In 2015 I ran a series of concerts under the title of the Levels Collective here in Somerset. One of them featured local singer-songwriter Kitty MacFarlane who had recently made it to the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award Semi-Finals. Just over a year later she released her debut EP ‘Tide and Time‘, our reviewer Donald MacNeill concluded that Kitty was “An inordinately accomplished musician” and that “her song lyrics could easily stand alone as poetry”.
“Time and tide wait for no man”, so the saying goes. But ever since Tide & Time, came out in 2016, many have been waiting expectantly to hear Kitty’s debut album. On September 21 (via Navigator Records) the wait will be over as this fine young acoustic artist unveils the beguiling release Namer Of Clouds.
Having listened to the album I can confidently say that the wait has been worth it and you’re all in for quite a treat. Listen to her lead single and title track below which is also our Song of the Day.
Her sharply observed narrative songs are pure poetry, rich with visual imagery and written with an eco-eye – woven loosely together into a theme of mankind’s relationship with the wild. Gathering inspiration from the sky to the seabed, Kitty’s lyrics touch on intervention and rewilding, climate change and migration.
The album is augmented by all kinds of ‘found sound’ recorded in locations from Somerset to Sardinia – birdsong, waterfalls, the click of knitting needles- and is bookended by sounds of the wild.
Recorded partly at The Cube near Truro in Cornwall and partly at Get Real Audio in Bath, Namer Of Clouds features not just the clear, confident voice and finger-picked guitar of Macfarlane but also the in-demand Radio 2 Folk Awards ‘Horizon’ award winner Sam Kelly on guitar, mandolin and harmony vocals, with some of his talented Lost Boys band members also on the roll call –Graham Coe on cello, Archie Churchill-Moss on melodeon and Jamie Francis, surprisingly not on his trademark banjo, but on electric guitar.
Co-producer Jacob Stoney is on keys, bass, mandolin and vocals, Tom Moore is on violin and viola and Josh Clark, who mixed and mastered the release, provides percussion.
Kitty will showcase her album on a UK autumn tour and before that she can be seen at summer festivals including Sidmouth, Warwick and Beautiful Days.
Kitty MacFarlane UK Tour Dates
Fri, AUG 10 Sidmouth Folk Week, Sidmouth
Sat, AUG 11 Watchet Summertime Festival, Watchet
Sat, AUG 18 Beautiful Days Festival, Exeter
Sat, SEP 01 London Folk Festival, Cecil Sharp House, London
Thu, SEP 06 Redbourn Folk Club, Redbourn
Sun, SEP 16 Priston Festival, Bath
Sat, SEP 22 Looe Music Festival, Looe
Sat, NOV 10 Folk House Cafe & Bar, Bristol
Sun, DEC 09 The York Tavern, Norwich
http://www.kittymacfarlane.com/
Pre-Order Namer of Clouds – http://smarturl.it/namerofclouds