A little pop group from England.
Buy our debut record As Neat As A New Pin from Tough Love Records • iTunes • Amazon.co.uk.
Empty Set on Last.fm • Twitter • Facebook • MySpace.
As Neat As A New Pin Sleeve
A photoset of the sleeve and CD artwork for our debut recording As Neat As A New Pin. Illustration was by our talented friend Benjamin Dorning. Tommy designed and typeset.
KVRX Radio Austin Interview
Tommy gives an interview to the ‘She Blinded Me With Science’ show on KVRX Radio Austin, Texas, in May 2009. DJs Adriana et al. ask Tommy about such things as why he wrote a song about Évariste Galois.
Thanks kindly Adriana and KVRX!
Empty Set really, really love Pagan Wanderer Lu’s music, so we’re honoured to get a mention in his ‘Top Albums of 2009’.
Thanks PWL!
Roy includes As Neat As A New Pin in his ‘Top Albums Of 2009’. From his other picks he clearly has excellent taste so we’re sincerely flattered.
These guys are a guilty pleasure of mine. I’m a huge fan of that genre deridingly known as “twee pop,” as probably best demonstrated by auteurs Belle and Sebastian. The Emptyset filled my twee pop fix this year, as B&S’s “project” God Help the Girl sorely disappointed me. The Emptyset are perfect for those dateless weekends when feeling sorry for yourself is cathartic rather than pathetic.
Thanks Roy!
Our thanks to James at Cargo Records, who included us in their ‘Staff Picks 2009’ review.
Weep in to your pint music.
Perfect! Thanks James!
Chris Long reviews As Neat As A New Pin for BBC Manchester Introducing.
‘Empty Set write tender love songs set against a backdrop of musical gentility, which make up the duo’s sweet debut, As Neat As A New Pin. The topics of their songs include physics, bad handwriting, Canadian journalists and French mathematicians. Impressively, such oddities are not forced in for effect, as the topics weave so easily in with the sparing accompaniments that you just know that they’re there because it’s just how songwriter Tommy Ogden thinks. Of course, decent lyrics are only one half of any musical battle and thankfully they come supported by satisfying, if occasionally over-sparse, little melodies to make songs as neat and tidy as the album title suggests.’
Thanks Chris!
Dan and Tommy perform ‘My Girl’s On The Other Side Of The World’ while punting down the River Cherwell in Oxford.
Filmed by our friend Jim, who notes,
These geeky kids may not be great at steering a boat but they sure write a good pop song.
Thanks Jim!
And as the comment recommends, check out the synchronised glasses-nudge by Dan, Tommy and punter Paul at the end. Probably couldn’t do it again if we tried.
Knut included As Neat As A New Pin in a ‘Best of June & July 2009’ for Eardrums Music.
Thanks Knut!
Al reviews As Neat As A New Pin for the LimeWire Store.
This duo delivers quirky rock in spades. It’s mostly done with preciously clever irony, dramatic crescendos, and stringed instruments, although the unexpected bass synth on “Portia I Dreamt You Were A Princess” is definitely a high point. Playing off elaborate chimes, this singular synth is not only a welcome relief after an album of violins and meticulously produced acoustics. It’s also nice that, after an album of constantly reminding the listener they’re joking, the Empty Set actually make a joke.
I’m not sure if we were joking. Is it good to be joking? If it is, I was definitely joking.
Thanks Al!
Tom Whyman had us down as Ones To Watch for 2009.
Tommy Ogden’s science textbookworm-y Magnetic Fieldsianisms are the stuff of songwriting magic.
Thanks Tom!
Tom Whyman gives As Neat As A New Pin 88% in his review for The Line Of Best Fit. Wow, that’s a lot of percents!
You might be thinking by now that the Empty Set have it all. And you’d be right, they do. So you have no excuse whatsoever for not listening to their music.
Thanks Tom!
BBC Manchester Introducing Radio Interview
Dan and Tommy were interviewed by Sam Walker for BBC Manchester Introducing in June 2009.
We performed ‘Your Hayfever’ and ‘Portia, I Dreamt You Were Real’ live in the studio, and nattered about our influences and why we write songs about science.
Thanks Sam!
David Pott-Negrine gives As Neat As A New Pin ‘7 out of 10’ in Die Shellsuit, Die!
‘It is between these two points that As Neat As A New Pin exists; sometimes it behaves as a typical folk album, all soft vocals and delicate ukuele, other times it veers off into a soundtrack of tape loops and droning strings. It’s this willingness to experiment, coupled with a lyrical slant as concerned with science and mathematics as it is with unrequited love, that makes Empty Set more than just another twee, folk outfit.’
Thanks David!
Matthew reviews As Neat As A New Pin for Song, By Toad.
‘The album might take a little time to sink in. The pace varies subtley, from the jaunty pleasures of Alice & Bob, to the more moody, and rather surprising, version of Some Candy Talking. These ups and downs are quite gentle though, so it would be easy to allow the noise of life around you to overwhelm this album when you play it. I would be careful not to let that happen though, because it really is worth the attention if you sit down and really listen to it. It’s a total curve ball from Tough Love, and an absolute corker.’
Thanks Matthew!
Tom Whyman interviews Tommy in an article on the Manchester pop scene for The Line Of Best Fit.
‘Whats it like being a POP SENSATION in Manchester? Do you feel inspired by the pop scene there or not?
Tommy: Ha! It must feel wonderful, I imagine. If I really became a pop sensation, I think I would like my very own Metrolink tram to drive about in. I’d let TLOBF on for free.I do feel inspired here. ‘Scene’ may or may not be the right word for what we have; I can’t decide. There’s all these groups of friends one meets in the city who function almost like unspoken artist collectives, quietly encouraging each other to write, to draw, to play—to make stuff. It’s wonderful, and it’s very important.
A critical mass is necessary for this to happen: it means one is able to find people with whom to share one’s little ideas; and it provides the audience to bring every touring band and artist one might wish to see—to study them and draw motivation for one’s own work. In that respect I think any large city will inspire, though Manchester has an untouchable charm. This is the place where Rutherford discovered the structure of the atom and where Morrissey met Marr, so if you’re writing pop songs about unrequited love and science (as I happen to be) there’s probably nowhere better.’
