Robin Allender

Robin Allender is a Bristol-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. His finger-picked, melodic folk has been compared to Elliott Smith, Bill Callahan and Jim O’Rourke. His debut album, The Bird and the Word, was released on Dreamboat Records in July 2007.

Following this release, Robin went on to form a band to help flesh out his solo material. The Allender Band was made up of Alex Wilkins on guitar, Sam Tarbuck on bass and Dave Collingwood on drums, later to be replaced by Sean Talbot. The band released an EP, In the Grip of Light, in May 2008 and an album, Outer Dark, in March 2009.

Robin and Dave have played in several other bands, notably Gravenhurst (Warp) and the touring band of Yann Tiersen.

In breaks from touring with Yann in 2009, he and Dave recorded a six-track collaborative album, Three-Cornered Moon, which is available for free download on Bandcamp.

Press for Robin Allender

Cosmo Lee, Stylus[The Bird and the Word] evokes both English folk traditionalists Fairport Convention and electric revisionists Steeleye Span. […] Though Allender’s wordplay is sharp, his picking is sharper; it has the immaculate detail of Nick Drake’s.

Julian Owen, Venue (Bristol)

With [The Bird and the Word] he’s already reached a level that the majority of singer-songwriters could spend a lifetime approaching but never truly nearing.

Amy Granzin, Shake Your Fist

One of the best young guitar stylists working in Britain today.

Nightshift (Oxford)

Bristol lad Robin Allender may have a tender voice but it really is only accompaniment to the real show stealer here — his ability with an electric guitar. Mellow, soothing and technically dazzling, Robin wows a packed audience whose deathly silence gives due credit to the set’s wonderful ambiance.