Float’s sense of frosted isolation. Employing creative coping strategies as sunlight became scarce, the song’s possibilities revealed themselves after Carlyle hid away and constructed the quietly-released Prelude as a test of newly acquired technologies.

Carlyle says: “This winter crept up on us. I started writing a lot of music on this synth I bought back in October. During dark evenings I built up an ambient track, Prelude and when I finished that I realised it was the element I Float had been missing. Through its many iterations, I struggled to get close enough to expressing the song’s idea until then.

“It’s about floating on through, not being present, doing what you’ve got to do. In a sense, it’s about living a minimal existence until you feel well enough to thrive again.”

I Float was performed, engineered and produced by Henry Carlyle. The single was mixed by Joel Anthony Patchett with Carlyle alongside and mastered by Miles Russell-Stracey.

In October 2022, Orielles celebrated the release of their boldest album to date, Tableau. Carlyle looks ahead to shows in the UK and Europe with the band throughout this spring and summer.

He made his own live debut at YES Manchester in support of Porij in late 2021 before moving swiftly on to play his first London show for a Valentine’s Night Special at Sebright Arms and onto support dates with English Teacher. He has continued to play secret warehouse shows and sporadic festivals.