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Truly delighted to be hosting the duo of Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts and Norwegian experimental musician Fredrik Rasten in Oxford on Fri 29th Jan, 2027 with our first show at the Handle Bar Cafe in town! They are touring Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales in support of their forthcoming double album Seven Weathers on Drag City Records.Fredrik and Alasdair's first encounter was in the Scottish/Scandinavian septet Alasdair Roberts & Völvur, which released the LP The Old Fabled River on Drag City in 2021. After discovering a strong musical affinity, they decided to create some new music together in a more distilled duo form.
On Seven Weathers, as in their duo live show, Fredrik and Alasdair focus on traditional Scottish narrative ballads, typically of long duration, where slowly evolving musical materials build up throughout the strophic verse-structure to emphasise the storytelling. They choose their material with care, favouring time-transcending narrative themes that both bear witness to the day and age of their origin and are relevant to our times, be that politically, culturally or ethically. Alasdair and Fredrik both sing, taking turns to lead and harmonise, and both play a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments. Roberts’s clear and unadorned vocal delivery blends seamlessly with Rasten’s sensibilities of just intonation tuning and timbral qualities of sound.
Over the past few years Alasdair and Fredrik have enjoyed concerts in Glasgow, Berlin, Oslo, Prague, Motvind Festival (Norway), Fanø Free Folk Festival (Denmark), ne:ar Festival (Slovakia) and Frequency Festival (Chicago, USA). Seven Weathers is scheduled for release in January 2027, coinciding with the start of their tour.
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Event venue
The Handlebar Cafe, 30-32 St Michael's St, Oxford, OX1 2EB, United Kingdom
Tickets
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