The Hurdy-Gurdy Song

The Hurdy-Gurdy Song by Local Psycho and the Hurdy-Gurdy Orchestra is a (so far) one-off single by Jimmy Cauty and The Pogues founding-member Jem Finer.

The Hurdy Gurdy Song is a deep drone heard through time.
It is a masterpiece of psycho-cosmology that fuses the ancient music of the British Isles with the frenetic sound of the present.
It is the sound of euphoria and melancholia, locked together in constant battle that neither wants to win.
It is an elemental sound, like a sped up version of this country’s weather.
It is an anthem of disruption, of playful provocation and sonic sedition.
It is relentless and restless, like all good music should be.
It sings down through all eternity, the crying of humanity.
It channels the two greatest forms of folk music this country has produced: that of the peasant’s lyre and drum’n’bass.

Leading up to the release – and to mark the 50,000 year return of the Green Comet – the pair stood a two and a half tonne stone in a field in Sussex on the Saturday prior.

The original single was released by Heavenly Recordings on May 1st, 2023 to various digital platforms, including hi-res download options from outlets like Beatport (!) and a dedicated Bandcamp page.

A physical 12″ got released on 25 August 2023, including the original and three additional remixes of which two were made available for pre-order.

Along with the single, L-13 added various merchandise items to their webshop, including a poster of the single’s artwork (available in two editions), a t-shirt, and a pair of cups.

In addition, Jimmy Cauty designed an exclusive JamJar limited to ten copies only to celebrate the occasion, depicting a group of children joyfully dancing around a policeman tied to the Gurdy Stone.

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