The High High Nest - Stephanie voice, Krzysztof electric bouzouki & jaws harp, clarinet & harmonium, Isobel Campbell cello and Alex Neilson drum
Warning, Sing Jah Praise (Inspirational Sound)
Influences
I have taken inspiration from my first and most wonderful singing teacher, Mary Coles who gave me a good grounding in singing and we shared many laughs together.
My Dad gave me his Ladies of the Canyon (Joni) record that he used to listen to in his halls at Uni. I learnt loads of her songs and most of them really used to affect me.
I learnt a lot from listening to jazz ladies like Ella, Mildred Bailey, Bessie Smith...
I then started to get more experimental with Meredith Monk and minimalist stuff by Philip Glass and listening to Kronos Quartet, Sun Ra (and singer of the Arkestra, June Tyson, who I love)...
The Bulgarka Junior Quartet really got me into Bulgarian traditional singing and I never realised I would be able to sing something so complex-sounding before I went to one of Dessislava Stefanova's workshops - she told me I have the gypsy spirit! I'd like to join others in singing Bulgarian folk songs and am always eager to find singers who would like to have a go. I have sung in a Georgian choir in France which put my lower vocal range to the test.
While in France I also attended some workshops in the oral tradition of the Auvergne and learnt some wonderful pieces.
Shirley Collins The Watersons The Young Tradition Anne Briggs Margaret Barry Sarah Makem Jeannie Robertson Buffy Sainte-Marie Donovan
Have recently begun voicing dubz for Inspirational Sound and if you are a sound wanting a special please get in touch!
Coming soon on Inspirational Sound label...
Out now on Singing Knives label...four traditional songs from the British Isles, selected by Alex Neilson
In the month of January
Willy O'Winsbury
Andrew Lambie
MaCrimmond's Lament
Thanks to Hanna Tuulikki for her wonderful artwork.
Hi . We will be releasing a 10 track pastoral psych folk CD entitled 'midsummers' on 24th June 2009. midsummers is currently available to buy from our website www.millersounds.co.uk . You can hear some tracks from midsummers on our myspace player. Best wishes, The Rowan Amber Mill.
hey stephanie! i thought of you when i finally got my copy of america over the water and when was doing an entry on Sweet England for my blog. you were right.
4th year for Palimpsest Festival held in the majestic All Saints Church (1863) presenting a day of far reaching global sounds and homeland musical miniatures.
Just listened to your lovely vinyl record: it's really, really good and I'm dead chuffed for you. Leaves of Life is outstanding - sheer magic! Keep up your terrific work.
"In 'The Mirror of Eternal Light', the Dutch lutist Jozef van Wissem catches his own reflection in tender, minimalist picking and gold-spray overdubs" - David Fricke, senior editor, Rolling Stone Magazine
"Van Wissem seems to breeze across musical boundaries with an effortless fluency" - Pitchfork
"Jozef van Wissem constructs a time bridge which links the 17th and 20th centuries,and, needless to say, the traffic on this bridge moves in both directions. He has made 17th century music into 20th century music" - Brian Marley, Avant Magazine
"Jozef van Wissem has a creative obsession with the concepts of backwards or mirror images. On this cd he applies various palindromes. Van Wissem is accompanied on his gorgeous solos by Gary Lucas who performs a dobro solo that has the sense of intense adventure and motivation" - Eugene Chadbourne
"Jozef van Wissem has been slowly reinventing the lute for the last three decades. Among the slew of fast-picking, fancy-fretting guitar players so prevalent today, his lute’s voice is a quiet oasis, and Stations of the Cross a small masterpiece" - Nick Southgate The Wire
"the certainties of the 17th century holding tight the ugly beauty that we now see scattered around us. I loved these CDs by Jozef van Wissem, A Rose by any other Name and Stations of the Cross. And then I received a new album, A Priori, and I immediately played it and heard its stark and repetitive intensity, its stately and glacial march. There is nothing quite like it that I have heard before - it is timeless, breathing deeply and exhaling showers of snow, endless circles, mirrors, spirals, the sea. When Jozef plays the lute, he pours out endless space. What can I say but let the rain come, close your eyes and watch the stars fall and rise and fall again" - David Tibet/Current 93
