Denis Jones is a self-taught guitarist and songwriter from Lancashire, UK. Having begun his musical life as a singer songwriter in the classic UK mould of the likes of John Martyn, he has over the last three years developed a show-stopping live performance based around the core of his exceptional and unique guitar-playing style and rich, soulful voice.
Utilising a loop station and all manner of samplers and effects, Denis creates vast, complex orchestrations of beat-box rhythms, multi-layered vocals and other-wordly sounds which veer from subtle heart-wrenching folk and blues to heavy bass-driven electronica.
His second, and long awaited follow up album ‘yellow + red =’ has been mastered by George Atkins @ 80 Hertz Recording Studios. It will be released sometime mid 2010. The new album is available to listen too below:
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Denis has collaborated with many high profile artists from all over Europe, including a track with Dusseldorf artist Kemo which was included on Marcus Intelex’s Fabric Live 35 compilation. He has also worked with John Ellis and Luke Flowers (Cinematic Orchestra), Jon Thorne (Lamb) and Henry Da Massa (Micah P Hinson), all of whom appear on Denis’s recordings.
He has played all over Europe, as far afield as Lithuania, Georgia and Croatia, as well as festival shows in the UK including Secret Garden Party (after a personal invite from BBC Radio 1 DJ Eddy Temple-Morris), Glastonbury, End of The Road, Great Escape, Big Chill and Futuresonic. He has supported Amp Fiddler at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Efterklang at Bush Hall, Chris Corsano, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid and many more.
Denis’s debut album, Humdrum Virtue, was released in 2007 in a unique limited edition industrial packaging, designed by Denis himself, selling out rapidly and leading to the re-issue of the album in a slightly more conventional, but still striking packaging. Tracks from the album have been included on compilations in Europe and Canada. A second album is almost complete and there are plans for more collaboration projects involving the musicians Denis has worked with from Manchester, Germany and Lithuania.
[youtube width=”580″ height=”425″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_uQkft8Pks&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
REVIEWS:
“scuzzy Mancunian blues at it’s richest and, most intriguing.” – The Guardian
“logical, eardrum-massaging, heart-stirring sonic harmony” – Drowned In Sound
“There’s something about his willingness to experiment, his bravery and risk-taking that makes him stand slightly aside from the now dissolving world of folktronica”- Boomkat