Acoustic version of “Chimaera” out now
In February this year, Big Big Train, the award-winning, international progressive rock band, released their 16th studio album Woodcut. The landmark release for the international group marked their first ever full-length narrative concept album, exploring creativity, sacrifice and the thin line between inspiration and madness.
Now, the band is pleased to share a new Digital Deluxe Edition of Woodcut, complete with demos of each track from the album, as well as two acoustic tracks.
The Digital Deluxe Edition is out on the 7th August and is available for pre-order here: https://bigbigtrain.lnk.to/Woodcut-DeluxeEdition-Album
Lead vocalist Alberto Bravin says: “The demos featured on the digital deluxe version of Woodcut are the final ones that I put together shortly before we went into Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne in the USA in April 2025. While we had the overall shape and flow of the album largely worked out before we started recording, there were some significant musical developments at Sweetwater. File sharing has a role to play but creatively nothing can rival the seven of us all playing in the same room together, interacting and sparking off each other with arrangement and performance ideas.”
Bassist Gregory Spawton adds: “With this digital release, we wanted also to take the opportunity to make live acoustic versions of a couple of key Woodcut songs available. Back in February this year, Alberto, our violinist Clare Lindley and I performed short two acoustic in store sets in the UK to mark the release of Woodcut. We really enjoyed doing so and might consider more acoustic performances at some point down the line.”
You can listen to the live acoustic version of the track “Chimaera” here: https://bigbigtrain.lnk.to/Woodcut-DeluxeEdition-Album
Watch the video for ‘Chimaera’ live here:
Big Big Train recently announced a warm-up show to take place on Thursday 24th September 2026 at Thornden Hall in Eastleigh, UK to kick off The Woodcut & Other Stories tour.
This will be the first of 19 shows across the UK and Europe this autumn where the band will play this year’s acclaimed Woodcut album in full as well as over an hour of other material from their extensive back catalogue.
Tickets for all shows are on sale here: www.bigbigtrain.com/live
‘Woodcut’ feels like a Big Big Train record quite unlike any that came before—an assured union of music, storytelling and visual invention. The album is graced with a striking cover design from Dorset (England) based artist Robin Mackenzie - a black and white woodcut print, of course, derived from a woodcut which the band commissioned from him specifically for the album.
Featuring 16 tracks across 66-minutes of runtime, ‘Woodcut’ feels epic without outstaying its welcome. From the intimacy of ‘Inkwell Black’ to the grandeur of ‘Counting Stars’, ‘Woodcut’ is a defiant analogue statement in a digital age—a handcrafted, deeply human exploration of art, faith and endurance.
‘Woodcut’ is available here: https://bigbigtrain.lnk.to/Woodcut-Album
Lineup:
ALBERTO BRAVIN – Lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
NICK D’VIRGILIO – Drums, percussion, 12-string acoustic guitar, vocals
OSKAR HOLLDORFF – Keyboards, vocals
CLARE LINDLEY – Violin, acoustic guitar, vocals
PAUL MITCHELL – Trumpet, piccolo trumpet, vocals
RIKARD SJÖBLOM – Guitars, keyboards, vocals
GREGORY SPAWTON – Bass, bass pedals, 12-string acoustic guitar, Mellotron, vocals
BIG BIG TRAIN online:
www.bigbigtrain.com
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www.instagram.com/bigbigtrain
INSIDEOUT MUSIC online:
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