Over the winter months, members of Folk in a box have been writing, recording, releasing and promoting our exciting individual projects.

First up, is the fantastic Emily Barker, with her brand new album, ‘Almanac’, which is released on Monday 7th February!

‘Almanac’ is the third studio album by Anglo-Australian quartet Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo. The album weaves a compelling musical tapestry balancing contemporary influences with classic, folk-rooted songwriting.

In this almanac appear stories of love, renewal, the importance of community and our relationship to the earth. Shadowing these lighter themes are darker truths of untold atrocities committed by settlers on indigenous Australians during colonisation (Bones), the mass hysteria regarding a Scottish witch-hunt (Witch of Pittenweem) and good old-fashioned heartbreak.

Emily is a compelling songwriter with a gift for melody and words. Her talent is perfectly complimented by the magnificent arrangements of The Red Clay Halo. Throughout the album, the interplay between the band’s rootsy ensemble playing, and Barker’s agile vocal blend of strength and fragility, is effortlessly engaging. In moments when the four female voices combine to deliver arresting harmonies, it is simply blissful.

In the song ‘Pause,’ a grand pipe organ and lonely electric guitar provide stark arrangement to the group’s mesmerizing vocal chorus, whilst in ‘Ropes,’ as we are taken on a month by month account of the disintegration of a relationship, the quartet, backed by drums and double bass, stir up a rebellious storm before reforming peacefully with the determination to move on and the hope of a positive outcome: “And I can afford no hope but I do wish that you find yourself through losing me.”

The first single, ‘Little Deaths’ received enthusiastic radio support at 6 Music, with afternoon presenter Nemone making it her Single of the Week and plays from Tom Robinson, Gideon Coe and Steve Lamacq on Radio 2.
A session with 6 Music’s Cerys Matthews is scheduled for Sunday 23 Jan, ahead of the second single release ‘Calendar’ on Jan 31 and a UK tour in February.

The album will be released in CD and digital format on the band’s own imprint ‘Everyone Sang.’ The project is entirely self-financed, through funding from a www.pledgemusic.com campaign and through support from the fanbase, in particular the owners of www.spareroom.co.uk. The band consists of Emily Barker (acoustic & electric guitar, lead vocals), Jo Silverston (cello, saw), Anna Jenkins (violin) and Gill Sandell (accordion, flute, piano, pipe organ). The album is co-produced by Ted Barnes with captivating illustrations by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini.

Folk in a Box member and BAFTA award winning songwriter Emily Barker was interviewed inside the box by our good friend Ben Eschmade for the fantastic Arctic Circle Radio on resonance FM. Here’s the podcast.

We were distraught when we discovered that our two fantastic boxes had disappeared from our lock up. What a shocker. Especially as we had a gig in a week’s time at the Southbank Centre for  National Poetry Day, with poets from throughout the land performing in the box!

But we all came together and sorted it out. We made a brand new box and it is a corker! We covered the box in pages from old books and made the room into a little study, with a wooden desk, an 80?s tape player and a reading lamp. A horde of strange and lovely poets gathered around us like highly articulate bumble bees. They read their poems to eager poetry lovers and all went swimmingly. Everyone got a bit over excited when Simon Armitage went in the box and we even had a monstrous paparazzi beast taking snaps of our souped up shed of Folk! What a fantastic day.

Rachel Unthank outside the box

Folk in a Box went down a storm at Larmer Tree Festival!  A record number of artists performed in the box, including the Unthanks, who gave us a mention on the main stage! Sarah Doody took some great photos of all our new friends that played, as  well as some cracking snaps of our temporary home, deep in the woods.

Who played in the box:

Deep in the woods

Hannah Miller, Ned The Kid Bob Dylan, Rachel Unthank. Becky Unthank, Howling Dan Grabiner, Sam Walter, Justin Guitar Tree Gartry, Frank Doody, Pepe Belmonte, Dizraeli, John Smith, Rita Hosking, Alex Roberts, Raghu Dixit, Emily Barker and Lorna Rose.