Blackfield is the acclaimed collaboration between Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Israeli artist Aviv Geffen. The duo return with their third album Welcome To My DNA which is released on Kscope in March 2011. Formed after a meeting in 2000, the partnership blossomed into a cross-cultural collaboration that has already spawned two albums (2004's Blackfield and 2007's Blackfield II).
The duo will also be touring to support the release of the album with dates so far confirmed in UK, Holland, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and France with an American tour following that (full tour dates below). These will be the first dates they have played together as Blackfield for over three years, due to both artists' recent hectic schedules.
Porcupine Tree's 2009 release, The Incident, is the band's bestselling album to date, reaching the top 30 in both the UK and USA, and the band has continued to raise its profile around the world, recently playing sold out gigs at London's Royal Albert Hall and New York's Radio City Music Hall. In addition to Porcupine Tree and Blackfield, Steven also records as a solo artist and is a Grammy nominated producer and mixer, working with the likes of Opeth, King Crimson, and Yoko Ono. He also co-wrote and sang a song on the recent UK number one album by Pendulum.
In 2009, Aviv released his first English language solo album (produced by Trevor Horn) and has supported U2 and Placebo. The son of esteemed Israeli poet Yehonatan Geffen and the nephew of Moshe Dayan, Geffen is Israel's leading counter-culture rock musician. A huge star in his native country, his records have been greeted with critical adulation, earning him a string of gold albums. An outspoken peace campaigner, he controversially refused to do compulsory military service, and his lyrics have been fiercely critical of the Israeli military and their actions.
Aviv has worked with various artists throughout his career, including Brett Anderson (Suede), Mercury Rev and Belle and Sebastian, but it has been his partnership with Steven that has proved the most fertile, and both artists have been keen to return to their work with Blackfield and have been working on the album for the last few months. Aviv explains, 'we made the album together, it wasn't an email album. Steven came to Israel and I came to London. We both had a great year, Steven with Porcupine Tree and me with my solo stuff but now it's a Blackfield year and we are both ready for it.'
He goes onto describe Welcome To My DNA as 'an album about loneliness and sadness. There are many songs about love, god... the same subjects that Blackfield have dealt with before.' Musically the album builds on the established Blackfield sound, described by Clash as 'a lush but soulful mix of separate cultures, deep sounds and touching lyrics,' and the results have lead Aviv to state 'I believe it's our best work so far and I'm really excited about going on stage with this album.'
The Welcome To My DNA mini-site is also now online. The mini-site features album info, downloads and more along with the chance to download a free MP3 of the album's opening track Glass House when signing up to the mailing list.
The digi-book and vinyl editions of the album are now available to pre-order on the mini-site.
Tour dates are as follows;
APRIL
6th Leamington Assembly ENGLAND
buy tickets
7th Manchester Academy 2 ENGLAND
buy tickets
8th London Shepherd's Bush Empire ENGLAND
buy tickets
10th Amsterdam Paradiso NETHERLANDS
buy tickets
12th Hamburg Markthalle GERMANY
buy tickets
13th Berlin C-Club GERMANY
buy tickets
14th Warsaw, Progresja Club POLAND
buy tickets
15th Krakow, Studio Club POLAND
buy tickets
17th Munich Ampere GERMANY
buy tickets
18th Pratelln, Z7 SWITZERLAND
buy tickets
19th Milan, Magazzini Generali ITALY
buy tickets
20th Rome, Alpheus ITALY
buy tickets
21st Treviso, New Age ITALY
buy tickets
23rd Karlsruhe New Substage GERMANY
buy tickets
24th Frankfurt Batschkapp GERMANY
buy tickets
25th Bochum Matrix GERMANY
buy tickets
26th Cologne Stollwerck GERMANY
buy tickets
28th Antwerp Trix Hall BELGIUM
buy tickets
29th Trianon Paris FRANCE
buy tickets
MAY
18th Washington, DC USA
buy tickets
19th Philadelphia, PA, Theater of the Living Arts USA
buy tickets
20th New York, NY, Irving Plaza USA
buy tickets
21st Boston, MA, Royale Boston USA
buy tickets
Montreal, QC, Le National CANADA
buy tickets
25th Cleveland, OH, House of Blues USA
buy tickets
26th Detroit, MA, St Andrew's Hall USA
buy tickets
27th Chicago, IL, Park West USA
buy tickets
31st Seattle, WA, Studio Seven USA
buy tickets
JUNE
1st Portland, OR, Aladdin Theater USA
buy tickets
3rd San Francisco, CA, Slim's USA
buy tickets
4th Los Angeles, CA, El Rey Theatre USA
buy tickets
6th Mexico City, MEX, Metropolitan Theater MEXICO
buy tickets
JULY
15th Colours of Ostrava CZECH REPUBLIC
buy tickets
Sign up to the Blackfield mailing list for a FREE mp3 from Welcome to MY DNA here, or visit the mini-site for more details on the album.
PRE-ORDER Welcome to My DNA from the Kscope store
