Son Be Wise – the sumptuous new album from The Ralfe Band – is available digitally now, with a physical release available next week.

The album is their third studio long-player proper, and fourth if you count their ramshackle soundtrack to Bunny And The Bull just over three years ago.  The results are bolder and more confident than ever before, and show a new level of maturity in Oly Ralfe‘s whimsical songwriting.

The band launched the record yesterday in Manchester, first appearing in session on Marc Riley’s 6Music show with guest bassist Pete Jobson from indie legends I Am Kloot.

The band performed four tracks – Barricades, Cold Chicago In The Morning, Boy With An Old Tin Drum and Park Bench Blues – and if you missed it, you can listen again over on iPlayer now.

Following this, the band dashed from the bowels of MediaCityUK to Manchester city centre, with an intimate gig at cult venue The Castle Hotel.  TVO was in attendance, as were Jobson and Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, no less, and the results were a treasure to behold.

With a setlist culled from their whole career, Oly and his band were on fine form from start to finish, and left us with the overriding thought that their material deserves a wider platform.  As the night progressed, TVO was itching to see a giant wave of festival goers bouncing along to these fanciful odes and catchy melodies, and with the likes of Garvey & Jobson in their corner, hopefully it’s only a matter of time before the band hit the big time at last.

Oly has also been the subject of a Metro article ahead of the band’s London show at Madame JoJo’s on tonight, and the band will be undertaking free in-store signing events in Bristol, Southsea and Marlborough next week ahead of their gig in Oxford on June 15th. For more info, visit their Facebook page.

You can see a selection of photos from last night’s event below, and if you want to pick up the album, you can do so on cd, vinyl or download via The Velvet Onion Amazon Store.