An Evening With Polly Paulusma

0	BIRMINGHAM: Kitchen Garden Cafe
P	Thursday 29th September, 2022
N	7:30pm

BIRMINGHAM: Kitchen Garden Cafe

Thursday 29th September, 2022

7:30pm

Event information

Back in 2003, tucked away in her garden shed, a 28-year-old Polly Paulusma was putting the finishing touches to her self-recorded debut album when indie record label One Little Indian signed her up.

Scissors In My Pocket, a work of aching acoustic tenderness, received immediate widespread critical acclaim upon its international release in 2004.

“the finest young British female singer-songwriter to emerge over the last 12 months” (Uncut ****).

“complete, pure and personal” (MOJO ****).

“outstanding” (Telegraph).

“a spectacular debut” (AllMusic.com).

“an enchanting debut of understated, intelligent folk pop” (Rolling Stone USA).

“the best album to come out of the UK this year” (Nic Harcourt, KCRW).

She was catapulted around the world supporting Bob Dylan, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay, The Divine Comedy, Marianne Faithfull, Joseph Arthur and Gary Jules, and played Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and Cambridge Folk Festival among many others, touring the USA and Italy twice. She released its sister-album, Cosmic Rosy Spine Kites, in 2005.

In 2007, she released the darker, more electric Fingers & Thumbs, produced by Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Gomez, Badly Drawn Boy, Kings of Convenience) and recorded in Liverpool’s Parr Street studios. She toured the UK extensively for this album and made the cult Youtube Guitar Shop Tour videos along the way. Its sister-album Fights & Numbers was released shortly afterwards.

In 2011 she founded the Wild Sound label on which in 2012 she released Leaves from the Family Tree and its sibling The Small Feat of My Reverie. In the same year she played Cambridge Folk Festival and toured the UK in her caravan. This album featured collaborations with US singer-songwriter Erin McKeown, violinist Anna Phoebe and the film/tv music composer Michael Price (Sherlock). She also scored and released a film soundtrack for the Canadian movie starring Roddy Piper, Clear Lake.

Paulusma’s Wild Sound label subsequently released not just her own albums but those of notable acoustic folk artists including Maz O’Connor, Dan Wilde, Mortal Tides, Harry Harris, Stylusboy, Matthew The Oxx and others. The label became a folk imprint at newly named One Little Independent in 2017.

In April 2021 Paulusma released Invisible Music: folk songs that influenced Angela Carter, an album of traditional folk songs and spoken-word readings which sprang from her recently completed PhD on Angela Carter’s influence from folk singing in the 1960s. It has received widespread praise from critics in both the UK and in Italy:

"a vibrant, insightful tribute" (Guardian/Observer ****).

"intoxicating... an impressive album that really deserves to be heard" (BBC Radio 2 Folk Show).

"beautifully explored, interpreted, performed and curated by the remarkable musician scholar Polly Paulusma PhD" (For Folk’s Sake).
"one of the landmark releases of the year" (Shire Folk).

"a truly fascinating album and a joy to unpick its layers" (FATEA).

"a terrific traditional folk album and a fascinating insight into Carter’s creative process" (Rockerilla).

"among the brightest, most inspired and captivating voices of the British folk scene" (Folk Radio UK).

"evocative and exciting" (Classic Rock).

Invisible Music will be followed in 2022 by The Pivot On Which The World Turns, a new album of original songs which will be Paulusma’s ninth release.

Support comes from Me For Queen. With a voice often likened to Carole King and Regina Spektor, a classical piano training, and influences ranging from Björk to Chopin, Me for Queen, aka Mary Erskine, is rapidly winning acclaim for her beguiling 'soul-folk' songcraft, blending traditional folk story-telling with a contemporary edge. Mary is from Kingsbarns in Fife but now works in London... and continues to flap back and forth like a confused swallow.
"Mary Erskine... at the top of her game" (Tom Robinson, BBC 6Music).