Buy now at the Real World store: cd / vinyl

Tomorrow Held

Released 01 August 2025

Cooper
All Your Tiny Bones
MacGill
Look Up
26
Tomorrow Held
Will
Four

Buy now at the Real World store: cd / vinyl

Liner notes

Tomorrow Held is the visionary new album by twenty-something mould-breakers and conservatoire-trained virtuosos, fiddle player Owen Spafford and guitarist Louis Campbell. Eight largely instrumental tracks that hold space, resolve into mystery, that fold in elements of jazz, post-rock and chamber classical music while raiding the folk music toolbox. Call it what you want: post-folk. Trad-noir. Folk nihilism. Then know that Spafford Campbell are blazing a trail that erases genre, finds gold in the embers. Forget about tomorrow, they say. Welcome to the now.

Spafford Campbell - MacGill (Official Video)

Reviews

A fusing of the traditional and the futuristic that is quietly groundbreaking, and beguiling with it ★★★★ The Times (The Best Albums of 2025 So Far)
An absorbing, complex, cosmic open field of instrumental invention ★★★★★ The Arts Desk
What Talk Talk would sound like making an album inspired by British traditional music The Guardian
England’s finest and most innovative instrumental duo ★★★★★ Songlines

Listen

Credits

Owen Spafford: Fiddle, Vocals (7)
Louis Campbell: Guitars, Vocals (2,7), Banjo (7)
Sean Rogan: Drums (7)
Ben Nicholls: Double Bass and Electric Bass (1,2,3,5,6,7)
Alex Lyon: Bass Clarinet (1,2,5,7)

Recorded 29/10 to 3/11 and 25-29/11 2024 at Giant Wafer Studios
Engineered by Sean Rogan
Mixed by Katie May at Real World Studios
Mastered by Tim Oliver
Produced by Sean Rogan, Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell

Written by Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell
Copyright Control

A Real World Design by Marc Bessant
Cover art by Peter Mitchell
Additional Photography by Lara Laeverenz

Thanks to: Sean Rogan, Ben Nicholls, Alex Lyon, Ed Lewis, Katie May, Tim Oliver, Odhrán Mullan, Amanda Jones, Will McCarthy, Sophie Beck, Marc Bessant, Peter Mitchell, Lara Laeverenz, Sarah Coxson, Bill, Kieran Murphy, Chris Rabbitts, Rob Dimbleby, Phoebe Harty, Cori Smith, Maria McNamee, Henry Webster, the Spaffords and the Campbells

Further Listening

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Thomas Bartlett

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Thomas Bartlett

Released 11 September 2019

Exquisite collaborative album from pianist Thomas Bartlett and hardanger d’amore virtuoso Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, of The Gloaming. Recorded in Mexico City, New York and in Bath.
The Gloaming

The Gloaming

Released 17 January 2014

The Gloaming carves new paths connecting the rich Irish folk tradition and the New York contemporary music scene. From haunting sean-nós songs to raucous folk explosions, they make music that is both ancient and utterly new: respecting traditions whilst bringing an unconventional energy into the mix.

Tomorrow Held

Further reading

Beyond Skin release ‘Afghan Girl’: a story of resilience and artistic freedom

Susana Baca live at WOMAD announced

Swaken Lyrics

Spafford Campbell: Erasing genre and finding gold in the embers