Our new song, Deep Water Fish

New single Deep Water Fish dives into the darkness to find inner light, starting the year on a mellow and hopeful note.

Listen to the song on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6nSM3jC6tHEm60Ldfwv9Th?si=muO5uKFCSaCGLzbQjbWyGw

Early listens on day one help the song travel further on Spotify and reach new ears!

Our journey out to New Mexico has been epic! To give our UK friends some context: in the last week we have driven the equivalent of four times the length of your whole country.

The new year slipped in quietly as we began our adventure westward. There’s something magical about literally driving into the sunset several days in a row - nothing like new horizons to turn our Christmas tree corner in Brooklyn a fading dream.

We stopped in St. Louis for a flying visit, reconnecting with friends and family and culminating in an incredible show in a DIY community space. To say that St. Louis has filled our cup is an understatement, as always, the gateway city leaves us wanting more…

And that was just the halfway point!

Two more days of driving, a night in Oklahoma at a friend’s and finally we arrived in the otherworldly landscapes of New Mexico. We’re tired from the road, grateful for the adventures, excited to be starting the process of converting our new van into our dream tour vehicle and to be sharing our new song with you now.

Deep Water Fish is about believing in your inner light even when you can’t see it, even when you don’t feel it, even in the darkest moments.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/6nSM3jC6tHEm60Ldfwv9Th?si=muO5uKFCSaCGLzbQjbWyGw

Shine on,

Alicia and Robert

P.S. we’re going live on instagram today at 1PM ET (6PM GMT) come say hi :)

Upcoming performances

see tickets & show details here: https://www.adifferentthread.com/tour-dates

JAN

15 Del Norte CO (trade & post)

18 New Braunfels TX (nb house concert)

20 New Orleans LA (okay bar ‘jan-boree’)

21-26 New Orleans LA (folk alliance international)

FEB

14 Chapel Hill (valentines dinner at Vimalas)

28 Hendersonville NC (trailside winter ramble fest)

MAR

5 Greensboro NC (the flat iron w/ Admiral Radio)

13 Pittsboro NC (the plant)

20 Wake Forest NC (wf listening room)

25 Flat Rock NC (magnolia series)

11 Asheville NC (one world west)

New Music Video Out Today! Strange Winter World: “Amaranth”

As winter closes in, with long nights that can be hard to endure, we can still open up. Blossom. Bloom. The Amaranth music video was made to express some of the complexities of winter. It explores the ways we feel stuck, and dormant, while reviling in the spaces that call out for growth and healing.

Watch the official music video for Amaranth here: https://youtu.be/-fSCvf8g-ZI

In a celebration of solidarity it shows how we can push through to support ourselves and each other through the more difficult seasons of life. Filmed entirely in Brooklyn using a time-lapse technique, with a twist: we moved very slowly to create a stop motion effect. The world rushes past while we move at a different pace, demonstrating a feeling of separation between the self and the environment. We were also very cold while filming, turns out moving slowly in sub zero temperatures will do that. And that discomfort became part of the artistic expression as well, influencing how long we were able to do any singular shot/activity before going into a cafe and warming up!

It has been over a month at the tree stand and keeping up with band promo while being on opposite shifts, (with Robert on nights, Alicia on day) has been a challenge in many ways. We keep leaving lots of notes and even then it can be tricky to stay on the same page. Pushing ourselves to make this video, and getting a little artsy with it has helped bring some creative connection to our collaboration during this time in NYC.

Watch the official music video for Amaranth here: https://youtu.be/-fSCvf8g-ZI

On Monday night we played an intimate pop-up gig at a French restaurant in Bed-Stuy called Chez Oskar. It felt like a remembering of self. It had been two months since our last show, and the warmth of that room reminded us why we make music in the first place.

If this season feels lonely, we hope this video offers a bit of comfort and reminds you that you are not alone. May the music bring warmth to the darker days and help you ring in the new year on a hopeful note.

Watch the official music video for Amaranth here: https://youtu.be/-fSCvf8g-ZI

Happy new year to you and yours

With love,

Alicia and Robert

A Different Thread

New Stop-Motion Lyric Video: Amaranth

Hope can come in many forms. Just like the flower, our new song Amaranth has gone to seed, sending little glimpses of hope out into the darkness of winter. Today we’re sharing the official lyric video, made by Alicia.

Watch the video on youtube here: https://youtu.be/KdJTdBnehKQ

These winter months are often a time of introspection and it is beautiful seeing the myriad ways that our listeners are reflecting the song back to us. The responses keep rolling in, and it is inspiring to see so many people resonate with the theme of resilience through difficult times. It seems we have made a cozy winter folk song - emotional healing music!

We struggled to find any amaranth growing in Red Hook last month (just one plant), and now I am finding it everywhere…in planters, in window displays, and growing in the wild spaces between buildings, through cracks in the concrete, I picked some to use for the lyric video and now I am weaving it into wreaths and selling them at the tree stand.

Watch the Amaranth Lyric Video here: https://youtu.be/KdJTdBnehKQ

The stand is in full swing as the days creep ever closer to Christmas. It feels like we have carved our community here, like we are growing brightly in our own way, right here on our own path of cold Brooklyn sidewalk. Folks come by to chat, to bring hot chocolate, they bring their dogs, their kids, their instruments (when the weather allows) and we gather.

A patchwork of New York characters, some folks who grew up here, others who have moved in along the way. It is hard work and in between it is a celebration of something older than Christmas, the togetherness that we need to survive through these long winter nights.

It’s that spirit of resilience that this song embodies. We hope this lyric video brings you a little warmth today.

Watch the Amaranth Lyric Video here: https://youtu.be/KdJTdBnehKQ

Your fan,

A Different Thread

New Song alert! Hope, resilience & a little red flower. This is "Amaranth"

Hey friend, our new single Amaranth is out now, it’s a hopeful song about resilience and self-love in hard times. Its name comes from an ancient flower that we found growing through the cracks in a Brooklyn sidewalk…

Listen to Amaranth here: https://open.spotify.com/track/7xyMsQNQKFcqQcvzTbI4dn?si=5cc92e8d16a54088

Winter can be a hard season for a lot of people. Many folks struggle with the winter blues, and this song is our small light for anyone who needs a little hope right now.

Amaranth is a dream folk Americana track about growing in the wrong soil and choosing to bloom anyway.

Alicia wrote it after finding one bright red amaranth plant growing through a crack in the concrete in Brooklyn. The seeds first arrived in NYC as seeds in ballast soil, brought on ships from South America and although it had never grown in a climate like New York, it thrived. We read a New York Times article from 2017 which said that it grows wild in Red Hook, Brooklyn so we went looking for it! We found only one small plant surviving between warehouses and new developments, yet still as vibrant and vivid as ever.

Amaranth growing in Brooklyn, New York

“I saw myself reflected in this little plant” says Alicia. “If it can bloom bright red, even through cracks in the cold concrete, then we too can find the courage to grow, even when the odds are against us”.

We hope the song feels like that; hopeful, empowering, and healing. A reminder that you are not alone!

Listen to Amaranth here: https://open.spotify.com/track/7xyMsQNQKFcqQcvzTbI4dn?si=5cc92e8d16a54088

Or join the Youtube visualizer premiere at 12 noon ET (5pm GMT) here: https://youtu.be/aXVjjTZU04k

You might hear echoes of Carole King, Natalie Merchant, Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, The Paper Kites, The Lumineers (someone even said ABBA?).

Go and give Amaranth some love on social media, all shares, likes and comments go a long way.

Thanks for listening and for being with us, on this journey!

Your fan,

A Different Thread

P.S. we’re back in NYC selling Xmas trees for the next few weeks, it’s very cold but we’re grateful to have this side hustle to help support our music habit. Here’s a little behind the scenes clip of Alicia preparing a tree for sale. You don’t choose the side hustle, the side hustle chooses you!

Watch Alicia serving up an xmas tree: https://youtu.be/74KKIlq4ckQ

New Music Video Alert! Shot across 3k miles in 3 months - this is "Always Leaving"

Hey, we’ve landed back in NYC for our annual Christmas tree hustle and things really started with a bang! The back axle of our borrowed van snapped on the highway and both wheels flew off! (We’re fine. The van… less fine.) It’s getting patched up and should be ready just in time for us to live out of it for tree season.

Meanwhile, you may have heard that an AI-generated song hit No. 1 this week. Wild times. If you’re craving the antidote (something handmade, human, and a little scrappy) lucky for you… we just made a brand new music video!

Watch the new “Always Leaving” music video now: https://youtu.be/1-9HGWCqxwI

This traversal style video is a window into tour life over the last few months : Alicia and I walking left-to-right through dozens of places we passed on the road, grabbing quick shots with our vintage camcorder, whenever we saw something interesting.

The effect is this hypnotic forward motion that never stops, (like a real life version of our cranky puppet video) stitched together from real moments, real people, real places, even capturing some real goodbyes along the way.

We hid a bunch of easter eggs in the video, too; inside jokes, familiar faces, cameos from tour, and sneak peeks of what’s coming next from the new album.

 Seriously - go watch it and drop a comment on the video, like and subscribe! We appreciate ya!

Watch the new “Always Leaving” music video now: https://youtu.be/1-9HGWCqxwI

Thanks for sticking with us through the playful moments, the chaos, and the magic that we find along the way.
We’re grateful you’re here.

Much love,

Alicia & Robert

P.S. As a mailing-list exclusive: here’s a little behind-the-scenes clip of us trying to get one of the walking shots. (We were absolutely freezing but it’s all in the name of art!) https://youtube.com/shorts/vYuUBBhGxYQ?si=hAExyrrlqvrC5z1f

Finally… the lyric video 9 years in the making

We finally made this lyric video and it only took us 9 years!

When we met (busking in Galway 2016) we started traveling right away and it quickly became clear we’d be sleeping in an above-average number of beds.

“To date, we’ve slept in 382 beds across a dozen countries, all in less than a decade of touring!”

Somewhere along the way, we started taking photos of them. It wasn’t for a particular end, it was just a way to remember our travels and the incredible people who hosted us.

From spare rooms to garden sheds, four-posters to leather sofas, this video has it all…

Watch the new lyric video here → [https://youtu.be/MplFn4kEva0]

Maybe you’ll even spot your own!

We’re endlessly humbled by the kindness and hospitality that’s helped us to tour far and wide. Thank you for being part of this adventure, we would not be here without you and we can’t wait to see you again - even if that means another goodbye…

‘Always Leaving’ is a nostalgic, soulful folk song about travel, change, and the bittersweet beauty of saying goodbye. We wrote it somewhere between the road and home and this lyric video is our way of saying thank you to everyone who helped us along the journey.

Watch the new lyric video here → [https://youtu.be/MplFn4kEva0]

With love from the road,

A Different Bed

New song out today! ‘Always Leaving’

Hey, our new single “Always Leaving” is out today!

This one’s for all the wanderers, dreamers, and anyone who’s got one foot out the door.

Listen on Spotify → [ https://open.spotify.com/album/0HHe5VHTjTJEfFrjdwHxN0?si=WuM7QXvjQcqpiPl5Rlvy_w ]

We wrote it somewhere between the airports, empty rooms, and long stretches of road. It’s a song about distance, the spaces between connection, and the strange comfort of life in motion.

If you’ve ever felt torn between staying and going, this song’s for you.

Listen on Spotify → [https://open.spotify.com/album/0HHe5VHTjTJEfFrjdwHxN0?si=WuM7QXvjQcqpiPl5Rlvy_w ]

With love and a little bit of wanderlust,

— A Different Thread

P.S. Join us for the visualizer premiere on YouTube at 12noon EDT (4pm GMT ) → [https://youtu.be/lnUGSFbn0vo]
We’ll be hanging out in the chat before we go live on instagram and tiktok. Come say hey and help share the news!