Check out the latest single from GRAMMY Award-winning Nickel Creek. ‘Holding Pattern’ is a gently beautiful song that lures the listener into its hypnotic, finger-picking patterns. The accompanying video features mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins performing the song, demonstrating their fine musicianship and gorgeous harmonies. Artistically-shot, it’s simple and engaging, allowing us to focus on the music, which is utterly absorbing. The band say of the song: “The circular contrapuntal guitar figures are reminiscent of a holding pattern, a term often invoked during the early stages of the pandemic. Here’s to true love keeping us airborne when it isn’t safe to land.”
‘Holding Pattern’ is the second single taken from the new album ‘Celebrants’, due for release on 24th March. It will be their fifth full-length release and their first for nine years. No surprise, then, that this is highly anticipated and the early signs are that it will fulfil all expectations. The harmonies and tight performances are there, as are the sensitive, poetic lyrics that cover various aspects of life: human connections, love gained and lost, rebuilding relationships and the effect of time passing. The band say of the album: “This is a record about embracing the friction inherent in real human connection. We begin the record yearning for and pursuing harmonious connection. We end the record having realised that truly harmonious connection can only be achieved through the dissonance that we’ve spent our entire adult lives trying to avoid.”
This spring, Nickel Creek will hit the road in the USA on their first headline tour since 2014, including three sold-out nights at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Good news for fans in the UK: the band have also announced a headline show at London’s Barbican Centre on 1st September 2023. The members of Nickel Creek have all enjoyed incredible success beyond the band. For example, Thile has released six studio albums with his GRAMMY-winning band Punch Brothers; Sara Watkins has put out four solo albums as well as founding the GRAMMY-winning trio I’m With Her; and Sean Watkins co-founded Watkins Family Hour with Sara and has also released a number of solo albums. Hugely-respected in their own right, it’s fantastic to see them come together again as a band – they work so naturally together and the blend of their instruments and voices is a special thing to behold.
