NATHAN JOHNSTON & THE ANGELS OF LIBRA
plus guests
Whelan’s Upstairs • Thur 15th August 2024
The Angels Of Libra are a 10-piece soul collective based in Hamburg with a high affinity to analog recording techniques, 60s soul revue concepts and film scores.
Born out of a recording session in a house in Denmark in which producer & guitarist Dennis Rux, keyboard player Chris Haertel, bassist David Nesselhauf and drummer Lucas Kochbeck spent two weeks writing and recording instrumental songs onto a 1980s TASCAM 388 8-track tape recorder, the project was originally intended to be a soul revue featuring various singers throughout the record.
A few years previously, Rux had met Irish songwriter Nathan Johnston at Clouds Hill Studios in Hamburg while working on their own separate projects. In a search for new voices, Rux asked Johnston if he would like to feature as a vocalist on one of the songs from the Denmark recordings. Johnston accepted the offer and a few months later sent a demo to Rux of the newly titled track – “Angel Of Libra”. After hearing it, the band decided to name themselves after the song’s title.
The newly appointed Angels Of Libra made their debut in March 2021 with digital single “Kung Fu Noir”, a cinematic instrumental with mysterious vibes. Their first physical release however, came almost a year later, in February 2022, with double-sider 45 “Bless My Soul” / “Souvenir” on Légère Recordings, featuring music whiz Shawn Lee getting down over two modern soul steppers. Following this, the Angels released two upbeat tracks with ‘European Soul’ singer, Maiiah – ‘Obey’ & ‘Sunshine’ respectively.
In the meantime, the band enlisted Johnston to come to Rux’s ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah!’ studios in Hamburg to write and record a full length album, featuring 10 tracks of their own compositions reminiscent of Air, Khruangbin or Ennio Morricone.
The resulting album, titled ‘Nathan Johnston & The Angels of Libra’ was released in November 2022 on Berlin-based label Waterfall Records and recieved a multitude of very positive reviews including being dubbed ‘Album of the Year’ by 33RPM vinyl magazine and West Coast Soul describing it as being “…full of elegantly grooving, varied and atmospheric soul music, characterised by tasteful horn arrangements, a great rhythm section and the right amount of analogue warmth, but not least by Nathan Johnston’s striking voice – one of our soul albums of the year.”
The album received extensive radio play across Germany, France & Italy plus with the band’s first UK radio play on BBC Radio 6s’ ‘The Craig Charles Show’.
Not wasting any time, the Angels were straight back into the studio to put the finishing touches on a new album that was already in the works and in the lead up to this, they released a new single in January 2023 titled ‘Concrete Jungle’ featuring Boston born MC & singer ‘Joél Davíd.’ The track features lots of guitar fuzz, feedback, heavy bass and drums while Joél Davíd “lyrically evokes the emotions provoked by the systemic oppression of classism and racism.”
Barely 4 months later, the band went on to release their sophomore record – ‘Revelations’ in March 2023. Having proven themselves worthy of sweet soul, Northern bangers, and trippy instrumentals, this time the Angels venture into a more experimental world of avant-garde electronics, psychedelic soul and hip-hop.
Aided by analog machines and garnished with synthesized sounds, the record features four guest vocalists,’Jean Cortis’, ‘Milo Milone’ (of Rhonda), ‘Jepka’, and ‘Nathan Johnston’ again on the title track, as well as the Angels themselves on vocoded vocals. The album received very positive reviews – especially in Italy & France along with a lot of German & French radio support from NDR, DFK radio and support across the U.S., Japan & Australia.
2023 saw Angels of Libra tour Germany with sold out shows in Hamburg, Dusseldorf & Wolpinghausen and a number of summer festivals including a headline slot at the Golzheim festival in Dusseldorf.
Later the same year the Angels teamed up once more with ‘Maiiah’ to release a joint album which mixes a collection of new songs rooted in deep funk, Northern soul and Balkan influences – including a cover of Barbara Lynn’s soul classic ‘I’m a Good Woman.’ The record sold out on it’s first pressing and was highly praised within the funk & soul scene.
So far in 2024, the collective has grown with the addition of German/Spanish singer ‘Sarife’ who joined the live lineup on lead vocals and also released a single of her own with the Angels in March titled, ‘Baby When You Hold Me,’ an authentic retro soul power number in the style of the early records by Aretha Franklin or Sharon Jones. The band also made their first international appearance with a sold out show in Amsterdam’s ‘Bitterzoet’ aswell as a number of shows across Ireland in April.
Most recently, the Angels of Libra released a 60s soul cover of Queens of the Stoneages’ track ‘No One Knows’ featuring lead vocals from Gosia Jasinska. This summer the band will play at Electric Picnic, Ireland’s largest music festival along with a number of other festivals around Germany and a headline Soul Revue show in the infamous Molotow club in Hamburg on November 9th. Two brand new albums are underway and big things are in motion.
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TICKETS
€11-€16.50 available online from Whelan’s – 50c per ticket service charge applies.
Strictly over 18′s, I.D. may be required.
AFTER THE GIG
Whelan’s Silent Disco from 10:30pm – 2 DJs, just pick the one you like best (€5 cover charge), plus Late Bar.