New EP "Crumbling Hearts"

We are very proud to announce our new EP - Crumbling Hearts.

First off we both want to thank Robert Edmonds for his cover art,  Klee Larsen for the amazing photo, and of course model Megan Jones.  It's an ethereal image that almost appears holographic.

Additionally we'd like to thank Stefan Sigerson for his help in the production, and Jim Berry and Simon Hunt for their drumming and Marc Wild for his guitar work.
It was a pleasure to work with you all, thanks!


Crumbling Hearts
(dunlop, henning)

Produced by Combine the Victorious with Stefan Sigerson
Recorded and mixed by MRH at Imagined Aire Studio, Vancouver BC, Summer 2012
Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Backing Vocals, instruments and programming: Mark Roland Henning
Live Drums: Jim Berry

California State of Mind
(dunlop, henning, schroeder)
Produced by Combine the Victorious with Stefan Sigerson
Recorded and mixed by MRH at Imagined Aire Studio, Vancouver BC, Summer 2012
Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Guest Vocals: Ingrid Schroeder
Vocals, instruments, and programming: Mark Roland Henning
Synths and Live Drums: Stefan Sigerson


Glasgow
(dunlop, henning)
Produced by Combine the Victorious
Recorded and mixed by MRH at Imagined Aire Studio, Vancouver BC, Spring 2012
Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Backing Vocals, instruments and programming: Mark Roland Henning
Live Drums: Simon Hunt
Electric Guitar: Marc Wild


Smoke and Choke
(dunlop, henning)
Produced by Combine the Victorious with Stefan Sigerson
Recorded and mixed by MRH at Imagined Aire Studio, Vancouver BC, Summer 2012
Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Vocals, instruments and programming: Mark Roland Henning
Live Drums: Jim Berry


Paros
(dunlop, henning, wild)
Produced by Combine the Victorious with Stefan Sigerson
Recorded and mixed by MRH at Imagined Aire Studio, Vancouver BC, Spring 2012
Vocals, instruments and programming: Mark Roland Henning
Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Live Drums: Simon Hunt
Electric Guitar: Marc Wild


We hope you enjoy the new songs, they represent our most focused recordings to date.    Crumbling Hearts EP will be released on Oct 19th 2012 to coincide with our European debut at Bonden Bar in Stockholm, Sweden!

Thanks for reading. Please share.
Mark & Isabelle

first rehearsal tonight

so many ways to play these songs.   so many ideas.

Stockholm is going to be amazing.

Our London gig is going to even more amazing!

looking forward to it.

M

Our first European Tour!

 We are extremely excited to announce that we are going to Europe!   We will be playing shows in Sweden and the UK in October.   Hopefully we can cram in another show somewhere in between but we will be performing in Stockholm on Oct 19th and then two shows in London UK on Oct 23rd and 24th.   We'll be going in support of our new EP - Crumbling Hearts, which will come out on Oct 2nd through Boutique Empire.

Isabelle has outdone herself these past few weeks and landed us a couple really amazing shows.  The gig in Stockholm is going to be blinding.  We're playing an excellent venue, the Bonden Bar, right in the heart of the city.  We've been assured that it is one of the best places to play and have a cool little room booked not too far away in the lovely old centre of town.  We're going to be there a few days early just to take in the city as I've only been there once way back in 1987, and Isabelle's never been there at all.  (Plus there's a good chance we're also playing an after party too, which I hope does happen, as the music scene there has been putting out great stuff for a long time - I'd love to get caught up in it!)

London will be brilliant too as we are part of a Club Fandango night at Buffalo Bar in Islington.  These promoters are right on top of the scene and we're feeling really lucky to be on one of their bills.  That'll be Oct 23rd, and then the following night we're playing across the city at The White Lion - a cool venue that is in direct support for a charity called Music for Children.  It's something that we both feel really strongly about.  Plus, you know, it's London, what could be more fun!  Quite looking forward to my first pint of London Pride!

This time out we're going as a duo, which will hopefully allow us to go back later next year with a full band.  And, of course, we'll be playing our new material.  Have a listen to the songs we're putting on the new EP, I think it makes for an excellent listen.  We are closing in on the full length, but these five songs define the new direction really well.  I'm predicting we'll write a whole pile of new songs on our return, which will probably alter the sound of the full length album (scheduled for March 2013).  Looking forward to it.

Crumbling Hearts EP comes out Oct 2nd-2012 on iTunes and all other sites.

Crumbling Hearts - new song!

We are pleased to announce our latest song - Crumbling Hearts.  This one has an interesting history, it was actually started in another band before transforming into this Combine the Victorious version.

Isabelle had started writing Crumbling Hearts while she was still singing with Sex With Strangers last winter.  SWS was compiling ideas for their fifth album and Isabelle had put forth this idea as an option.  The SWS gang had a lot of songs to work on and though they made some nice progress on the tune it kind of fell to the wayside over the months of writing.  In the spring, when Isabelle decided to focus solely on  CtV she asked if she could take the song back so we could work on it.  Of course her former bandmates were only too kind to comply.

So, we started working on it over the summer.   In seeming coincidence we were talking with a director about songs for her movie (Random Acts of Romance - it comes out this October)  and suddenly the song took a new direction: it occurred to me that maybe we could take inspiration from the plot and shape the lyrics from the movie.  It can be amazing how quickly a song can come together with the right impetus.

We worked out an arrangement and debuted Crumbling Hearts at our Electric Owl show back in July.  I knew we were on to something when I had a long conversation the next day with a person who'd never seen or heard us before but was convinced it was a hit (always nice to hear)!   So with some confidence we moved forward and began recording it.

Once again we set up in our newly refurbished studio, Imaged Aire Studio, and asked Jim Berry to lay down some drums.  Jim had performed with us at the Electric Owl, so he was already up to speed and therefore laid down some nice clean parts that helped bring the track to life.  Isabelle had her voice all set too, and the song was quite simple to capture.  I took a bit of time, passing ideas back and forth with Stefan Sigerson about arrangement and instrumentation until we finally arrived at this mix.  Gotta say we're both extremely happy and excited by it.  It's one of the most fun songs we've ever recorded and I'm hoping a lot of people embrace it.  There are some nice hints of Primal Scream and Black Grape in there, my love of the '90's dance scene entwined with my respect for the '70's.

Please have a listen, it's available for download from the player below, pay what you want.  If you do enjoy it, please click the like button, share it, and leave us a comment.  Word of mouth is still the absolute best form of advertising anyone can get, so we'd both be very appreciative for your support!


Crumbling Hearts by Combine the Victorious

Dunlop, Henning

Co-produced by Combine the Victorious and Stefan Sigerson
Recorded and mixed by MRH

Vocals: Isabelle Dunlop
Backing Vocals, bass, keyboards, guitar, programming: Mark Roland Henning
Live Drums: Jim Berry

Artwork: Robert Edmonds
Original Photography: Klee

Progress

We've been writing and recording our next album pretty much all summer long.  It's coming together, slowly, and though I can't quite see all of it yet, it seems to be taking shape!

In August we started working with producer Stefan Sigerson to help us finalize a few of the songs we've been messing around with for months!  One in particular was our song "California State of Mind".  While Isabelle had been in Scotland last summer (where she started writing our song Glasgow) I was back in Vancouver working on new ideas.  California came out of those sessions.   I sent a copy of the rough mix over to our friend Ingrid Schroeder who gave us back a lovely vocal part.  We worked on a mix and came up with our initial version (you can hear that one thru this link).

Later last fall we sent it around to a few producers and got a couple brilliant remixes. Check em all out on our bandcamp page: I love how they have such variety in their approach.   Big thanks once again to Adam "Wonderbro" Percy and Kreap for their excellent work.

So it would seem we should have been content with all these versions but in fact they served to inspire us to want to create a new, definitive version!  Quite honestly I don't recall ever spending so much time deconstructing, reconstructing, reinventing or re-recording any song.  However, by August this summer we'd come up with a version that seemed to answer all my needs and aspirations.  This time, with Stefan's input, we've come up with a kind of electronic disco version that just drips with chilled vibes and summertime warmth.   Personally I think it's the best work we've done to date, and we're both excited and hoping it can find its way onto the radio soon!  (we're even talking with the extremely talented folks over at BKS Crew to help us make a video for the track).

Please check it out, and if you like it, press that like button, share it with friends, leave us a comment.  It all helps, believe me!

Thanks for reading - hope you enjoy the song!
Mark