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KELSEY MICHAEL | Lethowsow album cover
KELSEY MICHAEL
LETHOWSOW
debut solo album
out 12.07.24 (digital)
out 13.09.24 (LP & CD)
(Dimple Discs)
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“Beguiling debut infused with natural wonder to gorgeous meditations 8/10”
UNCUT
includes the single
GRY MARITHA
out now
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LIVE IN JULY
23.07.24 PENZANCE Penlee Park Theatre tickets
26.07.24 HASTINGS The Pig w/Steve Finnerty (Alabama 3)
28.07.24 LONDON Copleston Church tickets @ 2.30pm
29.07.24 LONDON Green Note tickets
A set of self-penned piano-based songs, ‘Lethowsow’ opens with optimistic flurries of vocal harmony that could have blown in on a gust from The Wizard Of Oz. Fittingly, what follows celebrates song and the voice while transporting listeners to the magical wild West Cornwall landscape, the home, anchor and inspiration for singer-songwriter Kelsey Michael, whose sonic vision laces a penchant for classic ‘60s-‘70s artists such as Laura Nyro and Carole King with a contemporary art-pop edge.
This mixture has already caught the ear of radio presenter Gilles Peterson, who has been airing songs from ‘Lethowsow’ on both his BBC 6 Music and Worldwide FM shows. Meanwhile, Uncut magazine have recently featured Michael (alongside Angeline Morrison and Daisy Rickman) in a piece on the emerging new Cornish folk scene, describing her music as ‘Nyro-esque rapture’ and ‘Lethowsow’ itself as “suitably immersive, it deals in the elemental forces that shape coastal existence, both physically and psychologically.”
The first single from the album, the delightful Jobim/Morricone-influenced ‘Music Of The Waves’, is a cinematic breath of air, offering images of hedgerow, shore and moors thrown up to catch the light and a tumble of beautiful Cornish place names. Guest vocalists MAY (Michael’s daughter) and Maria Heseltine, along with Ben Kypreos (acoustic bass) and Greg Dyer (percussion) contribute to its fresh sound.
Joyous follow-up effort ‘Mounts Bay Morning’ has Angeline Morrison (creator of the award winning 2022 album The Sorrow Songs: Folk songs of black British Experience) guesting alongside Maria Heseltine on a song that insists the moment to act is now, grab a coat, a soul mate, get out the door and go live! ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ by her surnamesake haunted Michael’s dreams during its writing.
The word Lethowsow (pronounced Laith-oh-so), means ‘the milky ones’ in old ‘Kernewek’ language. It was used as a name for the treacherous Seven Stones reef on the way to Lands End, a large stretch of vertical rocks like sharks teeth which are always covered with white water. Michael loved the soft sound of this word, as well as the fact that it describes the rocks in a magical way, as if they were characters. For her, ‘Lethowsow’ represents the awesome and humbling power of nature, with the sea in particular being a major character on the record.
Current single ‘Gry Maritha’ uses the name of the Isles of Scilly freight ship, serenading this hardy blue boat in rhapsodic style (think Gerry & The Pacemakers ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’ in session with The Carpenters). The song itself tells multiple stories, touching on the folklore of the waters of the Scilly crossing while simultaneously uncovering hidden moments of a mother and child whose daily rhythms overlap with the ship’s departure and return.
‘Tide Comes In’ gets real about rural poverty in Michael’s home town of Penzance, yet still finding cause to celebrate the resilience, creativity and community support networks so often invisible to visitors. The inevitable ebb and flow of the tides gives certainty in troubled times when it can feel there is little else to rely on. Elsewhere, ‘Swimming’ takes us wading into the waves, ‘cooling off the heat deep inside’, with watery glissando from stunning harpist Benjin Musiq. This immersive music experience eventually comes home to the wonder of small domestic moments in ‘Washing Line’, featuring exquisitely phrased guest vocals from Morrison. By hanging the stuff of our lives on the line, we get perspective, let go of habitual obstacles and move on. Within this final song we are given musical headspace and a moment to pour some balm on modern life.
LETHOWSOW
TRACKLISTING
1 Gry Maritha 5:07
2 Music Of The Waves 4:38
3 Mounts Bay Morning 4:40
4 Tide Comes In 2:56
5 The Crossing 1:19
6 Swimming 3:42
7 Washing Line 4:18
Produced and mixed by Kelsey Michael and Robin Tyndale-Biscoe
KELSEY MICHAEL – SHORT ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Kelsey Michael has lived past lives as a theatre performer and movie soundtrack singer; you’ll find her singing on Jocelyn Pook’s score for Stanley Kubrick’s final film, ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. In the world of pop music, she is a collaborator with Anglo/Irish avant-pop band The High Llamas and their mainman Sean O’Hagan, having featured on five albums that include his 2019 solo release ‘Radum Calls Radum Calls’. Michael also released two EPs with her London-based band Minnow, the second of which was released by Stereolab on their Duophonic label to rave reviews. Her first job was as a backing singer with The The on a European tour.
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