Executive Overview
The contemporary British folk landscape is undergoing a profound, radical renaissance, and at the absolute vanguard of this movement sits the nine-piece ensemble Shovel Dance Collective. Today marks a significant milestone in the group’s trajectory as they officially share ‘Jer the Rigger’, the third and final single preceding their eagerly anticipated upcoming studio album, Everything in Readiness. Set for official release on October 23, 2026, via Glitterbeat Records’ acclaimed tak:til imprint, the new record serves as the direct successor to their widely lauded 2024 breakthrough, The Shovel Dance.
If The Shovel Dance served as a manifesto for a modern generation reshaping traditional music, Everything in Readiness promises to expand those boundaries exponentially. The newly released single anchors an ambitious opening suite composed of three interconnected tracks that have been rolled out in reverse chronological order over the late summer and early autumn of 2026: "Tally Ho! Hark Away!" (released August 19), "The Foxhunter’s Reel" (released September 9), and today’s unveiling of "Jer the Rigger".
Accompanying this final single release is a visually arresting, culturally rich music video directed by renowned filmmakers Tim Plester and Rob Curry. Drawing deeply from the legendary Doc Rowe Archive, the video juxtaposes the Collective’s visceral, boundary-pushing soundscapes with flickering, historic footage of traditional British working life and ritual: ancient dry stone walling methods, age-old apple pressing techniques, and the kaleidoscopic pageantry of the Padstow May Day celebrations.
As the collective prepares to embark on an extensive, high-profile United Kingdom tour spanning late 2026 and early 2027—including major festival slots at Cardiff’s Llais Festival and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, alongside a landmark headline performance at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall—Everything in Readiness stands poised to redefine what contemporary folk music can sound like, how it is constructed, and what socio-political spaces it can occupy.
Detailed Chronology
To fully understand the artistic weight of Everything in Readiness, one must trace the meticulous timeline of its creation and rollout. Unlike conventional pop or rock rollouts that rely on immediate commercial hooks, Shovel Dance Collective approaches the release of their recorded output as an extension of their living, breathing, and constantly evolving live show.
The Genesis of the Opening Suite
The creation of the album’s tripartite opening statement began deep within the crucible of the band’s touring cycle. According to the ensemble, the opening suite—though released across three distinct dates in reverse order—was always conceived spiritually and structurally as a single, monumental composition.
- The Evolution of "Jer the Rigger": Among the first arrangements to genuinely "find its feet" during early writing sessions, "Jer the Rigger" quickly solidified itself as a cornerstone of the collective’s live performances. Driven by rapid-fire interplay and a communal spirit of improvisation, the piece developed at breakneck speed.
- The Interlocking Flow of "The Foxhunter’s Reel": In live settings, "Jer the Rigger" naturally bled directly into "The Foxhunter’s Reel". However, rather than remaining static, the arrangement of the reel was subjected to constant live experimentation. Over dozens of performances, the piece was broken down, reshaped, and rebuilt night after night, heavily anchored by the volatile, soaring fiddle work of member Ollie (drawing stylistic comparisons by critics to legendary folk-rock and avant-garde sensibilities). This live-first methodology established the primary creative ethos for the entire Everything in Readiness sessions: treating recorded tracks not as fixed monuments, but as fluid experiments prone to distortion, extended techniques, and high-stakes stage risks.
- The Subversion of "Tally Ho! Hark Away!": Released on August 19 as the first salvo of the campaign, this track set the ideological and sonic tone for the project. Rather than treating the traditional hunting cry as a glorification of rural aristocracy or sport, Shovel Dance Collective transformed it into a devastating, poignant lament. Inspired by the traditional "piper’s fox hunt" tunes encountered while touring, the collective subverted the narrative: instead of celebrating the huntsman’s triumph, the music mourns the hunted fox, painting an auditory portrait of the animal being freed from earthly brutality into a realm of pure innocence. The track climaxes with a solemn, transcendent blast of horns and cymbals, marking an imaginary ascension.
The Visual Narrative: Plester, Curry, and the Doc Rowe Archive
The decision to pair these three interconnected tracks with a unified visual medium underscores the collective’s academic and cultural grounding in British folklore. Directed by Tim Plester and Rob Curry, the accompanying music video is a masterclass in historical contextualization.
By mining the vast, invaluable visual library of the Doc Rowe Archive—a lifetime collection dedicated to documenting British calendar customs, folk plays, and industrial heritage—the video creates a hypnotic dialogue between past and present. The footage of master stonemasons meticulously fitting dry stone walls without mortar mirrors the band’s own structural approach to folk songs: taking ancient, unyielding elements and fitting them together through tension, balance, and weight. Similarly, the rhythmic pressing of autumn apples and the ecstatic, hypnotic community dancing of Padstow’s May Day rituals mirror the cyclic, trance-inducing nature of the music itself.
Supporting Context & Metrics
The Avant-Folk "Supergroup" Without Hubris
To contextualize Shovel Dance Collective’s meteoric rise, critics and musicologists frequently point to their unique positioning within the modern musical ecosystem. Upon the release of their 2024 album The Shovel Dance, esteemed critic Thomas Blake wrote a defining review for KLOF Mag that accurately encapsulated the band’s cultural footprint:
"A kind of avant-folk supergroup, but without any of the hubris that term implies, the Shovel Dance Collective are at the forefront of a new wave of traditional music, one which looks to the future and the past simultaneously. With their collaborational and often improvisational methods, they are changing the way folk music is created, putting an emphasis on its otherness, its queerness, its capacity for contemporary political comment and most importantly, its inclusivity. And what’s more, they are doing it with breathtaking, potent tunes."
This review remains the definitive lens through which to view the nine-piece ensemble. Comprising a diverse roster of musicians who utilize a vast array of instruments—ranging from traditional fiddles, pipes, and squeezeboxes to drone machines, percussion, and avant-garde noise gear—the Collective rejects the antiquated notion of folk music as a museum piece. Instead, they treat tradition as a living, malleable commons that belongs as much to the marginalized, the queer, and the politically dispossessed as it ever did to agrarian history.
Release Metrics & Label Partnership
- Album Everything in Readiness
- Release Date: October 23, 2026
- Record Label: Glitterbeat Records (tak:til imprint)
- Ensemble Size: 9 members (Shovel Dance Collective)
- Pre-Order Platform: Distributed via Idol-io Pre-Order/Save Link
Official Statements
In statements accompanying today’s release of "Jer the Rigger" and the opening suite, the members of Shovel Dance Collective offered rare insight into their creative philosophy, composition techniques, and the philosophical underpinnings of their art:
"The opening suite of three pieces (always imagined spiritually as one) was one of our first arrangements to find its feet. ‘Jer the Rigger’ developed quickly and remained a solid staple of our live set, and whilst ‘The Foxhunter’s Reel’ always came immediately afterwards, the way it developed and broke down was ultimately honed and changed constantly over our many live performances, with Ollie’s Flynt-esque fiddle always at the forefront."
They continued, elaborating on the unpredictable nature of their studio and stagecraft:
"This became a theme for this record: arrangements constantly tinkered with on the road, new experiments with instrumentation, distortion and extended techniques, taking risks on stage (sometimes paying off, sometimes not!)."
Addressing the deeply emotional narrative woven into the suite’s finale, the band elaborated on their subversion of traditional pastoral tropes:
"Our Tally Ho! is not a hunter’s victory cry but a lament, inspired by the piper’s fox hunt tradition that we fell in love with while touring. Where tradition may celebrate the huntsman, our version mourns the fox, imagining them freed from brutality into innocence. Horns and cymbals sound to mark their ascension."
Future Outlook: The 2026–2027 UK Tour
The release of Everything in Readiness on October 23, 2026, will be immediately supported by one of the most comprehensive and ambitious touring schedules undertaken by any contemporary folk act in recent memory. The itinerary bridges major contemporary music festivals with intimate basement clubs, historic halls, and specialized children’s performances.
Full Tour Dates & Venues
- October 8, 2026 – Cardiff – Llais Festival
- October 22, 2026 – London – Rough Trade East (Live Performance & Album Signing)
- November 25, 2026 – Huddersfield – Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF)
- February 4, 2027 – London – Queen Elizabeth Hall
- February 12, 2027 – Nottingham – Metronome
- February 13, 2027 – Birmingham – Midlands Arts Centre (Supersonic Children’s Gig)
- February 13, 2027 – Birmingham – The Castle & Falcon
- February 14, 2027 – Manchester – New Century Locker
- February 15, 2027 – Edinburgh – The Caves
- February 16, 2027 – Newcastle – Gosforth Civic Theatre
- February 17, 2027 – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
- February 18, 2027 – Bristol – Mount Without
- February 19, 2027 – Totnes – Barrel House
- March 14, 2027 – Brighton – Komedia
Looking Ahead
As Shovel Dance Collective steps onto the stage at London’s prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall in February 2027 or navigates the sonic explorations demanded by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, they will do so as torchbearers of a movement that refuses to stand still. Everything in Readiness is more than an album title; it is a declaration that the avant-folk community is fully prepared for a future where history, politics, improvisation, and sheer sonic beauty collide in spectacular fashion.
