Get The Blessing

Bristol based Get The Blessing are made up of bassist Jim Barr, drummer Clive Deamer, trumpeter Pete Judge and saxophonist Jake McMurchie. Jim and Clive (of '90s trip-hop superstars Portishead) formed The Blessing in 2000 to share a fascination with improvised music and a pathological distrust of chords. (The name was recently changed to Get the Blessing) The idea was to "get stuck into 'proper' improvisation rather than to rely upon a coasting rhythm section" explains Jim. The Blessing started out playing the music of Ornette Coleman but began slowly to make a noise of their own. They began to write tunes and a turning point came in 2006 when they finally got in the studio and a new sound emerged almost overnight. Their combined new approach has much in common with the current crop of trailblazers, bands such as EST, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland. Their music also draws from influences as diverse as the Kings of Leon, Morphine and Albert Ayler. Get The Blessing's catchy, rocking tunes and arrangements create a genre-bending blend of sounds that is all their own. Get The Blessing has established a strong fan with their debut studio album "All is Yes", in February 2008, to great acclaim. "Jazz-informed art-rock at its finest" (Venue Magazine).