The Magpie Salute announce debut studio album ‘High Water I’ and share new song

Released on Friday 10th August via Provogue/Mascot Label Group on CD, LP and digital formats, ‘High Water I’ will be followed by a second record – aptly entitled ‘High Water II’ in 2019.

Originally formed as a 10-strong collective, the current trimmed-down incarnation of The Magpie Salute is a six-piece featuring band lynchpin Rich Robinson alongside his former Black Crowes band mates Marc Ford (guitars) and Sven Pipien (bass), and bolstered by singer John Hogg, keyboardist Matt Slocum and drummer Joe Magistro.

With Rich on production duties, the sextet recorded ‘High Water I’ at Dark Horse Studios in Nashville. You can pre-order the album here.

"Touring as a ten-piece is cool, but it’s more like a revue,” says Rich. "Everything on stage was great. When you’re ready to record, there’s a lot of space that needs to be considered though. We didn’t want it to get too chaotic or too hard to sift through.

“The core was really important and needed to shine as a strong six-piece. It was great to build something new last year. We were born in a sense. Now, we’re working towards something as a tight unit."

To whet fans’ appetites for the studio album, The Magpie Salute have premiered the sublime new song ‘Send Me An Omen’, which you can cast your ears on here:

Enthusing about the band, Rich Robinson says: “When I was putting this thing together, I was thinking about how even though we may not have played for almost a decade, it just comes back immediately. The chemistry is unexplainable.

“Of course, I’m the same guy who played with the Black Crowes and wrote all of those songs, but this is a different context for myself, Marc, and Sven. It’s the convergence of three different worlds and eras for me. We’re all here together in this one place.

“Simultaneously, it’s amazing for Marc and Sven to play with Joe and Matt and John to be in the middle of it all. For me, that was really cool to witness. This is what I wanted to do.”

Explaining how the band name reflects the spirit of The Magpie Salute, Rich adds: “I’ve always loved the element of crows, but they have a dark connotation.

“Magpies are revered by ancient and indigenous cultures around the world, because they walk that bridge between dark and light. A magpie is also a cousin to a crow. This band was a cousin to the Crowes last year. Now, there’s a superstition where you salute a magpie if you see him. It supposedly wards off bad spirits. A salute means, ‘We come in peace.’ That’s our goal. We just want to play together. It made sense.”

The ’High Water I’ track-listing is as follows:

1. Mary The Gypsy
2. High Water
3. Send Me An Omen
4. For The Wind
5. Sister Moon
6. Colour Blind
7. Take It All
8. Walk On Water
9. Hand In Hand
10. You Found Me
11. Can You See
12. Open Up

The Magpie Salute are playing a special intimate 4-piece performance at OSLO in Hackney, London on the day ‘High Water I’ is released.

Tickets to the show are on sale now right here.