Philip Selway plays the Tiny Desk and leaves the drums to Chris Vatalaro

Philip Selway's Tiny Desk concert is out on NPR Music, 11 months after The Smile's. He plays three songs from Strange Dance, his first solo album in nearly nine years, singing at the piano and on guitar. Introducing the band, he gives his reason for leaving the drums to Chris Vatalaro, once of Antibalas, who also plays bass and sings. There is absolutely no way I am playing drums in front of Chris, ever.¹

The strings are four players from the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), who sing as well: its artistic director Clarice Jensen on cello, Ben Russell and Laura Lutzke on violins and Kal Sugatski on viola. The same line-up played with Selway at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on 25 September, a one-off billed as “In The Round”.

On Friday Bella Union, which put out Strange Dance in February, releases another take on its songs, Live At Evolution Studios, recorded in Oxford at the end of April with Vatalaro and the string quartet Elysian Collective.

Setlist