Emulating the roots of traditional travelling folk music Mike Rosenberg Band have decided to take their music to the streets and bring that tradition up to modern speed. The band will be touring ten cities over two weeks to perform free for the general public.  | | Mike Rosenberg Band |
It was the spirit of the single Philadelphia that inspired the band to set out on this journey around the UK. Mike Rosenberg and Andrew Phillips had written the song about “that homeless, hobo, refugee, rootless, isolated individual” and it felt right to take to the roads and in some way convey that sentiment. The band will be playing live and fully plugged in at universities, city centres, record stores and a whole range of intimate and unusual venues across the UK from 25th September – 7th October. Mike is a young man, who is capable, through his lyrics, of telling stories from the perspective of the ageing, world-weary man, lost, rootless and full of regret. Andrew is his colleague in this noble endeavour, guitarist, arranger and soundtrack composer. | "Epic-yet-intimate, hip hop and electronica-influenced" | | Dave Monks |
There are almost twenty years between the pair, yet their sad, observational perspective on modern life is almost identical, to the point where they can hardly unravel the who-wrote-what of the twelve desolate beauties that make up their forthcoming debut album, “Stray Dog”. What one can say is that they are an extraordinary mixture of acoustic folk in the storytelling tradition, and an epic-yet-intimate, hip hop and electronica-influenced modernity, suffused with pain, sadness and precocious wisdom, yet completely free of defeatist miserablism. Mike Rosenberg is blessed with A Voice. But the obvious God-given way with melody, group harmonies and a gently soaring falsetto is lent roots and edge by a rough, real southern English accent blending seamlessly with programmed beats and electronic washes that demonstrate influences more from the UK hip hop and electronica scene then all those post-Buckley/Yorke soft-rock choir boys. “Philadelphia” follows on from the group’s first digital only release, “Stray Dog”. It’s the first commercial single to be released from the album. Rosenberg’s striking yet fragile vocal imbues “Philadelphia” with a youthful innocence, which contrasts with the song’s tortured depth and worldly-wise narrative. Laid atop of Andrew Phillips’ aching production and dissident electronics, it forms a compelling sonic ‘city scape’. A guitar led atmospheric mix comes courtesy of Dot Allison, while Doc P provides a rich and heavily orchestrated version complete with hypnotic hip hop beat. Band favourite Ninja Tune’s Blockhead weighs in to uncover the seedy underbelly of the city; Blockhead was a big influence on the band while making the record because of his use of unusual samples and textures and the sound world he creates - they wanted him to create a leftfield remix that drew out the darker side of Philadelphia, which he has done and to great effect. | 
