The Great Park (UK)
Stephen Burch is a songwriter from England currently based in Germany. After studying Fine Art in the west of England he relocated to Ireland to live and work on his family’s remote farm. Whilst waiting for large oil paintings to dry he began making music with acoustic guitars, the family piano, barn doors, brooms and chains. Long stories evolved. Later he moved to Germany and soon his lyrical, narrative songs bore the influence of the fields of County Cork and the old streets of Berlin.
Images of persecution abound, songs of urgent travel and a search for home - the unifying theme is that of grave drama within ‘The Great Park’.
Stephen has toured Germany, The Netherlands, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and the UK. He has released over 16 albums on his own DIY label Woodland Recordings, a compilation through the German label Timezone, has provided music for several films and theatre pieces, and his songs have been covered on releases by Liz Green, Fee Reega, Kristin McClement, Squalloscope, Aaron Dall, The Sons of Noel And Adrian, Thirty Pounds of Bone and others.
He likes rooms with echo, train journeys, trams and girls on bicycles.
“…wonderful and bewitching…Every song a story, every story full of heartbreaking beauty. Beauty that is in the words, in the stories and often hidden behind terrible things that are getting told” (Nothing But Hope And Passion)
“The Great Park paints wide landscapes of longing, with small but forceful words. Romanticism weaves its ways through the lyrics – arms are fled from, losses felt, snows considered, darknesses breathed.” (Diary Of An Unborn Writer)
“Intimate morose folk songs, rooted in a strange personal world of fields and birds and love and persecution.” (Southcoasting blog’)
“…this is a journey, a misadventurer’s odyssey; it’s vivid, it’s elemental and the wounds are exposed. The road is pitted and merciless, stark and unyielding. The engrossing imagery will draw you in and repeated listening reveals new musical and lyrical nuances.” (Nigel Johnson)
“Ein kompromissloser Musiker, der mit bestätigtem Optimismus musiziert. Nicht, um davon zu leben, sondern, weil er dafür lebt.”
“Dass die Folksongs nie ins Kitschige abdriften, hat auch mit Stephen Burchs Gesang zu tun, der alles andere als glatt ist. So zittrig, ja, brüchig kommt er oft daher, dass Conor Obersts Stil von den Bright Eyes dagegen schon fast geschliffen wirkt.”
“Ein Singer-Songwriter ist immer auch Poet. Und Burch ist ein ganz besonderer.”
(Süddeutsche Zeitung)
“Poesie, wie aus dem Leben gegriffen.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
“The Great Park besitzt großes lyrisches Talent… Neben seiner empfindsamen Stimme ist dies wohl auch die besondere Qualität des Musikers, die ihn aus der großen grauen Masse der Singer-Songwriter-Szene hervorstechen lässt. ” (Laxmag.de)
“Großes Songwriter-Kino”
“Keine überladene Musik, alles ist fein abgestimmt, schnörkellos und reduziert auf das Elementare, so dass nichts den Blick verfälscht.”
(Kieler Nachrichten)
“Vordergründig neuromantischer Folk mit doppeltem Boden.” (blackmagazin.com)
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https://www.facebook.com/thegreatpark/
http://www.thegreatpark.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wng-dud4JxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJVGMa97NNo (trad.)
