We’re delighted to be helping Cinematic Orchestra’s Phil France launch his debut solo album The Swimmer – with special guests Denis Jones and Mr Scruff – for our first show at First Chop Brewery.

As the principal collaborator alongside Jason Swinscoe in the Cinematic Orchestra, Phil France is responsible for some of the most heartrendingly beautiful music created in recent times. Co-writing, arranging and producing on the Cinematic Orchestra albums includingEveryday, Man With The Movie Camera, Ma Fleur and also the triple-award-winning soundtrack for The Crimson Wing nature documentary, France’s skills have always extended beyond his bass-lines.

Born Elland, West Yorkshire in 1971 and raised in Huddersfield where he met Swinscoe and introduced him to the music of Charles Mingus he began as principle bassist in Kirklees Youth Orchestra and Huddersfield Philharmonic before studying History at Newcastle University and later going onto complete at post-graduate course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He would then join the newly formed Cinematic Orchestra in 1997, having reconnected with Swinscoe through mutual friends.

Now living in Manchester, he initially made the move back to his native Yorkshire a couple of years ago after some time in London, where he set to work teaching himself the finer details of programming and began work on The Swimmer, his debut album, which will be released through 26-2 Recordings on 21 October 2013. Deeply emotive and epic in scale, it draws it influences from the great second wave of film composers including John Carpenter andVangelis, as well as minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

France’s skill, in this album, as well as his work with the Cinematic Orchestra, is in soundtracking human emotion – it is full of heartbreak and recovery, strength, honesty and frailty, it is meditative and hopeful.

Live support comes from Hey! Manchester favourite Denis Jones. Denis Jones has, over the last three years, developed a show-stopping live performance based around the core of his exceptional and unique guitar-playing style and rich, soulful voice. Utilising a loop station and all manner of samplers and effects, he creates vast, complex orchestrations of beat-box rhythms, multi-layered vocals and other-wordly sounds, which veer from subtle heart-wrenching folk and blues to heavy bass-driven electronica.

Providing DJ support for this special event is Mr Scruff. Mr Scruff’s breakbeat noodlings have been some of the more playful and summery of the British trip-hop lot, with ultra-clean production and an economic approach to sampling distinguishing his music from spliff-tokers and bombasts alike. A rabid record collector, Scruff’s frequent DJ sets include everything from ’60s and ’70s soul-jazz and funk, scratchy old reggae and dub 45s, classic hip-hop, schmaltzy vocal pop, and new-school electronica.

First Chop Brewing Arm is an industrial brewing unit situated in a railway arch off Trinity Way, a 10-minute walk from Deansgate. The brewery is fully licensed and will be offering a selection of its own ales on the night, as well as other refreshments.

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