The Eiderdowns

01.04.07 The Eiderdowns - Wishful Thinking, The Informer

Tyneside duo The Eiderdowns have entered the mature creative league after releasing their first all-original album. Wishful Thinking finds singer-guitarist Guy Bainbridge and violin maestro Patrick Lawrence conjuring up a rich and varied collection of songs, pitched somewhere between the West Coast and Whitley Bay.

Album opener Dancing In The Seats is a tale of transient love or lust at 30,000ft, as a travelling musician becomes a makeshift pillow for a sleeping stranger. The track highlights the fruitful interplay between voice, guitar and fiddle that is one of the Eiderdowns' greatest strengths.

Writing heart-felt love songs with strong melodies is no easy matter, but Wishful Thinking is blessed with several minor classics of the genre, including the entrancing Throwing Pebbles, a thumbnail sketch of wide-eyed young love, while Everyone Wants to Know would not be out of place on a new James Taylor album.

But the Eiderdowns can also explore domestic or urban angst (Looks Like Rain), turn their hands to some John Martyn-style folkie introspection (The Silent Pool), and even evoke nostalgic parlour music with The Only One. The punning instrumental closer, Hoi An Rain, showcases Paddy Lawrence's delicate violin playing, wrapped around a haunting melody.

Wishful Thinking is a big musical step forward for one of this area's best-kept musical secrets. Do yourself a favour: catch The Eiderdowns live after buying this album at www.theeiderdowns.com.

TERRY KELLY

13.03.07 The Eiderdowns - Wishful Thinking, Maverick Country Magazine (to be published)
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Newcastle based duo, The Eiderdowns, combine forces to deliver a warm acoustic album of all original material.

Northumberland’s Guy Bainbridge first teamed up with Detroit, Michigan native Patrick Lawrence when the two met as colleagues at a college in Newcastle. Both men teach English, to international students, but quickly discovered they share a musical empathy too.

Guy has a history of solo and band work; he is foremost a fine acoustic guitarist with a beautifully rich and soulful voice. Patrick plays violin; he has a sweet tone creating evocative moods. The duo co-wrote the music to all thirteen songs while there is an even distribution of lyric writing. One track, The Only One, has words penned by Guy’s mother Sybil.

The opener, Dancing In The Seats, serves notice that The Eiderdowns are serious ‘contenders’. This irresistible song tells of an airplane flight from Tokyo to ‘the motor city lights.’ The lyrics, by Lawrence, depict the author sitting next to a Japanese girl; ‘What can you do when a strange girl decides to lean on you?’ Beautifully written, and performed, with authentic contributions from one Miwa Bain who plays Japanese Flute and Japanese vocals too! If an influential DJ where to promote this The Eiderdowns could have a hit on their hands!

The fact that Patrick and Guy are from opposite ends of the pond creates a fascinating contrast in writing styles. Throwing Pebbles is a good example; again with lyrics by Patrick Lawrence. This romantic song has a Shakespearian quality to it but with Americanisms; the character throwing pebbles at the girls ‘screen’, ‘like Romeo’, or looking at the stars from the ‘hood’ of his brother’s car. The playing is impeccable, picked acoustic guitar, mandolin and a sighing violin solo.

Guy Bainbridge’s lyrics balance out the ‘English side’ of this musical relationship. The catchy Looks Like Rain, name-checking ‘garden sheds’ and ‘Kitchenettes!’ Guy excels on the haunting Return To Paradise and the James Tayloresque Everyone Wants To Know. Guy’s mother, Sybil, wrote the lyrics to The Only One, a quirky old fashioned love song that mines Hoagie Carmichael territory. Violin and Saxophone combine to create a laid-back mood.

There isn’t a weak track here. What a pleasant change to receive a small budget CD resplendent with professional artwork, top notch song-writing, production and musicianship. Wishful Thinking is a real winner and a great advert for the power of independent music making at its best.

JOHN BRINDLE

09.12.06 Gig Review: The Eiderdowns - The Jolly Steward, Marsden, South Shields
(From Tom Kelly's 'Voices from A Small Town and Beyond'

Heard about the band playing to one man and his dog? Well, The Eiderdowns performed to that very dog and several men last Saturday night. (Where do people go in Marsden on a Saturday night? Do Strictly Come Dancing and the X-Factor have a voodoo-like hold on the citizenry?). But the lack of punters didn't dampen the spirits of one of Tyneside's most talented folk-rock duos.

Singer-guitarist Guy Bainbridge and violinist Paddy Lawrence have bags of musical warmth and - I keep using the same word about them, but I think it's the right word - charm. Opening with Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine, Guy and Paddy brought a touch of musical class to the frankly not overly jolly Jolly Steward as they breezed through a first set, taking in covers like Lindisfarne's Meet Me on the Corner, The Beatles' We Can Work It Out and a lovely, slowed-down but jazzed-up version of Jones the Groan's It's Not Unusual, before showcasing tracks from their new album - being pressed this very week - called Wishful Thinking. And it's no exaggeration to say that The Eiderdowns' self-penned numbers rarely seem dwarfed by the famous covers. Dancing in the Seats (a catchy song about escapist lust and fear of flying at 30,000ft) is the opening track of the duo's latest release and was nicely complemented by Throwing Pebbles and album title track Wishful Thinking.

Sadly, Val and I had to split after the first half, but by checking the the band's website: www.theeiderdowns.com

I know the boys pleased their small but appreciative audience with covers ranging from Sting's Fields of Gold to the James Taylor standard You've Got a Friend to The Jungle Book's King of the Swingers. (A catholic selection, or what?) And the aforementioned barroom dog (an occasional critic for The New Yorker) barked and wagged his tail in appreciation.

Catch The Eiderdowns any chance you get - and look out for their new album, Wishful Thinking.

TERRY KELLY

06.09.2007 'Dancing In The Seats' by The Eiderdowns
(Reviewed in 'Sid Smith's Postcards from the Yellow Room', a weblog)

Every once in a while you fall head over heels with a song you had no idea you were going to meet. Dear reader, this is it.

Call me an old romantic fool but "Dancing In The Seats" by Newcastle based duo The Eiderdowns had me smirking, saying "ahhhh" and grinning like an indulgent uncle all day.

It’s a simple tale of unrequited love on a plane at 30,000 feet told with style, grace and not a note out of place.

I’ve not heard them before and came upon them quite by chance – which is the main thing I like about the viral nature of myspace, google etc; you never quite know what’s about to turn up.

I gather from their website they’re a covers band (hence the great name) who sneak their own material in under the radar. I suspect playing covers offers them some protection from an indifferent pub audience but listening to the other original songs they've put up on myspace I reckon they've got nothing to worry about.

"Wishful Thinking" neatly pokes fun at the legend-in-your-own-lunchtime syndrome and "Looks Like Rain" has a bit of broken relationship shoegazing. However, its "Dancing In The Seats " that I absolutely LOVE!

Guy Bainbridge writes a wry lyric (anyone who can a line in about not sleeping in a military jeep has to be onto a good thing!), and sings in a voice reminiscent of Gordon Haskell minus the 30 years of whiskey, smokes and bust record contracts.

Multi-instrumental furnishings come courtesy of Paddy Lawrence who decorates the scenario with delightful pizzicato violin adding a suitably eastern interval to the proceedings.

Do yourself a favour and go listen to "Dancing In The Seats" – an exquisitely crafted song as you’re likely to hear.

SID SMITH

Real charm is a rare commodity in the music world.

But Tyneside duo The Eiderdowns are blessed with bags of the stuff, as amply demonstrated by their live shows and this debut album.

A self-produced affair, Duck & Cover features a selection of original and cover material, touching many musical bases and genres.

The Eiderdowns are singer-guitarist Guy Bainbridge and violinist Patrick - or Paddy - Lawrence, who earn a crust teaching at a Tyneside college when not conjuring up some good-time feelings in Tyneside bars with just their voices, an acoustic guitar and violin for musical flavouring.

Songs by James Taylor (Fire and Rain) fit snugly with classics by Free (My Brother Jake) and REM (Man on the Moon).

But Bainbridge's self-penned songs, particularly Looks Like Rain and Nothing New easily hold their own in such august musical company as Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi, Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine and the lovely traditional standard, The Water is Wide.

And Paddy Lawrence's fiddle weaves its distinctive magic on Santana's Samba Pa Ti and The Eiderdowns' own Hoi An Rain (and how's that for a neat Geordie musical pun?).

The first album is both modest and assured, but is hopefully just a musical springboard for greater things from The Eiderdowns.

Duck & Cover costs £5 and is available from the bands website at www.theeiderdowns.com.

A STUNNING musical duo made for a Saturday with a difference at the Harbour Lights.

Singer-guitarist Guy Bainbridge and violinist Patrick Lawrence, alias the Eiderdowns, bring a real musical charm to every song they tackle.

Running the pop and rock gamut, from REM to Free to Joni Mitchell, the duo made a wide range of covers their own and also showcased some strong original material.

Two highlights of their set were versions of Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone and folk standard The Water is Wide.

Despite Saturday night usually being reserved for drinking and loud chat in most locals, many Harbour Lights regulars put down their glasses to listen to this top-notch duo.