Shovel Dance Collective are a group of nine musicians united by a passion for the beauty, force, and political charge of the traditional musics of Britain, Ireland and beyond. They are committed to Folk music not as an archaeological artifact to be unearthed, but as a living communal activity - inviting and generous to those it speaks to. They arrange the source material into a kind of musique boue (mud music), simultaneously traditional and experimental they engage a deep, cross-temporal synthesis of free improvisation, tape manipulation and field recordings. Their music appears as a patchwork as pieces are stitched together, rearranged and recontextualised. The yarn is threaded with both their sense of aesthetic innovation, and with a deep sense of the ways in which traditional music holds the voices of the oppressed, the everyday and those who, by their labour, create the wealth of the world.

They have performed sold out shows across the UK, with headline concerts at venues such as Cecil Sharp House, Kings Place and Cafe OTO. The collective have appeared at many major festivals: Glastonbury, Roskilde, SXSW, Green Man, End of the Road, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Supernormal and Supersonic festivals among others. Publications such as The Wire, Loud and Quiet, NME, Financial Times and The Times have heralded their live performances across the years. Their first record ‘The Water is the Shovel of the Shore’ has been championed by The Wire, Folk Radio, Tradfolk and was named one of the albums of the year by The Quietus.

Their second album ‘The Shovel Dance’ will be released in October 2024 by American Dreams Records.

The Highstool Prophets

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