Anaïs Mitchell

Anais Mitchell presents songs from her brand new album, 'Young Man in America', together with songs from her earlier albums. Mitchell will be accompanied by her Young Man band for the first time in the UK.

Young Man in America is the follow-up to Anais Mitchell's critically beloved folk opera Hadestown (Righteous Babe Records 2010) whichreceived sensational reviews and landed Mitchell on numerous 'Best of 2010' lists in both the national and international press.

Switching gears, Mitchell returns here to a more traditional solo record, but those familiar with Hadestown will hear its overtones in Young Man. It's an epic, sprawling tale with characters leaping from the verses as they would from the pages of a novel. As a songwriter, Mitchell takes on the voices of different characters, men as well as women. Sometimes these voices speak in ornate, old-fashioned tongues - the language of British Isles balladry and the Old Testament.

Mitchell once again enlisted the skills of Hadestown producer Todd Sickafoose. Taking the reins as producer/arranger of Young Man in America, Sickafoose assembled some of Brooklyn's most sought-after rock and experimental jazz players, guitarist Adam Levy, violinist Jenny Scheinman and drummers Kenny Wollesen and Andrew Borger to name but a few. Chris Thile appears on mandolin as well as alongside songwriters Jefferson Hamer and Rachel Ries in a harmonic chorus. Michael Chorney, the man behind Hadestown's remarkable score and the producer of Mitchell's previous albums (2007's The Brightness and 2004's Hymns for the Exiled) makes a guest appearance on guitar. Together they create a sound more reminiscent of a '70s rock record than that of a traditional singersongwriter.

"Multi-layered, sensationally good and endlessly absorbing... an extraordinary album." THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Hadestown', CD of the Week *****

"Nothing short of incredible" NME