photo credit: Christiana Krueger
In joyful anticipation of Crime & the City Solution’s headline show at Dark Mofo Festival on June 13, 2025, in Hobart, Tasmania, the band have shared “Rivers of Blood (Acoustic),” the newest installment in their series of live acoustic recordings and reinterpretations.
Listen to “Rivers of Blood (Acoustic) HERE.
The Crime acoustic series is, according to primary songwriter and vocalist Simon Bonney, “born of a want to play the songs as they were first written - in a lounge room on an acoustic guitar - to create an intimate atmosphere that captures the simple joy of friends playing together for friends, unmediated by technology.”
The three-piece acoustic iteration of Crime features Bronwyn Adams (violin and vocals), Simon Bonney (vocals) and Joshua Murphy (acoustic guitar and vocals), and, following their performance at Dark Mofo, the trio will embark on a tour in September / October, beginning in Malmö before travelling to Denmark and the UK, with a date at St Mathias Church in London on September 25th. Full dates are listed below.
Talking about the festival date, Bonney says, “For our show at Dark Mofo we will be opening with a selection of acoustic renderings and then turning up to 11 and closing out the set with a full-throttle electric set of classic Crime controlled chaos.”
Crime & the City Solution Live Dates:
6/13/2025 - Tasmania, AU - Dark Mofo Festival
9/11/2025 - Malmö, SE - Plan B
9/12/2025 - Jönköping, SE - The Hush Hush Club
9/13/2025 - Faaborg, DK - Rus Og Riller
9/14/2025 - Copenhagen, DK - Råhuset
9/25/2025 - London, UK - St. Mathais Church
9/26/2025 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
9/28/2025 - Coventry, UK - The Tin
9/29/2025 - Manchester, UK - Night & Day
9/30/2025 - Bristol, UK - Jam Bar
10/2/2025 - Preston, UK - The Ferret
Crime & the City Solution recently returned after a 10-year hiatus to release their sixth studio album, the killer, on Mute. Inspired by Bonney’s work delivering aid programmes, it looks at the ways conflict manifests in everyday life, and features tracks such as “Rivers of Blood,” “Brave Hearted Woman,” “Peace in my Time,” and “Witness,” which the band recently performed live for Le Cargo.
Formed in Sydney by Simon Bonney at the age of 16, Crime & the City Solution’s early performances from 1977-1979 had a big impact on key figures of the early Melbourne art-punk/post punk scene. In 1984, Bad Seed Mick Harvey shipped Bonney to England to form the London based Crime with their friend the brilliant and ever influential ex-Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S Howard, with his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. The London incarnation, encapsulated by these two reissues, disbanded soon after their performance in “Wings of Desire.” Crime’s London alumni included the late Epic Soundtracks (co-founder of Swell Maps), Mick Harvey (who released his sixth solo album, Five Ways to Say Goodbye in May), and brothers Rowland S. Howard and Harry Howard, who went on to form These Immortal Souls after their time with Crime (Get Lost (Don’t Lie!), I’m Never Gonna Die Again (1992) and new compilation EXTRA are out now Mute).
The first Berlin incarnation which followed is represented by three albums recently reissued on Mute - Shine (1988), The Bride Ship (1989) and Paradise Discotheque (1990), and the live album, The Adversary. Another 20 years would pass before the band, then based in Detroit, would return with their fifth studio album, American Twilight: “as much an elegy to the American Dream that's turned into a global nightmare as it is a damn fine rock & roll album” -The Quietus
Crime & the City Solution recently announced a book of selected lyrics, Love In A Time Of Violence, out now via Heartworm Press.
Listen to “Witness (Acoustic)” HERE.
Purchase or stream “The Bride Ship (Acoustic)” HERE.
Purchase or stream the killer HERE.
Purchase or stream Crime’s recent reissues HERE. RECENT PRAISE FOR CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION:
“A wounded and battered ensemble of musicians forcing themselves to keep playing even as the war rages on around them. Bonney asks simply “Will there be peace in my time?” throughout this drifting ballad, knowing all too well that the answer will be in the negative” – Paste
“...the songs, which mesmerise, address geopolitics and global suffering” - Prog
“While the near nine-minute ‘Killer’ may seethe with an undeniable rage and bite, it still feels coated in a warmth - offering beauty amid the despair” - Uncut
“…elegiac…” - Brooklyn Vegan
“Crime & the City Solution return with one of the albums of the year” - Louder Than War
CONNECT WITH CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB
No comments:
Post a Comment