27 January 2011 - 0 Comments

Local reggae pioneers House Of Shem are set to release their sophomore album Island Vibration on February 14^th. The album features current radio single ‘Sweet Love’. In support of the release of the album House Of Shem will be heading out on tour throughout New Zealand in March and April.

House of Shem hail from Aotearoa, New Zealand and like many legendary reggae groups this band is built around the classic harmony trio format. At the helm is Carl Perkins, a man with over thirty years experience writing and playing reggae music. As a former member of ‘Herbs’, ‘Mana’ and ‘The Twelve Tribes Of Israel’ amongst others, Carl’s musical credentials are impeccable.

Joining Carl are two of his sons Te Omeka and Isaiah who not only provide harmonies and play keyboards, they are both lead vocalist and composers in their own right. It is this blood link and family bond that renders the sum of their combined voices as something really extraordinary. Each of the three has their own distinct song writing style and voice, effectively giving the band three lead singers. The harmonies are sublime and the precision of their ensemble performance is phenomenal. For their new album Island Vibration the Perkins family also worked with up and coming artist Karl Thomas, who provides another unique voice for the band.

House Of Shem’s long awaited second album Island Vibration wasrecorded in 2010 at Auckland’s Roundhead studios. The band enlisted the engineering expertise of the legendary Mr Errol Brown. Brown is renowned for recording and mixing albums with the best in reggae music including Bob Marley & The Wailers, Burning Spear and Third World and has worked on Grammy award winning albums by Damian Marley, Julian Marley and Lauren Hill. Island Vibration was then mixed at Bob Marley’s own Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica by Errol Brown.

In May 2008 House Of Shem released their debut album Keep Rising. The album was an exceptionally strong opening statement from the band; with each of the family members splitting the composition credits evenly it neatly demonstrates the bands musical range and diversity of styles. House of Shem have also had four songs featured on the best-selling Conscious Roots compilations. April 2009 saw Keep Rising released in Australia, The Pacific Islands and Hawaii.  The band is also set to tour Australia, Hawaii, and 48 states of the USA from June 2011.

The House of Shem live experience is an unforgettable occasion – a rare mixture of power and beauty. This band’s incredible tightness, heavenly harmonies, conscious lyrics and blend of traditional and contemporary reggae styles will leave you spellbound.

Catch House Of Shem live. Tour dates to be announced soon.

Thanks to www.houseofshem.com for this story.

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