Introducing: Mishaped Pearls

Mishaped Pearls was one of the great bands that made it to the Isambard Folk Award final that we co-sponsored this year (details here). They take their name from misshapen pearl, a literal translation of the Portuguese word Barocco or French word Baroque.

The band have a very unique style of music thanks to a some top musicians that create a courful fusion of global sounds and an inspirational lead singer and mezzo soprano Manuela Schuette. Not surprisingly the band have gained wide recognition from the likes of Tom Robinson who personally invited them to perform at the “BBC Introducing: Fresh On The Net Festival” to celebrate and showcase the best acts from the last three years of his radio show.

The band formed in late 2009 as a result of a collaboration between songwriter and musician Ged Flood and classicaly trained Manuela Schuette. Manuela’s strinking voice is a core part of the band, her lyrics are captivating and intricately constructed, inspired by ancient poetry which crosses all geographical boundaries and soars beyond our earth-bound senses. The bands larger than life sound is thanks to several versatile musicians: Andrew on keys, Sean on guitar, mandolin and banjo, Naomi on cello, Calie on hand drums and percussion and Sam on violin.

With one album already under their belts their latest mini-album Le Puy en Velay is a fine example of how their sound has developed over the few years they have been together, it also includes one of our favourite tracks; a cover of Neil Young’s Sugar Mountain. The album title takes it’s name from the Auvergne region of France where the band played a sell out concert to an adoring crowd.

The tracks below (two of which are free) offer a brief glimpse of their sound. Fledgling is reminiscent of the early psych-folk period, Quetzalcoatl has a more contemporary sound with some neo-classical undertones and Festival is a dance inducing classic, a complete contrast which just demonstrates how incredibly diverse this band can be. We look forward to the new album due out this year!