Past music events at the Folkhouse

May Birds

The May Birds began in the summer of 2009 with Eleanore and Alice. They have spent the last 9 months writing and recording and beginning to collect more musicians. They now have a pianist, Camilla and a cellist, charlotte. They will be recording their album with the full band in the forthcoming months and playing live in London, Brighton and Bristol. Their music has been described as having a 'mesmorising, transporting' quality and 'Distinctive and heartbreaking' sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luFgu5CLJ1U&feature=email

LAU are a formidable trio of three of the finest & most innovative exponents of modern traditional music in Britain today. Their now infamous live shows are a must-see experience with an energy and musicianship which is spellbinding.

Twice winners of BEST GROUP at the Radio 2 Folk Awards, Lau are back with their highly anticipated second album, ‘Arc Light’, released March 30th 09 on Navigator Records

http://www.lau-music.co.uk Tickets are available from Ashkeys Music

Javier is a Barcelona born singer, songwriter and guitarist. His compositions encompasses numerous genres, and are best described as a fusion of Spanish, Latin and folk music.
Recent concerts include support of international artists such as Concha Buika, Chambao and Buena Vista Social Club musician Eliades Ochoa, and festivals like Glastonbury, Bristol Harbourside, Taste of London and Shambala.
Currently promoting the new album EP “Bad woman” 5 tracks of Latin and Spanish music with flamenco influences, with both English and Spanish lyrics.

A night of acoustic extravagance brought to you by a dazzling blend of local songwriters and composers.  Find yourself enchanted by tales of quirky characters conjured up from sub- and superhuman spheres.  Experience the sound of remembering one's birth.  Witness butterflies conducting ghostly orchestras.  Immerse yourself in soundscapes stunningly vast and microcosmic considering the sparse instrumentation these artists draw on.

Joe Blench (vocals/piano); Jacques, A Robin(vocals/guitar/violin/percussion) www.myspace.com/jacquesarobin; 

Colin Smith (piano)

Vanessa (vocals/guitar) www.myspace.com/evertonuk; 

Carolin Seitz (vocals/piano/percussion) www.myspace.com/zweiseitz

tickets available from www.seetickets.com or www.ticketweb.co.uk

The Independent
Over four albums, she's pared down her song-poem style to a point where skeletal surfaces only need to hint at her characters' back-stories for impact. She doesn't overburden their tales with analysis or self-pity: instead, she anatomises the emotions at stake with needlepoint precision.
Mojo
These intimate hushes and lilts would be remarkable even as instrumentals.... Yet it's Nastasia's voice--and the words that it sings--that really sucks the air out of the room.
Uncut
Spare, beautiful, outstanding.
Q Magazine
Curiously compelling for something so minimal, it's like nothing else around.

“Superb. Vandaveer’s Divide & Conquer avoids the sophomore slump by miles and miles.” – POPMATTERS

“Jarring new folk.” – ROLLING STONE

“Divide & Conquer is as good as we could’ve hoped–slightly more delicate than Grace & Speed and punctuated with crescendos that explode in mid-air. ” – LA BLOGOTHEQUE

Vandaveer’s debut album, Grace & Speed, a mostly live, stripped down affair, swiftly entered this great big dusty world in the spring of 2007 garnering rave reviews and comparisons to Donovan, Dylan, Waits, Drake, Simon, and the like. Touring continually on both sides of the Atlantic ever since, Vandaveer has played 250+ shows, sharing stages with a host of humbling artists including Bon Iver, Alejandro Escovedo, Vashti Bunyan, Vetiver, Evan Dando, Scout Niblett, The Ditty Bops, Smog, Fleet Foxes, Alela Diane and his dear friends in DC’s ramshackle collective, The Federal Reserve. In addition to said Vandaveering, Heidinger has been known to fraternize and conspire with other music-making hooligans, primarily as a bassist with fellow DCers These United States.

Photo by Kurt Gohde (2007)