ABOUT
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.
Singer Songwriting, storytelling, folk and classic pop all work together in Kelsey's music 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.
Kelsey writes beautifully 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, Ella Turk Richards and the Rogue Tones). Additional singers join the band whenever possible. Recent guest singers have included Angeline Morrison whose album 'The Sorrow Songs' was Guardian Folk album of the year in 2022, Maria Heseltine (Nighthawks, Red Apple Honeys, Vintage Vamps), and Kelsey's daughter, upcoming pop artist MAY.
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, she can take her listeners to rare and exhilarating places, creating a world of texture within a song.
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.