Hey folks,

We hope you’ve been enjoying the fact that Spring has finally sprung. We know it’s been a while since we’ve written home, but we’re hoping it’s been worth the wait. Put on the kettle and make yourself comfortable, this might take a little bit.

Firstly, we’re beyond thrilled to announce we’ll be launching our new album The Fire & The Sigh on Sunday June 3rd 2012. It’s currently residing in Seattle, where it’s being mastered by our old friend, John McCaig.  We can’t even begin to tell you how much your support over the last year has meant to us. We have something special planned for June 3rd to say thank you, so put the date in your diaries, or on the back of your hands, or on a note by your bathroom mirror. We’ll send more details towards the end of May.

That’s not even all. 

On the same night we sent the tracks away to Seattle, we received an invitation to showcase the album at North by Northeast, which is Canada’s largest indie music festival. They’ve offered us a show in Toronto on June 16th, in front of a mix of publishers, promoters and general music enthusiasts. After an incredible experience playing Indie Week in October, we’re really excited at the prospect of returning to the city. This is a huge opportunity and a wonderful way to launch the album. 

We’re aware that the only reason we were able to record an album is because of you guys. You gave us your money and your support and we couldn’t have come this far without you. So when we tell you we’ve started a Kickstarter project to fund this trip to Canada, it’s not because we want more of your money. Well, don’t get us wrong. More money means more shows, more promotion for the album - but we’re aware there has been a host of goodwill sent our way to get this project finished and that’s so much more important to us than money.

We’re trying to raise the cost of three return flights to Toronto and three meals in a cafe on Queen Street West for the nights we’re in town. No more, no less. The link is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1962996013/i-am-not-lefthanded-go-canadian

The video we made for this features an instrumental from one of the tracks on the album, and another star turn from our friendly neighbourhood Rhinosaur. Which basically makes it a teaser trailer for the album release. Christopher Nolan, eat your heart out.

If you know any Canadians who you think might enjoy hearing us play, or know anyone near the US border who’s interested in hopping on a bus for a weekend gig, we’d really appreciate if you’d share the link to the Kickstarter project with them. 

For those of you wondering when we’re going to play shows outside Canada, we’re playing our first San Francisco gig of 2012 next Friday, the 18th of May in the Rockit Room. This is the final show for our good friends Monsters Are Not Myths, so we’ll be offering a good mix of sincere dedications and ridiculous jokes to take their minds off the farewells.  We’ll also have some early release bootleg versions of the album for sale at the show, so if you just can’t wait til June 3rd, come out to raise your glass on the night. Details, as always, are at: www.iamnotlefthanded.com/shows.html

We have plans to play some shows in the UK and Ireland in Autumn. But if we start writing about them now, you won’t be finished reading this email by the time they roll around.

Thank you again for all your kind words and support over the past twelve months. We can’t wait to get back to venues to start playing the album for you guys.

Hands on hearts,

Kathryn, Daniel and Benji

A quick update on how we’re getting along with the album.  Thanks to everyone who’s been checking in and offering us kind words of support, we do feel a little bad that we’re making you wait for it, but we just want to make sure it’s as perfect as we can make it before we release it.

We’ve just finished the main recording stage.  All the drums, bass and guitar parts are done, along with some piano lines and vocals.  What’s left to be recorded is mainly the vocals, some keys and other overdubs.  As we’re done with the noisier writing and recording side, we’ve moved out of our country studio.  It was really good to us, and it was a huge help to be able to play through song ideas on endless loops, only disturbing the horses on one side and the graveyard on the other.

For the final stage of this album, the overdubs and the mixing, we’re making a break and heading to California, to add a little sunshine to the feel of it.  It’s a move we’ve been thinking about for a while.  After last year’s US tour, with the friendly reactions that we found everywhere, we think there’s definitely a welcome for our music in the US.  We will be back to Europe, so don’t worry, you haven’t seen the last of us, but it’ll give us a chance to get to know our American friends better.

En route to California, we are taking a break from recording to play a few shows at Canada’s Indie Week in Toronto.  This will be our first time in Canada, and we’re really excited to meet up with some of you who we’ve only met on the internet so far.  If it goes well, it could be a great gateway to a full Canadian tour, so we’ve been polishing up our shoes and finishing some new songs to show off.  We’ll also be making a stop with the Canadian branch of BalconyTV - a great Irish export that’s taking over the world - we’ll see if they treat you as well in Toronto as in Dublin.

That’s all the news for now, these will be the last shows until the album is completely finished, mixed and polished.  Thanks for sticking with us and all the words of encouragement, it really does make it all worthwhile.

 - Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

everythingbuttheocean:

There’s a storm over the city tonight. The trees outside my window push back against the wind. Listening to their hushed and tired sounds, I think they’re trying to comfort each other.

A close friend of mine lost her cousin in a car crash last week. It’s difficult, being far from the people you…

We’ve been invited to play at Indie Week Canada in October! (www.indieweek.com) Our first ever shows in Canada will be kicking off in Toronto. More details to follow as we get them…

I Am Not Lefthanded has recently added the following shows.

.September 23, 2011 - London, United Kingdom - Bush Hall
Address: 310 UXBRIDGE ROAD - Map
Time : 8:00 PM
Tickets: £15 Buy Now -…

We’ve had a few emails the past week or two wondering where we’ve gone, and why the website has been quiet. Some of you asked after the album. One of you asked if cake would help. (Our answer being: we’re not sure Royal Mail delivers confectionery, but we’re willing to try).

We’ve posted a new entry in our studio diary to fill you in on what we’ve been up to.  Have a look HERE

We are escaping from the studio for a London show in Bush Hall on the 23rd of September. We’re playing with some other bands as part of a charity show for the Hammersmith & Fulham Play Association. Tickets are a little more than our usual fare at £15, but all the money goes to an amazing cause: 

Play Association Hammersmith and Fulham is a children’s charity that works to improve play opportunities for children and young people throughout Hammersmith & Fulham and surrounding boroughs. They believe that every child has the right to play freely and that play is an essential part of the welfare, development and education of children.

We’ll post further details closer to the time or you can stay up to date through their website at: www.playassociationhf.org.uk/newsandevents.html

Hey folks, we’ve had to cancel our Irish dates due to some personal stuff. Sorry for anyone who’s disappointed, we’ll reschedule them soon.

As some of you seem to have noticed - or may notice in the coming days - well, we’ve sold out. A few weeks ago, we were contacted by the advertising agency that represents Clearblue, who wanted to use our song Boats (Swept Away) in their latest tv ad campaign.

We took some time to think about what this meant for us. There are people we respect who are firmly against bands dealing with large corporations.  We had to consider the possibility that, while this gets the music out to a wider audience, it might be considered to be betraying the song just a little. Or worse still, betraying people who care about the song as much as we do.

We realise that we’re not the Dandy Warhols, and this is nowhere near as ubiquitous as those Vodafone ads were, but discovering songs through TV ads can colour your perceptions of them. That said, we are operating as a completely independent band - there’s no label with deep pockets paying us tour support, in this fragmented modern music industry we have to forge a path where we can. 

We’ve been blown away by the constant stream of support - financial as much as moral - from you guys this past year. We’re saving every penny we can right now to make a better album, one that we can be proud of. Making money from the ad will ultimately help us make more music, make better music, and will keep the tiles on the studio roof during those strong Spring gales that have been whipping about the countryside lately!

Plus, the ad is for a fertility monitor - it’s a pro-baby product and while we don’t know a whole lot of babies personally, they seem like good people so we’re very happy to support them where we can.

Honestly, we’re curious about what you guys think. We don’t actually have a tv set, so we’re probably going to be the last people to even notice the ad. Is this selling out? Does selling out mean anything anymore?  The most important thing about making music is the connection that people, you guys, make with it.  Will hearing Boats on a tv ad make you smile or make you sad? We’d genuinely like to know.

 - Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

For those of you who haven’t got it yet, don’t forget to pick up our catch-up EP ahead of the release of our new material, coming very soon:

We’ve done a couple of website overhauls, added a Videos page and a place to download our free catch-up EP.  As always, do let us know if you follow a link that takes you down a dark and mysterious alleyway and then tickles you mercilessly.