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ABOUT

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KELSEY MICHAEL 

The music of Penzance based singer songwriter Kelsey Michael is a hotline to West Cornwall’s nature and landscape, bonding listeners through a re-kindling of their collective experience of wild places. Her recent solo album 'Lethowsow' was released digitally on Anglo/Irish label Dimple Discs in July 2024 followed by a CD and vinyl release in October.

Kelsey writes crafted songs on piano and performs solo, duo and with her LETHOWSOW collective. Lethowsow's core members are percussionist Greg Dyer (Radio Rio, DJ Descafeinat) and bassist Treve Nicol (Global Jamming, Kizamba). The musical style recalls ‘classic’ 60s/70s female artists such as Laura Nyro and Carole King. Uplifting catchy tunes take their place amongst dreamy wide horizon song-landscapes conjured from draw-bar organ and shruti-box folk drones. A singer with a dynamic wide-reaching vocal range, Kelsey creates a world of texture within a song.

Lethowsow (pronounced Laith-oh-so), means ‘the milky ones’ in old ‘Kernewek’ language. It was used as a name for the treacherous Seven Stones reef on the way to Lands End, a large stretch of vertical rocks like sharks teeth which are always always covered with white water.  For Kelsey Lethowsow represents the awesome and humbling power of nature. 

Singer Songwriting, storytelling, folk and classic pop all work together in Lethowsow which has 'classic' elements but offers a very contemporary voice. These are songs with a rare ability to speak to audiences old and young, to create community, entertain and make moments rooted in the here and now.

 

Additional singers join the band live whenever possible. Lethowsow the album

features Angeline Morrison whose album 'The Sorrow Songs' was Guardian Folk album of the year in 2022, Maria Heseltine (Red Apple Honeys), and Kelsey's daughter, upcoming pop artist MAY.

Kelsey has sung on five albums by Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas. She also sings on contemporary classical composer Jocelyn Pook's soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'. In the jazz world she has performed live with Liam Noble and Tom Bancroft. She is currently collaborating with fellow

Dimple Discs artist and former Stump bassist Kev Hopper, and will contribute a song to history and music project Bring Your Own Hammer, also on the Dimple label.

FULL BIO.

Band
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