<a href="http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-wooden-heart"><img class="alignleft" alt="" src="http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/store_images/medium/wooden-ep_MED.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a>We're very excited to finally be able to share this absolutely stunning new release from Colorado-based dream-pop maestro Kramies. <a title="Buy &quot;The Wooden Heart&quot;" href="http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-wooden-heart"><em>The Wooden Heart</em></a> EP features the production and instrumental talents of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame, along with the inimitable production and additional instrumentation of Robert Pollard co-conspirator Todd Tobias. The EP mines a wonderfully rich seam of atmospheric yet epic songcraft that Kramies has made his own. From the throbbing ambient introduction of ‘The Beginning’ through to the delicate folk of ‘The Ending’, Kramies’ new EP covers vast emotional and musical terrain during its 23-minute run-time.  The title track’s windswept grandeur is married to an emotional directness that demands your attention and doesn’t let go, ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ sways and swoons with an almost unbearable poignancy, and ‘Clocks Were All Broken’ both alludes to and embodies this music’s timeless appeal.

<em>“In the middle, the song holds its breath for half a moment, then rises into a blissful dream-pop threshing; a massed quilt of hammering Slowdive-ian guitars joyfully plunging down onto each beat. “Spill out the haven, throw my maths chart away, ‘cos you’re the one,” Kramies sings, in an exultant sigh. “Throw my maps, a castaway.” It’s rare to find dream-pop that resolves with such assured optimism, in which you can sense experience shifting into its proper place... Kramies seems to have mastered the talent of simply breathing it into shape.”</em> – <strong>Misfit City on the EP's title track.
</strong>

The album is available in digital format as well as a very limited edition CD (limited to 50 units). The EP features artwork by the wonderful French photographer Jérôme Sevrette and all downloads include a beautiful extended digital booklet with lyrics and more of Jérôme's work. Check out the album at our <a href="http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-wooden-heart" target="_self">store</a> or on <a href="http://hiddenshoal.bandcamp.com/album/the-wooden-heart" target="_self">Bandcamp</a>, <a href="http://kramies.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_self">download</a> the first single for free, and check out this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOHV7ZWshkM&amp;list=PLC331131EC8DC434C" target="_self">lovely little video</a> for the EP's parting track 'The Ending'.

Enjoy!

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/108752237" params="color=ff6600&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="81" iframe="true" /]
<strong>Kramies - 'The Wooden Heart' (Single)</strong>