Ballad of Young Finn

from Overcome by The Miserable Rich

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Pre-orders come with signed print (limited to first 100 orders only)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Overcome via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days

      £22 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact disc version of the new album.

    Our first studio album in 12 years - and perhaps our most meaningful and immediate.

    The title comes from an area of language I had been exploring with my students; the contranym – words which are the opposite of themselves. Dust, buckle and sanction are all good examples of these. I liked how The Miserable Rich Overcome could have interpretations of strength and of weakness.

    In truth, the album came about due to both these things. It is the product of us getting together because some of us were going through some particularly difficult times. The music was a good excuse to hang out. Pizza, beer. Talk. Occasional tune. After a while, we kind of had an album.

    On many hills in Sussex, you can see these beautifully bent hawthorn trees. They incredibly compelling, shaped by the harsh coastal winds, and it is hard not to anthropomorphise them. They are beautiful to us because they look like they have been through great difficulty. Without this – the less misshapen trees are far less eye-catching. The beauty is the product of this perceived pain.

    I thought this would be a fitting emblem for the album. I googled images and found an amazing one. I found the photographer on Facebook and asked him where it was. He was very kind and sent me a pin, it was just next to Cuckmere Haven – a very special place for me wife and I. it is where we took our son’s ashes – a place we go back to each year on the anniversary of his death to launch a boat I carve for him and mu wife fills with orange flowers she has collected for him. It is very close to the place we organise a sponsored walk each year for the charity we started in his name.

    I photographed the tree in winter and in late spring bloom to represent both the desperation and the hope that are part of making and meaning of the record. You can flip the vinyl over to reflect which side is closest to your mood.

    Includes the final song to be added - 'Poem For Suzanne'.

    Release date: 2nd Feb 2024

    Includes unlimited streaming of Overcome via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 10 days
    edition of 300 

      £12 GBP or more 

     

about

We were a bit worried about how we were going to put the tracklisting together but a misunderstanding meant it went out alphabetically. This was received so well we thought we might as well stick with it.

The first song does seem an appropriately light way to begin the themes of hope and desperation. I wrote it for two friends who drove through the night to get to a hot air balloon ride only to turn into the field at the end of the journey just in time to see the ropes being let go and the balloon flying away without them, it is filled with what might have been.

lyrics

‘We drove through the night to get there
We drove through the night
We put u p a fight to get there
We put up a fight

Hold on to it til we get there
Hold it down

We tried awful hard to get there
We tried awful hard
Please don’t disregard our welfare
We tried awful hard

Hold on to it til we get there
Hold it down

If we’d got there, we’d have seen for miles
(Everyone was running round and the sun was shining
Everyone was running around)
If we’d got there, you’d have seen us smile

We drove through the night to get there
We drove through the night
We put up a fight to get there
We put up with shite……’

Etc.

credits

from Overcome, released February 2, 2024
Music: J. Briffett, W. Calderbank, M. Deering, J. de Malplaquet, R. Lovell
Lyrics: J. de Malplaquet

Backing vocals: Bex Fidler

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Miserable Rich Brighton, UK

creators of the fiery chamber music for song lovers: tellers of tales, writers of tunes, forgetters of punchlines. equal parts surly, silly and sumptuous.

the sound of one lip kissing.

contact / help

Contact The Miserable Rich

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Miserable Rich, you may also like: