MySpace a place for friends

Helen Boulding could drop some names. But she’d rather drop into conversation about her favourite subject: songs. New ones, classic ones, music she’s grown up with, tunes she adores, and the ones that are making her one of the most striking new singer-songwriters around.

You may well already know about the ever-growing audience she’s built via her MySpace site and indie EPs and singles. If not, say hello to an artist who defines the DIY nature of the musician in 2007, who’s now ready to translate the respect of some very weighty admirers and collaborators into a really notable debut album.

Her confidantes, who are as eclectic as they are widely-respected, include Simon Tong from The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Squeeze’s Chris Difford, The Orb, Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright and the album’s producer, the ever in-demand Youth. She’s just been on tour throughout Europe with Bryan Ferry, and got Bryan Adams, no less, to take pictures for her debut album cover in his burgeoning second career as a photographer.

Possessing a talent which has had music insiders excited for a couple of years now, like a best-kept-secret that’s about to be let out the bag, in ‘New Red Dress’ Helen has made a timeless debut album which could replace KT Tunstall’s ‘Eye To The Telescope’ as the album of choice for your 20-something music lover. Capturing the measured class of Dusty Springfield, the ethereality of Kate Bush or (Helen’s friend) Imogen Heap, with the rock balls of Stevie Nicks and the purity of Karen Carpenter, ‘New Red Dress’ is an inspired debut offering and the sum of many parts.

“My mum was into Hendrix and the Stones, she was a bit of a wild child, but my dad was into country and James Taylor, Carole King and Joni Mitchell,” says Helen of growing up the oldest of six in Sheffield. “My bedroom was in the attic where all the records were, so I got this fantastic input of great songs.

“I got to love people like Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Tim Hardin and Rita Coolidge. My friends were like ‘Rita who?’ So when we made this record, I tried to write in the style of the classics. But then in the late’80s, when I wasn’t quite old enough to go out, I secretly loved Madonna, I used to be at home dancing with the hairbrush to her. I just love great songs.”

Her mother’s record collection aside, Helen didn’t get into music because her parents were sat around a campfire every night strumming acoustic guitars. Quite the opposite. In a family obsessed with sport, music was literally the rebellion it’s supposed to be. One of six siblings, her brother Mick was an ATP-ranking tennis player who roomed with Tim Henman before switching to football, signing for Aston Villa in 2002. Now with Mansfield, he was joined by younger brother Rory, 19, who’s banging in the goals for them in League Two this season. Her sister Sal was a world-ranked tennis player, and other sister Laura played netball and rounders for England. Mind you, straight after telling you she’s the unhealthy rock ‘n’ roll one in the family, Helen adds that she did the marathon this year (“I couldn’t walk for two weeks”).

Her only direct connection to live music while growing up was courtesy of her Uncle Tom who ran Fagen’s in Sheffield, a pub well known to local bands and artists for the impromptu live sets which take place during their lock ups. A regular haunt for man of the moment Richard Hawley, a picture hanging in Fagen’s features on the back sleeve of his current album, Lady’s Bridge.

It must be something in the water in Sheffield. From the Human League, ABC, Pulp through to the Arctic Monkeys and the aforementioned Hawley, it’s no secret the Yorkshire city has produced more than it’s fair share of quality musicians, and in Helen, the talent to flag another future great.

The familial drive and determination to win was there in spades. In her mid-teens, she approached Annie Lennox’s vocal coach and came down to London for weekly lessons. The training tells in a voice which manages to match the power of Lennox. Her talent for penning the perfect song is god-given. Upfront of a record deal, she was snapped up for publishing by Warner Chappell.

And it was through the word-of-mouth praise for her pensmanship that Helen first caught the attention of Chris Difford, who invited her to one of the famous songwriting sessions he ran at Huntsham Hall in Devon. “The first time I went down there, I nearly got off the train and went straight back the other way, because you’ve got loads of big writers there. It was great though, it was like Big Brother, at the beginning of the week there are lots of egos, but by the end of the week the music gets better and better and people are crying because they don’t want to go home.”

For inspiration, Helen pursued those songwriters she respected. She would meet one of her writing heroes, the late and sadly missed Kirsty MacColl after one of Kirsty’s gigs, introduced by her friend Pete Glenister (who himself co-writes ‘I Swear’ from New Red Dress). Elsewhere, she would coax Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright into a rare songwriting collaboration, and has also written with the prolific American hitmaker Billy Steinberg, co-creator of such indelible pop songs as ‘Like A Virgin,’ ‘True Colours,’ and ‘Eternal Flame’. On debut album ‘New Red Dress’, Helen has written twelve songs, centrally themed around love and longing, of the all-thrill-no-fill variety, kicking off with the soundscape smash of a first single, ‘Breathe’. A b-side to the first single was penned by Helen with the help of Simon Tong, originally with The Verve, now accompanying Damon Albarn in The Good, The Bad & The Queen.

As well as borrowing their guitarist, Helen would also look to The Verve set up when it came to selecting a producer for ‘New Red Dress’. Youth, the man behind the classic Urban Hymns album, was already familiar with Helen’s work and was impressed enough to want to throw normal procedure aside to get involved with her debut album. “Youth and I had met and written some stuff together. I thought ‘Who would I like to produce the album?’ and I was a fan of a lot of his work.” She knew that budgets on the self-funded project would be strict, but that was no problem. “The next point was ‘Can you do it for this much?’ and Youth said he just loved the stuff and wanted to see me get moving.” They recorded at his studio in Spain, flying her band out (“Easyjet!”) and renting a B&B in the hills. “I was sitting there thinking “thank you!”

Youth would also provide an introduction to The Orb, with whom Helen co-wrote and performed vocals on the title track from their brand new album ‘The Dream’ out this year.

Proving the mandate that if you don’t ask, you won’t get, Helen has made her own breaks and fashioned a stunning debut album in the process. ‘New Red Dress’ will be released on Helen’s own label Maid In Sheffield in February 2008, with the single ‘Breathe’ preceding the album in November 2007. The net result, and Helen Boulding’s story so far, is all about an empowered, all-round artist, who’s set up her own label, done the artwork for the album and knows all about the mechanics of the music business. Just Helen, doing it her way… with a little help from her friends.

- Helen Boulding