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Are We Strangers Now? presents... RACHAEL JEAN HARRIS and NICK ELLIS (co-headline show)
ASTLES
Presented by: Red Balloon Music| 0 | MANCHESTER: The Castle Hotel |
|---|---|
| P | Tuesday 2nd April, 2019 |
| N | 7:30pm |
Event information
Are We Strangers Now? are proud to present a trio of amazing acts from Liverpool - with co-headline sets from both RACHAEL JEAN HARRIS and NICK ELLIS!
And if that wasn't enough, fantastic support for the evening comes from one of our favourite Liverpool singer/songwriters ASTLES!
RACHAEL JEAN HARRIS:
https://soundcloud.com/rachaeljeanharris
Liverpool-born Rachael Jean Harris has devoted her life to the writing of songs. Recently, the vast majority have fallen into rich themes surrounding the lives of people on the raw edges of existence. Each lasting several years, these themes become areas for detailed thought, study and research, sparked by real stories, resulting in evocative and poignant tales.
Her current focus is on those living in confinement, in particular the day to day realities of Death Row inmates in the USA with whom she corresponds. Of interest to her are the complexities of human dignity, longing, memory and the power and potential of mercy.
Musical influences are predictably numerous but she credits those who have inspired her most as PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega, Mahalia Jackson and the composers and songwriters of the Great American Songbook.
NICK ELLIS:
https://soundcloud.com/nick-ellis
Nick Ellis is a Liverpool based singer/songwriter and guitarist performing a style of streetscape narrative-noir blended with a classic British acoustic approach. Song and Melody. Some people call it folk, some just call it good old fashioned song craft.
Using a blend of rhythmic attack and finger-quick lucidity, his sound has been described as ‘a conversation between Elvis Costello and John Martyn’. Ellis is also is the lead singer/songwriter with Liverpool beat modernists The Blue Soul.
Nick Ellis on writing: “…I see my Songs as chapters and scenes. My Albums as movies and books. Except, in this film, these stories are true…”
Nick Ellis on his sound: “…I like to use the guitar polyphonically when I play solo. I like to make it sound like a busy day, a place, an environment. And incorporate all those sounds you hear in the street. The conversations. The rhythms of the rain. The music of the traffic.”
ASTLES:
https://soundcloud.com/astlesmusic
An artist that is unafraid to chart new musical waters, Astles has been praised for his dynamic vocal style, captivating melodies, artistic boldness and a delicate rawness to his sounds.
After wowing judges and winning 2016's Merseyrail Sound Station, Astles released a live EP titled ‘Live at The Nordic’ to local critical acclaim and was quickly being citied as one of the best young talents coming out of the city. A sold out headline show followed along with Festival bookings including Sound City and Threshold.
The momentum continued in 2017 with his first recorded EP, ‘Full Of Wonder’. Written completely by Astles, the EP is ambitious and nods to a lot of Astles’s major influences which include Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan & Jeff Buckley. The 5 track EP expressed a lot of emotion, meshed with an amalgamation of different sounds carrying the maturity of Astles compositions to the listener. This success awarded him with 2017’s ‘LIMF (Liverpool International Music Festival) ‘One to Watch’.
Speaking on Full Of Wonder, Astles said “I really wanted to be ambitious & create something which really showed the evolution of me as a person & as an artist. The concept behind the EP is the loss of your innocence from growing older. Losing faith in the possibilities of youth and embracing the realities of what is in front of you.”
Astles is a student in the prestigious Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) and is currently working on EP number 2 which is set to be released in early 2019. The project will be the next instalment of the Liverpool based Singer Songwriter’s career and is set to release a more cohesive, and enthralling body of work that is sure to take him to the next level.
