“A month spent in an old mill in the under belly of France.
River swimming thrice a day.
Hot nights soundtracked by the rattle of randy frogs. Scorpion fear. In the sheets, on the face.
Hours of bird watching – no phone service. No wifi. 3 DVDs; Jurassic Park 1, 2 & 3.
Violin practice. Bread scoffing.
Early morning coffee drinking before the sun was too hot to do anything but snooze in the thick walled house. Music in the afternoon after a dip in the river and a cold beer on the square.
An album made for each other by one another with no hands, eyes or ears piercing the bubble other than that of dear friend Stephen Black who kept note of it all.”
– Cate Le Bon
“In a town, so very still and quiet.
A month in St. Hippolyte Du Fort, South France.
Where completely all of their brave young men vanished forever from the death machine of the first world war.
At one time left with only women and young girls.
Only relics of time standing still.
All the deceased names of men chiseled under a stone angel, that watches over the town square.
We set up a recording unit in an old stone mill turned house and began to write and record with the attention of tree trimmers or gardeners.
It got so hot we had to swim in a local river near by just to be able to think, then back to our home to make sounds and songs. Any sounds we could think of or wanted.
We used night sounds, night insects and used frogs as instruments. Did you know frogs have saxophones in their throats?
This is a broken music. a crumble. It’s the music of the building we called home for a month. We’ve never made & recorded music in such a simple living environment.
With all the ease, and air we needed. We were in a town 8 miles over from Robert Crumb’s hidden residence.
We lived in a mysterious place.
We had a flock of bats over for dinner many nights. No internet, or a phone to look to.
We had a beautiful big stone house, a river, and from time to time a lovely elderly yet young-hearted couple who would visit.
It was the opposite of what a typical recording experience usually is for any of us.
We tried to capture all of this and put it on record.”
– Tim Presley
“I have not listened to anything except the new Drinks album…….
At first i was like, this is a mind f**k. then i became addicted. it is totally brilliant”
– Bradford Cox (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound)
News
Bushwick Daily Features Drinks in CMJ new music playlist
Bushwick Daily
“Drinks is the delightful project of Welsh singer Cate LeBon and Tim Presley (White Fence). Their tunes are a little bit severe and minimalistic in all the right ways. Live, the music has a rougher edge and the shared stage presence is powerful…”
The Line of Best Fit reviews Drinks live show at The Lexington
The Line of Best Fit
“Live they added to the improvisation of the record with a dose of extra psychedelia courtesy of the super spaced-out guitar playing from the alt-rock soulmates and the fabulously fluid rhythm section…”
For The Rabbits reviews Drinks live at End Of The Road.
For The Rabbits
“None the less it was a superb set; delightfully awkward and angular, their grasp of rhythm and noise was thrilling…”
Across The Arts reviews Drinks at the CCA
Across The Arts
“ve, it becomes a ferocious, snarling beast—a perfect fusion of beauty and noise. Backed by a fantastic, propulsive rhythm section, swelling them to a quartet, Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley’s songs take on new, unexpected forms…”
Gigwise reviews Drinks live at Festival NO.6
Gigwise
“Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley’s collaboration Drinks were one of the last acts to play at the stunning Estuary Stage. Le Bon’s beautiful vocals soared over musical arrangements more sprawling than more of her solo canon but certainly none the worse for it…”
Far Out Magazine Interviews Drinks
Far Out Magazine
“On paper the combination of San Francisco punk turned psych-king Presley and Welsh oddball popster Le Bon sounds infinitely intriguing, but today the proof is in the pudding as the album is now available for you to earn, via Heavenly Recordings….”
Drowned In Sound reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Drowned in Sound
“Despite the difference between le Bon’s and Presley’s median outputs, they produce a fresh and rich stylistic centre on Hermits on Holiday. The record is far more avant-garde than any of le Bon’s solo material, and calls on the most antisocial aspects of Presley’s…”
God Is In The TV reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
God Is In The TV
“The first clue that something is amiss is on the brilliant ‘Cannon Mouth‘, where Le Bon sounds as though she’s sucking moonshine from the kitchen sink through a straw, before Presley joins in on the splendidly infectious chorus…”
Music OMH reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Music OMH
“Right from the outset it’s obvious that DRINKS aren’t merely picking at the best bits of the contributors’ previous work: the Californian psych-folk tinge to opener Laying Down Rock is pulled in an altogether different direction by the minimalist feel and repeating hook…”
Pitchfork reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Pitchfork
“There’s unmistakable precedent to the sound where they meet, the dub inflections and buzzing guitar welts. Hermits evokes the captivating disconnect of a late-’70s John Peel show,…”
The Sound Of Confusion reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday
The Sound Of Confusion
“When does a collaboration become a solo project? Well, it generally doesn’t unless one member quits, but, despite being a full-on, two-way partnership, DRINKS prefer to be seen as a solid entity…”
The Line of Best Fit Interviews Drinks
The Line of Best Fit
“Their album Hermits On Holiday doesn’t sound like a composite of their respective solo work but instead feels like a completely new band, which to all intents and purposes they are…”
Mystic Sons reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Mystic Sons
“But now the Welsh frontwoman has teamed up with Tim Presley, better known as White Fence, to deliver their first studio album under the name DRINKS, and although they claim this is not a collaboration but a solo project with “one mouth, one set of lungs, one mind and four legs”, it certainly brings out the best of both of them…”
Rock Shot Interviews Drinks
Rock Shot
“LA-based Welsh singer songwriter Cate Le Bon and American psych-rocker Tim Presley have joined forces to form Drinks…”
The Line of Best Fit reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
The Line of Best Fit
“Hermits On Holiday is that rarest of treats, a side-project that could be its writers’ day job. Bristling with brio and invention, it sounds as much fun to listen to as its creators evidently had making it… “
Glasswerk reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Glasswerk
“a fascinating debut…”
Louder Than War reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
Louder Than War
“The simplicity of it; the ease of the groove; the full embodiment of infant sounds – everything commonly expected when this – hopefully long – relationship was announced…”
The Active Listener reviews Drinks ‘Hermits On Holiday’
The Active Listener
“There is a spontaneity here that is impossible to fake; one can hear ideas being developed as the tape rolls… This is music that is being made for the pure love of making music; loose, ragged, charming, and alive…”
Pitchfork shares DRINKS’ video for “hermits on holiday,” announce tour dates
Pitchfork
Le Bon and Presley have released a lo-fi performance video for “Hermits on Holiday”, directed by themselves, in which the two stroll through towns and hills; Presley’s parents appear in the video as well, dancing in the background.
The 405 shares DRINKS’ video for “hermits on holiday”
The 405
Musical entity Tim Presley (White Fence) has teamed up with Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon recently decided to team up to carve out a collaborative effort in the form of Drinks. Their first single, and the name of their August-scheduled album, ‘Hermits On Holiday‘, has now received a visual treatment.
Under the Radar shares the title track from Drinks’ forthcoming LP
Under The Radar
Tim Presley of White Fence and Welsh singer/songwriter/guitarist Cate Le Bon have teamed up as DRINKS and are releasing their debut album, Hermits On Holiday, on August 21. They have released the album’s title track, “Hermits On Holiday,” featuring Le Bon on lead vocals.
Exclaim announces Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon collaboration as Drinks
Exclaim
San Francisco’s Tim Presley and Welsh-born Cate Le Bon both have fruitful careers in their own right; the former has released a string of albums as White Fence, and the latter is a respected solo songwriter. Now, they’ve teamed up for a collaborative project called Drinks, with an album coming out this summer.
DIY Magazine shares DRINKS’ “hermits on holiday”
DIY Magazine
Beady-eyed White Fence fans might’ve noticed Cate Le Bon playing in Tim Presley’s band last autumn, and now the two have paired up for a collaborative project, DRINKS.
Stereogum streams DRINKS’ “hermits on holiday”
Stereogum
Drinks is the new duo of Cate Le Bon, the whispery Welsh singer-songwriter, and Tim Presley, the idiosyncratic Bay Area psych rocker who records as White Fence.
NPR premiers the title track from the forthcoming Drinks LP
NPR
Cate Le Bon wrote some of my favorite words of 2013 on her album Mug Museum. White Fence is the swirly psych-like music of Tim Presley. Cate and Tim are friends — Cate played guitar on a tour with White Fence — and so now there’s this: DRINKS. DRINKS has an album coming August 21 and this is the title track, called “Hermits on Holiday.”