ODETTE MICHELL

In 2019 she released a compelling debut album to rave reviews from the majority of radio stations (BBC, Radio Wales...) And in 2020 Odette was nominated for the Rising Star Award at the Folking Awards before being invited to Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival.

A true storyteller, she composes the vast majority of her songs. But she blurs the lines so much, you'd think they were straight out of tradition. As well as writing and composing, she is an accomplished musician, playing guitar, bouzouki and accordion. And she has already performed alongside British artists such as Martin Carthy and Phil Beer.
This year, she offers us a second album entitled The Queen of the Lowlands, named after the third track on the CD. The song tells the story of a Dutch liner requisitioned by the American army to repatriate its soldiers who left for the front during the First World War.

Ten songs including St Helens, the story of her great-grandmother, an Irish immigrant in the mid-19th century. Or Lady Constance, a tribute to Constance Markievicz, Irish politician and revolutionary, the first woman elected on the Sinn Féin ticket in 1918 to the Westminster Parliament, where she refused to take her seat.
In all her songs, even the most personal, O. Michell strives to bear witness to the truth. Set to folk melodies, she favors precise, thoughtful reflections. Witness Hourglass, written after the death of her father, carries a message of hope for the future.
On three tracks, she is joined on vocals by Calum Gilligan, Daria Kulesh, with whom she forms a trio, and Ninebarrow. And five other musicians, including Chris Leslie, fiddler with Fairport Convention, join her to illustrate the beautiful melodies.
Let yourself be carried away by Odette Michell's expressive, haunting voice as she takes you on a journey through this beautiful opus. e

Talking Elephant Records TECD507 - www.odettemichell.com