Good News

VINYL FORMAT. First press limited to 200 copies on white vinyl; comes with a digital download card! Inspiration is often spoken of in terms of altitude, but for some, like Withered Hand's Dan Willson, a little help is needed to even find the foot of the mountain to climb. Painfully shy and anxious through childhood that his voice was too high, Willson didn't start singing until his late twenties. By then, he was married and living in Edinburgh, Scotland, a listless visual artist and rock tinkerer who was afraid of microphones. He faced down this fear as the lead shouter in a shortlived artrock outfit with his best friend, acquiring a reputation for his way with words. Then, when his children were born, like many new parents, he took time out, worked hard and seriously considered selling his electric guitars and concentrating on art as a future creative outlet. Rather than let this happen, his wife and friends chipped in and bought him an acoustic guitar for his thirtieth birthday, a gesture that inadvertently led to a huge change in his writing approach. Willson says, "It's a very quiet guitar, not quite full size, very light tone, so I can sing over it without shouting too much. I started writing these very simple quiet songs concerned with communicating truths. Songs I could play at home without waking the children." The nascent Withered Hand gently slipped into existence. Withered Hand recorded and released several lo-fi EPs. These early releases showed Willson's lyricism and tremendous command over fragile melodies and earned attention from cult American producer Kramer (Galaxie 500, Low, Daniel Johnston), who first contacted Willson several years ago and offered to record his debut album. The Scottish Arts Council, who had previously funded the debuts of Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol, eagerly funded his debut. The title of his debut album Good News is in reference to Willson's evangelical Christian upbringing and, accordingly, a theme of spiritual confliction runs through