So long, and thank you for the music.

This year, in some ways, has been amazing for us as a musical duo.

Highlights include supporting Mercury prize nominee Kathryn Williams, upstairs in renowned live music venue Leaf, Liverpool, playing to a huge audience, and having BBC 2 DJ Janice Long, who attended, say of us on her radio show that we were "mesmerising". Later this year we were honoured to support Louise Jordan at the Liverpool gig of her tour, upstairs in the intimate setting of the View Two Gallery on Mathew Street. Amongst those fond gig memories of this year we have to include a lovely, festival-feel gig at the Bombed Out Church (the venue in which we married in 2014) with our folk duo friends Penmann, too.

This was also the year we released our studio-recorded CD, Amateur Astronomy, to reviews which included comments like, "the sound of the resilience of humanity", "one eye on the music of the past but also one foot in amongst the stars" and " addictive and eloquent".

Ruth also wrote, and performed the violin parts for, a string arrangement on a song by The Loungs, an indie band with a large following, and seeing her name on their CD sleeve was definitely something of a buzz.

We had our single, Ella Brown, played by Mike Brocken on BBC Radio Merseyside, which was an amazing feeling.

We really thought that this might be the year we started to make some headway into finding more people who really wanted to listen to our music. We've never craved record label interest, or huge numbers of fans, or making vast amounts of money. What we've wanted, always, is to make music that we love, that really touches people's hearts, making them feel and think... and for our music to reach those people without us ending up utterly out of pocket.

Supporting Kathryn Williams at Leaf

However, after the highs of the summer, with its magical gigs, and the feeling of finally holding in our hands a copy of a CD that held our own music, our original songs, written, arranged and performed entirely by us (and made to sound fantastic by magic-working producer Andy Bowes), came the autumn.

Album sales were already disappointing by then. Given so many bands keep figures a secret at the risk of losing face, we're going to be totally open: we had 100 CDs made; we'd have preferred 50 but the cost per CD was so much cheaper at 100 that we went with that, but set ourselves the more reasonable target of selling 50. Our launch gig didn't go as well as we'd hoped, and although some lovely people ordered multiple copies of our CD to give to friends, all in all we have sold 37 to date. The CD was make or break for us, and it broke us.

Amateur Astronomy, our CD

Being online is also a demoralising experience; asking - begging, in fact - for "shares" but getting instead a handful of "likes" and even then only if we're lucky; asking people to listen to our music on Bandcamp and finding out most people stopped listening way before the end (in some ways being able to see statistics is really useful; in other ways it's a complete downer), and the awful self-doubt, and occasionally green-eyed monster, that creeps in when similar artists seem to have huge comment threads whereas we have tumbleweed. Constantly trying to work out if our music is just awful (and if so, why such good reviews?) or if we're somehow not playing the online game properly - is there a rule sheet? And what's the rule about buying music from and promoting online the music of other musicians - is it right to expect quid pro quo or not? How does it work? We've never found out any of answers to these questions, and suspect we never will.

Then came our worst gig ever; we've played to empty rooms before so it wasn't that, but it was the way the audience completely disappeared after the performer before us finished his set; we'd hoped people might stick around, but watching the large audience dwindle away to next-to-nothing before we were due to play, seeing scores of people leave as we picked up our instruments, was demoralising in a way that's hard to describe. It didn't help matters that at that point, Ruth was ten weeks pregnant, tired, and feeling a little faint; sadly the next day a scan revealed no heartbeat and shortly afterwards, the pregnancy came to an end of its own accord. Obviously the two were in no way linked, but any resilience we might normally have to cope with such musical disappointments disappeared with the ensuing grief. We also had to cancel a gig as Ruth had to go to hospital; having never cancelled a gig before we felt terribly guilty but it simply wasn't possible to play.

We thought about stopping there and then, but we couldn't quite let it go on that note. We'd planned to do a Christmas gig, as our 2014 Christmas gig had been so magical,but when we asked on our Facebook page who might be interested in attending, we only had a handful of replies so decided against it. In the end, we did play a gig at Christmas (as it was organised by someone else)and in fact, it was rather lovely. We played for half an hour in West Kirby library on the concourse to a relatively small but very interested audience, playing some carols and folk music, and just one original song. It was somewhat redolent of the very first time we'd played in public, back in 2012, as carollers, but our musicianship was infinitely better after three years of practising and playing together.

Our first ever time playing together in public, 2012

And so, that's it for Moss & Jones. We've managed to go out on a high note; the Wirral gig was a lovely experience; we even sold one of our CDs. However, we need a clean break from music, at least, from promoting, organising and feeling never-quite-good-enough about it. What we plan to do is sing around the piano at home, save up to buy Ruth a decent violin and Marc a better accordion, practice the instruments we have, and play together for fun, and get Ruth's son - Marc's stepson - involved too, if and when he wants.

It seems to us that perhaps we went about things the wrong way. Maybe we didn't reach enough of the people who love the sort of music we make; maybe we did, but our music just wasn't quite impressive enough to make them rave about it. Whatever the reason, we couldn't quite make it work for us.

Our CD, Amateur Astronomy, along with the rest of our digitally available music, will remain on sale for the next six months on Bandcamp, so if you do want to grab yourself a copy of a infinitesimally small piece of musical history from the folk music enclave, now's your chance.

We're grateful to the people who've listened to our music, bought our music, reviewed it, blogged about it, promoted it, encouraged us, given us pep talks, given us advice (yes, even unsolicited - thanks to a very dear friend who gave us the nudge to arrange our songs better), retweeted and shared our posts online, arranged gigs and put us on, let us use their venue, designed artwork for us, loaned us instruments, produced our music, organised open mic nights, bought our CD for their friends, played us on the radio, attended our gigs, brought friends to our gigs, and subscribed to our newsletter.

We suspect that one day we'll feel brave enough to put outselves out there in public again, but if we do, it won't be as Moss & Jones. If you'd like to stay with us if and when we embark on that journey, please email us - mossandjones [at] gmail [dot] com - and let us know, otherwise we'll take this opportunity to say goodbye, now, and thank you so much for the support you've given us.

"Summer won't be here forever - autumn will creep up on us before we know." - Shepherds' Delight (It's Not Time To Go To Bed), Moss & Jones.

Thank you. xx

Review: Liverpool Sound and Vision review of Amateur Astronomy

We've been blessed with another wonderful review of our début album, Amateur Astronomy, this time from prolific music writer, and poet, Ian D. Hall, at Liverpool Sound and Vision.

"...ample splendour offered by Moss & Jones..."
"...captures the imagination and asks questions of the listener..."
"...deeply profound..."
"In Amateur Astronomy they have one eye on the music of the past but also one foot in amongst the stars."

If you'd like to hear the music for yourself to see if it matches up to the review, you can stream it for free from Soundcloud or Bandcamp, and it's available from Bandcamp as a CD for £5+postage (Royal Mail: 95p in the UK) or as a digital download for £4. Both CD and download contain a bonus track not available for free streaming. 

Debrief: launch gig, Sunday 28th June, The Ethical Glass

There seem to be two types of launch gig; those that are all-singing, all-dancing, a cracking line-up, a huge venue... and no CDs due to a miscalculation of the production time. I've been to more than one of these, and I think the problem is that to arrange something so huge, it has to be done months in advance, which means taking a guess at exactly when the CDs will be ready. I've always felt sorry for those musicians who've had this happen to them; arranged a magnificent gig only to have nothing to sell.

And then there's the other type; a low-key gig at a small, cosy venue. In order to avoid having no CDs, we opted for the latter. We waited for our CDs to arrive, then quickly arranged a free gig at a new-to-us venue in Liverpool called The Ethical Glass via a lovely chap called John who saw our 'venue suggestions please' post on the Liverpool Bands noticeboard on Facebook. 

We invited everybody and were chuffed when a not insignificant number of people turned up to hear us. We appreciated people taking the time on a sunny Sunday afternoon to hear us play in a basement! That's dedication and we're tremendously grateful! There's nothing to quell the nerves like looking out and seeing friendly faces there in support. 

After the Ethical Glass regulars played a lovely mix of country covers, we took to the stage. It's always great to turn up to a venue that has 'regulars' and some of them genuinely seemed to enjoy our set. We played some traditional folk songs, followed by playing the songs from our album, Amateur Astronomy, and its bonus track, too, utilising a large cross-section of our instrumental panoply, including psaltry, mandolin and treble recorder... and more. 

Ebeneezer Goode: "it's a bit like a folk song in that it's
a narrative tale about a roguish anti-hero."

Finally, because quite a few people clapped for a good long while at the end, we came back on stage briefly to play an encore; our folky version of 90s rave classic, Ebeneezer Goode.

Thank you so much to Mark at The Ethical Glass for letting us grace your stage, thank you to John for sorting it all out, and huge, huge thanks to everyone who came along to hear us play, and bought our music! 

Our next gig is playing for Liverpool Acoustic in support of Louise Jordan, alongside Chris Callander and Esme Higgins, at View Two Gallery in Liverpool, in the evening of Friday 24th July. Tickets are available from WeGotTickets for £5.50 or on the door for £6. 

Amateur Astronomy: IT'S HERE!

We are absolutely delighted to be able to bring you our début CD, Amateur Astronomy. 

Our CD has been described by folk reviewer Helen Gregory as "the sound of the resilience of humanity, of all that is precious about our everyday lives which nevertheless knows full well that, although the world is too often a cruel and uncaring place, there is still respite to be found in making music and letting truth and beauty grow and bloom in their own time". 

When buying the CD online, the price includes an immediate download in case you cannot wait to listen; the download also includes a lyric sheet in case you wish to sing along. Please do tweet us @mossandjones when you've listened, and let us know what you think!

Lyrics to and influences on each track can be found on our scrapbook: Shepherd's Delight (It's Not Time To Go To Bed), (There's No Such Thing As) Wandering Stars, I See The Moon, Millbrook, Ella Brown, Amateur Astronomy, Stars And Moon And Me And You, Love, and our bonus track. 

All tracks are streamable for FREE on Bandcamp (with the exception of the bonus track, available on purchase). The CD, including immediate download of all tracks, is £5 to buy and is available from Bandcamp.

Kathryn Williams, Robert Vincent (and us) at Leaf, Liverpool, Wednesday 10th June

On Tuesday 9th June, all we had planned for Wednesday night was a quiet evening in.  However, we ended up opening for Kathryn Williams (supported by Robert Vincent) at Leaf in Liverpool City Centre.

Originally, The Coral's Lee Southall was due to open the gig, but unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute due to illness (hopefully he’s much better now). This left Kathryn Williams without an opening act, and a twitter call went out for a replacement.

(At that point we were sat in the back yard writing a shopping list.)

When we went back inside, Ruth’s ‘phone had multiple notifications flashing up. We wondered what had happened.  Then we checked our twitter, Facebook and email. It turned out that our friend Helen, writer for Folk Radio UK and generally lovely person, (and who recently reviewed our single, Ella Brown, on her blog) had suggested that we might be a good fit for an opener, and Liverpool Acoustic had agreed (thank you, Graham), and were we available?

Well, we were over the moon, and once we were told it was fine to bring along Ruth’s little boy on the night, we set to work, putting together a set list for the 25 minutes (including our single, Ella Brown, a few pieces from our forthcoming album, Amateur Astronomy, and some traditional folk songs), and rehearsing.

Thanks to Kev McCready for this picture of us playing our set.

The next day, we went straight from our separate workplaces to Leaf and when we arrived, we were lucky enough to catch the end of Kathryn’s soundcheck (which included a run through Mirrors, and involved loop pedals). After Rob Vincent’s soundcheck, then ours, we were raring to go; very excited, but somewhat daunted too. Kathryn and Robert were both lovely.

By eight o’clock a couple of friends had turned up to give us support, and the place was pretty full. It was probably the largest indoor crowd we’ve ever played to, and one minor finger-slip aside we thought we played a good, short, sweet set, and later that night, BBC Radio 2 DJ Janice Long (who was at the gig) seemed to agree; on her show, she said we were “amazing, absolutely mesmerising”.

Then, we could relax. Rob Vincent played a lovely set, full of mellow, tuneful songs, with lilting guitar and a wonderfully strong voice, ending with Demons, an incredibly honest song about overcoming fears. We'd definitely go and see him again. 

After that it was time for Kathryn Williams’ set. In addition to some earlier material, she played songs from her new album Hypoxia. As you might expect from an album based on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, it got very intense at times (have you heard Cuckoo? Compellingly visceral and her performance was jaw-dropping) but Kathryn’s stage demeanour between songs added a light touch to it all. She ended by covering a Neil Young song with her sister on stage; a moving ending to a wonderful night. If you get chance to go and see her elsewhere on her tour you really must, and do buy her album!

We were so privileged to be able to open this gig, and we hope very much that people who attended to see Kathryn, and Rob, also enjoyed our set. A couple of people bought our album, Amateur Astronomy (it’s not out until 28^th June but we took some copies along to the gig) and if that was you, we’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Thank you so much to Ben, Helen, Graham, Kathryn, Rob, Dylan and all at Leaf for having us, and for such an amazing night, and thank you Janice for your kind words.

In the mix: Amateur Astronomy

Yesterday, after a slightly fraught early morning (the gas meter had eaten through the last of the emergency credit thus necessitating a slightly disheveled trip to the Co-op before we could even have a wash), we went to Catalyst Studios for our last session of putting our mini-album together.

Andy, as always, was helpful and knowledgeable whilst mixing the songs from our previous session, with lots of useful suggestions and some little tricks of the trade to tidy away the odd error or two.

Then, we went back to the songs from previous studio sessions. There were a few minor issues we'd spotted since recording which Andy was able to correct with cutting edge software. It's quite something to see how, using Pro Tools, a misplaced nudge of the ukulele can have its own waveform which can be made to simply vanish. We also added something very special to Millbrook which you'll have to wait to hear!

Ruth's son came in towards the end of the session after having spent the morning at his dad's. Luckily we'd had the foresight to buy him a puzzle book and a set of pens so he wasn't too bored, though he did wonder why we had to check everything so many times. We explained that it was because we wanted everything to be the best it could possibly be (but also, more candidly, that we had no more of the recording money & vouchers we'd been given for our wedding, so this was our last chance to get everything perfect)!

We came away with a CD with all of the songs for the mini-album on it, in the right order, so we can listen and decide how much of a gap - or not - we want between them all when mastered. The CD itself is just under half an hour long so we think it's possibly that bit too long to be reasonably called an EP, but that bit too short to be described as a full-album (hence us calling it a mini-album). We can't quite believe how fantastically this concept album hangs together; each song seems to fit perfectly, and they all sound sumptuous! There are so many instruments too in addition to our harmonies; this album has everything from melodica to psaltery; from violin to mandolin, from piano to bodhran... and more.

We've already worked on the cover art for the CD, but there are so many other things left to do before we can release it. We've decided on a single (digital release only) for the album, which will be Ella Brown, and have commissioned some cover art, to display online, from an exciting young mixed-media artist; having seen some sketches already we're intrigued about what she'll come up with for the final design. We're also awaiting the final mix of our b-side (folk classic Reynardine) for the single; unlike the a-side and the rest of the album, this has been recorded by one of Ruth's friends who is studying for a music degree.

We have myriad other i's to dot and t's to cross; signing up to PRS, getting the CDs printed and burnt, deciding how to get our music onto other platforms outside of Bandcamp, writing to various publications to request reviews, arranging the launch gig and mini-tour (a mini-album necessitates a mini-tour, surely). Naturally, we also have other responsibilities; we both have jobs and of course there's Ruth's son to parent and a house to run. We've been so lucky, though, that we could even do this at all; the kind wedding presents of studio time were such lovely, thoughtful gifts from friends for which we're incredibly grateful. It's so exciting to record an album together and hopefully, this won't be the only one.

We're also indebted to people who've helped us pre-promote the album so far; you Macramists are the BEST; sharing posts across social media, bringing friends to gigs and generally spreading the word. We'd simply love it if you keep it up now; if we can create a bit of a buzz about Amateur Astronomy in advance that would be marvellous! Thank you all. xx