Eirlys Rhiannon is a songwriter, singer, writer, gardener and self-styled human being who lives in Bristol, UK. She grew up in Cardiff, capital city of Wales, which she still thinks of as her spiritual home. She isn't quite sure why she landed on the wrong side of the Severn, and occasionally returns for rugby matches and to speak Welsh at random innocent passers-by, just to maintain her tenuous grip on the language.
With a background of Eisteddfod singing and church choirs, Eirlys branched out with her own material back in the early 1990's on the stage of Meltdown, in Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach. A move to London heralded several years of political and environmental activism, which sets the background for some of her later songwriting. She sang with Stuck In Traffic (the Reclaim The Streets House Band), before moving to Bristol and teaming up with Rowan Armes to form The Blue Sequoias. While she mostly performs solo, her long-term collaboration with Rowan is ongoing.
Sleep - the album
Eirlys' debut album, Sleep, is the first installment of songs arranged by the duo. Rowan features on fiddle and piano (sometimes simultaneously, thanks to the marvels of modern recording technology), and also backing vocals. The album was produced, recorded and mixed at home by Eirlys, who describes it wryly as "the sound of someone taking DIY to some ridiculous extremes". It was mastered by Donal Whelan of Hafod Mastering.
They are joined by special guest percussionists Simon Leech (East Pole Orchestra), Yasmine Brien (dj blackrainbow) and Jason Cook (Blaggers ITA, Spanner), with haunting accompaniments on harmonica and melodica from Carbon Town Cryer.
Sleep is issued by Robb Johnson's Unlabelled Label, distributed by Proper (catalogue UNLaBEL011).
Eirlys and Rowan's Live Version of Packer's Field is now featured on:
I will be starting a radio show with my poetry and music next wednesday at 1pm for a six week run at www.bcfm.org.uk/ please check it out you may enjoy the warmth of my words. xx
Hi Eirlys Mr and Mrs Clark have a new show "Walk The Dead Dog" starting at the end of May at The Taliesin Arts Centre Swansea 28th and 29th and The Riverfront Theatre Newport 30th May, Cast of 7.....5 of 'em young and talented! Clarks xx
sat 14 feb : 6pm-11pm : HUSBANDS WINSTON ECHO VILE VILE CREATURES COREY ORBISON JELAS JAM ON BREAD CHAPS live at : THE JUNCTION : 51 stokes croft, bristol BS1 3PQ
sun 15 feb : 4pm-10pm : DRUNK GRANNY HEADFALL THE MIDDLE ONES TCKI TKCY DRUMMERS MAT RIVIERE THE PHYSICISTS JAM ON BREAD ROSEANNE BARRR live at : SECRET WAREHOUSE SITUATION : see tickets for directions
handmade tickets are available now, only at here shop & gallery unfold the ticket to reveal all the band times and the secret location of the sunday show
tickets for saturday or sunday are £5 each, or get a weekend ticket for just £8
Sorry no review yet - buried in work'n'lurghi. Love the CD (but review should be bit longer! Meantime: 2 completely contrasting seasonal specials!
Sun Dec 14th Mr & Mrs Clark present a Christmas Cabba Hey! Milgis Lounge Bar, City Rd, Cardiff. FREE! Exorcise the ghosts of everything that’s excruciating about Xmas. A surreal, funny journey into all our festive fears featuring the globally renowned performance duo, the magic of the Milgis YURT, plus Satellite City star Boyd Clack and more surprise special guests. “like Terry and June on crack”. Amy Stackhouse www. mrandmrsclark. co. uk
Sat Dec 20th Meltdown & Secret Garden Christmas Cavalacade A snow-Globe of sumptuous seasonal shennanigans in aid of mental health charity Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan brought to you by two of Cardiff's most adventurous promoters - Meltdown and Secret Garden Soundsystem and including a a 20-piece jazz/ska wall-of-horns, sassy cabaret, top DJs, a seductively bizarre Mancunian collision of hip-hop, folk and scat, and Santa.
Acts include: Gideon Conn, Wonderbrass, Radio 1’s DJ Huw Stephens, Lilywhitesass Dancers, Kareoke Carols with the Helium Choir, and much more. All in a splendid new 350 capacity venue: The Globe, Albany Rd, Roath, Cardiff. £8. All the fun of the annual Secret Garden Xmas Bash with added Meltdownery.
Magical multi-instrumentality, superb songcraft, new comedy and award winning performance poetry, all from some of Wales' most charismatic women performers in the biggest Yurt in Wales, on an Autumn evening! And no credit crunch excuses for not being there - the price is whatever you want to put in the Meltdown Hat!
STACEY BLYTHE A one-woman meltdown, Stacey Blythe plays harp/whistles/keyboard/ accordion etc in internationally acclaimed Welsh folk band Ffynnon. Stacey has performed with Billy Bragg, Meredith Monk, Michelle Shocked, and rising American singer Pamela Wyn Shannon (at last months amazing Meltdown) to name but a few. "Blythe's versatility shines at every note" Radio 2 Folk Reviews.
RACHEL TAYLOR BEALES Her latest album Red Tree - produced by Welsh troubadour Martyn Joseph - takes British folk as its starting point, adding in hypnotic, echoing vocals, subtle strings and country/blues tones to create something entirely new. 'Highly Recommended" BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris "hauntingly beautiful’ Acoustic Magazine www. myspace. com/racheltaylorbeales
CLARE POTTER One of Wales’s most successful performance poets, lived and taught in New Orleans for many years and has won the John Tripp award for spoken poetry. "Crackling with wry humour, affection and defiance".Rachel Trezise
COMING SOON Mr & Mrs Clark & Meltdown present A CHRISTMAS CABBA HEY! Sun 14th Dec at Milgis “like some crazed darkly surrealistic cosmic guerrilla attack” David Adams
Just off to Glasto to massage stars-to-be behind the John Peel Stage. As you do. Hope all's good with you. Send me the EP when its ready!! Meantime ...
Dazzling music! In a Yurt! For Free!
New Yorker "The voice of Katell Keineg is a beautiful and wild force of nature";
LA Times "Conveying a nearly beatific sense of joy in performance";
Tom Moon, National Public Radio (US) "Here are wildly inspired songs filled with literate and mystical images, songs that aspire to the sprawl and sweep of epic novels";
Yep, we are controlled and exploited, but we can limit the compromise's a bit, and lob the odd spanner in the works. Hope to see you someplace, Love Mike.
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