January 2010: This year has a
special significance for us, as it marks our tenth year of being a
two-headed lady called Ember. Naturally we are both feeling a bit
philosophical as the anniversary approaches -- perhaps we haven’t
achieved everything we dreamed of in the beginning (including a plan to
open a youth hostel in Granada, Andalucia!), but it can’t be
denied
that music has provided us with some amazing experiences over the years.
Not that we’ve had much time for reminiscing lately; since
discovering
the possibilities of Garageband and home recording, we have been
steadily laying down tracks during the last two months, culminating in
a frenzy of mixing, mastering and artwork decisions in late
January.
“Full Circle” will be our fifth album, and should be
available in time
for our 10-year anniversary celebrations on February 12th and 14th (see
dates page for
details).
We were both struck, once again, by the magic of recording – once
you
get into the rhythm of this kind of creation, it’s almost a
disappointment when then album is finished and sent away to be
pressed! But now that we have a couple of decent
microphones (Rode
NT1A and C-1000 to be precise) and an interface, it’s likely that
each
of us will be involved in ongoing recording projects – whether
together
or separately. So many possibilities!
Autumn 2009: Our Autumn tour
included some of our favourite venues. Glastonbury’s
Fabulous Furry
Folk night was as much fun as ever, and then we had a blast sharing a
stage with KTB in Priddy, Somerset. Susie and Richard put on a fabulous
evening for us in the village hall, and the legendary Chris and Denny
turned up for a spontaneous late-night session. It’s times
like these
that make the somewhat unsettled life of an itinerant musician seem
worthwhile.
Summer 2009: Perhaps it was not as
romantic as boxcar travel, but we caught some of the thrill of the old
tracks as we travelled by train from New York all the way to San
Francisco, with stops in Brooklyn, Washington DC, Denver, Boulder and
of course Salt Lake City. You can bet we sang the train song with
extra gusto on this trip, and we also enjoyed belting out Woody
Guthrie’s Do Re Mi to unsuspecting American audiences . . .
“California
is a garden of Eden/ It’s a paradise to live in or see/ But
believe it
or not, you won’t find it so hot/ If you ain’t got that do
re mi.”
Ain’t that the truth, ol’ buddy.
Spring 2009: March saw the release
of our friend Barbara’s book “Babs2Brisbane,” a
chronicle of her
near-heroic efforts to get to Australia over land and sea. . . just in
time to be a bridesmaid for an old friend! We were happy to sing
at
her release party, and glad people like Babs are calling attention to
the need for all of us to think about limiting our airflights. In
May
we wished a fond farewell to Whitby’s “Moor & Coast
Festival,”
which has been one of our favourites over the years. Let’s
hope it was
just a bluff, and that Chris and Glen will revive this springtime gem
next year.
December 2008: This month saw us gigging accompanied by Duncan
Bamford on drums - he's not just a good photographer and great
designer! The positive feedback was overwhelming, so we hope to
do a lot more concerts with Duncan in the UK next year. We have
some international plans for 2009, including a tour in the Netherlands
in early April, and a Summer tour in the U.S. Have already
arranged some house concerts for this time. . . looking forward to
travelling by train across the plains. And shhhhh - we are
secretly making plans for a new album!
25th October 2008: Our music video for Storm, filmed by Giles
Thaxton, premieres at the Pink Snowball Awards in Machynlleth, and
takes 2nd place in the open competition. The video can
be seen on YouTube. Watch it here!
August 2008: Our first appearances at Cambridge Folk Festival and
Sidmouth Folk Week. What an experience!
July 2008: Neil Fatea includes our song Nickel and Dime
on his Duo Showcase Compilation.
Summer 2008: A great review in “Musician” Magazine,
which refers to an “expansive, harmony-drenched album.”
June 2008: “Glowing in the Wind,” is the title of
Taplas
Magazine’s two-page spread on
Ember’s music and biography.
March 2008: Rock ‘n’ Reel Magazine includes our song Storm
on the covermount CD.
February 2008: Official
release of our fourth CD Open All the Doors. Picked up by
Proper Distribution, the album will now be available on the high
street. The review in Properganda Magazine calls it
“acoustic magic,” and predicts that “this fabulous
disc will ‘open all the doors’ for Ember.”
6th September 2007
Hello! We have finished recording
and mixing our new CD!!!
You can hear four tracks on our Myspace page :)
With the help of some excellent musicians, Open All The
Doors has been born.
It's a deliciously full sound! The thirteen songs include Spade
& the Hoe (the gardening song), Mama Don't Worry, Far
From Home, A Ei Di'r Deryn Du (Welsh trad.), Storm Song,
Blood & Gold (from the singing of Maddy Prior/June
Tabor on the Silly Sisters album) and a clutch of new songs
we've never shared with anyone!
If you'd like to order a copy for £12 incl. postage,
please go to our music page, where you can also read a bit about the
featured musicians and their instruments!
7th June 2007
Hello,
lovely Dandelion-Heads! We have been heavily rehearsing as of
late, in between bouts of making elderflower champagne and worrying the
basil. Our recent song-writing retreat provided us with two or
three new songs, and we can hardly wait to present them to you!
All
of this work is being done with a view to recording a new
album sometime in the coming months, with the help of Job the magical
percussionist, and other special guests. We’re hoping one
of those guests will be an as-yet-unidentified banjo player, since a
kind audience member recently pointed out that “Spade and the
Hoe” would be great with the twang of a banjo! Nominations
are being accepted. . .
We
are also keeping our ears open for recommendations of a good
sound engineer and/or studio in which to record. Ideally
we’d like to start work as early as August, but can wait until
October if necessary.
We’re
looking forward to a summer full of festival fun
– maybe see you at one of them. . .
15th November 2006
The last few gigs of the season are upon us now, and
we're excited to be sharing the bill with some of our favourite
musicians:
Saturday November 18th we welcome Emma and the Professor
with Tom Leary to play here in Machynlleth at the Owain Glyndwr Centre
(above the old tourist info centre) at 7:30 pm. Emma's voice is enough
to send shivers up your spine, with her yodelling and beautiful
arrangements of old songs; Mark's bodhran playing is like a ticking
bomb, and Tom Leary's one of the finest fiddlers on the scene.
It's going to be a fun evening: come along and bring your own drinks!
Sunday November 26th we'll play at Kitchen Garden Cafe,
with the lovely KTB and her band in Birmingham. Come early as
KTB's liable to sell out the house.
The other gigs are listed on the dates page, so check it
out.
Things we are looking forward to: another fabulous
festival season next year (thanks to everybody who made this year
so wonderful, by the way!). . . recording a new album with Job
Verweijen and his Dutch posse . . . welcoming Job back to Wales
in the summer for more foot-stomping gigs. . . and generally playing
lots of music and meeting up with you lot again.
May you have a lovely winter.
Pray/meditate/sing/shout/cross your fingers for peace around the world,
and we will too. Stay in touch until we meet again. . .
R and E
Thursday 24th August
2006
Our two months with
Job were very successful - he's gone back to spend time with his baby
(nicknamed Monster!) and lovely girlfriend Barbara in Holland. Thanks,
Job, for all your good work! We've been talking about making a new
album with Job and other guest musicians in the coming 9 months (our
own kind of baby Monster!) - we're all really excited about it.
Just to let you know,
our Myspace page is fully functional now (Emily's confessed to being a
Myspace addict...) at
www.myspace.com/embersong - please come and visit us and listen to
a song or two. And become our friend! We like friends.
Oh, and maybe you can
help us out - Rebecca's looking for a second-hand full-bodied
electro-acoustic steel string guitar - she has a Takamine to trade!
Emily's looking for a second-hand bouzouki and a piano accordion (but
one that is NOT TOO BIG!)...
Monday 24th July 2006
The summer is going
exceedingly well! We're enjoying the festivals; listening to some
wonderful music, soaking up the sunshine and the real ale! We've
met some lovely people ;)
We've sent our new CD
'Spark' to some good folky/acoustic radio programs, and invite you to
request our songs:
BBC Radio
2 Mon-Thurs 10.30pm-midnight: Mark Radcliffe
or SMS 88291 or
phone 0161 244 4193
or email
mark.radcliffe@bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 2 Wed
7.00pm-10.00pm: Nick Barraclough
or phone 01233 244
544 or email nick@smoothoperations.com
BBC Radio 2 Wed
8.00pm-9.00pm: Mike Harding Show
or phone 01457 873
752 or email mike.harding@bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio Wales
Sat 10.00pm-1.00am: Frank Hennessy "Celtic Heartbeat"
BBC Radio Shropshire,
BBC Radio Stoke and BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester
BBC Radio
Shropshire Thurs 7.00pm-9.00pm: Nonny James "Fretworks"
BBC Radio
Gloucestershire Sun 3.00pm-4.00pm: Johnny Coppin
Radio Maldwyn
(Newtown area) Mon 8.00pm-10.00pm
John and Yvonne Hart
"Harts of Folk"
Studio line: 01686 623 555
General email: radio@magic756.net
Radio Pembrokeshire
Sun afternoon/evening: BB Skone
Phone 01834 869 384
Radio Ceredigion
(Aberystwyth)
Phone 01970 627 999
Cheers!
We're really grateful for your support!!!
Monday 26th June 2006
We have been joined by our wonderful Dutch
percussionist
Job Verweijen
who will be playing with us for two months - July and August - read
more about him
here! We
met him at One World Camp last summer and hooked up with him in Holland
this spring where we had the pleasure of performing with him at several
theatres and folk venues. The combined sound went down a storm! Emma
Bryden our cellist will also be joining us and Job at several festivals
and gigs for these two months - we hope you enjoy the direction our
music is taking! We are hoping to start recording a demo soon (with Job
and Emma) which may pave the way to a new album - we hope to be able to
take our time on this one.
Review
'Spark' yourself on our CD Baby page!
Friday 7th April 2006
Bedankt,
bedankt, bedankt!
We
want to thank everyone who came out to hear us play this March and
April in the Netherlands! Thanks also to the kind people who
looked after us at the venues; you really are wonderful. We had a
great time meeting fellow acoustic music lovers, and saw some new
sights, such as the wide open spaces and beautiful/ramshackle mansions
in Groningen area. Thankfully, we didn’t eat too many
Bosche ballen or slagroom soezens on this tour, but we are still making
our way through a kilo of passeitjes! Thanks a lot, Henny!
A special thank you to John de Looy (and family) for being such a
marvellous “merchandise manager,” as well as a friend.
We look forward to seeing you all again in November 2007!
Dooie!!!
14th February 2006 - Valentine's Day, and
Ember's 6 year anniversary!
Well, it's been a long journey from our
first meeting in a ramshackle hostel in Barcelona to our
glamorous (ahem) lives in Machynlleth today! We have news for you - the
NEW CD is ready! Extracts from all of the songs on 'Spark' can be
downloaded from our
music page, and you can purchase your copy by using paypal (which
is remarkably easy to use) or by sending a cheque for £12 (email
us to find out how). Our first and second albums, 'Winejig' and 'Land
Under Water', are still available from the website or from us in person
at gigs, although we may not carry 'Winejig' around with us now that we
have 'Spark'. We're not weight lifters, you know.
Also we have a busy summer of festivals
ahead, so do check out our dates
page (we promise to keep it as up to date as we can!) and see if
we're going to be anywhere near you! If we don't seem to be coming your
way then feel free to send us details of venues which you think would
be appropriate for our music, we are always interested to find out
about new and welcoming places to play.
Thanks for visiting the website, we hope to
see you soon!
