Mara Carlyle
Mara Carlyle, the artist whose innovative approach to songwriting has seen her dubbed 'the Missy Elliot of the classical world' is set to release a new single on July 9th.
Reflective of her signature magpie style, The Devil and Me sees Carlyle take a Vaughan Willliams composition (Silent Noon) and rework it with shimmering beats (from The Invisible’s Leo Taylor) and her vivid lyricism, conjuring an almost devotional love song to an unnamed subject.
Also included on this release will be Ping Ting - an exclusive track not featured on her current album - and a remix by Warp Records stalwarts (and former musical co-conspirators) Plaid.
Accompanying the single is a breathtakingly beautiful video from director Sam Mason, brother of folk troubadour (and frequent Carlyle collaborator) Willy Mason. The animation director's first foray into live action sees Mara wandering around a deserted, crumbling mansion until she is rescued by a black dog and a motley crew of circus performers.
Filmed in central Mexico, halfway up a mountain, with no producer, crew, or budget, the exquisite cinematography belies the rather chaotic scenes off-camera ''I'm not saying it was like the making of 'Apocalypse Now','' says Carlyle, ''but let's just say there were one or two casualties...''
Her latest album Floreat - a Rough Trade ‘Album Of The Month’ with an iTunes ‘Single Of The Week’ to boot - garnered exceptional reviews on release last September and having recently been taken under the wing of Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment, Mara’s star is firmly on the ascendant.
A Shropshire-born singer/composer/arranger, she embraces a myriad of genres old and new - from 16th Century madrigals all the way to modern urban pop - eschewing a conventional approach to songwriting to explore something altogether more exciting.
Her debut album - The Lovely - on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental label in 2004 captured Carlyle’s immersion in a thriving electronic scene and a flurry of favourable press followed. Her second album Floreat had a far trickier inception.
Caught in the grip of major label meltdown and its attendant legal wranglings, it seemed destined never to see the light of day but the use of her song Pianni in the IKEA ‘Cats’ advert marked something of a rebirth.
Floreat, a Latin word meaning either "let it flourish" or "let her bloom", reflects not only the battle to get the album out but also the leap in artistry on show. Whereas The Lovely was largely pieced together on a secondhand laptop, Floreat went widescreen with contributions from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Co-produced with Dan Carey (Hot Chip, The Kills, La Roux) it was written and arranged entirely by Mara.
The sound of a woman landing at last on her feet, Floreat is a stirring, remarkable album, leaving listeners enraptured and with the indelible sensation that something rare and magical has just happened.
'Don’t let those little fuckers steal your sparkle/ You dug in mines for that' she advises on the medieval pop song Pearl and you know she’s singing from experience. Her admirers number Björk, Willy Mason and, curiously, newsreader Jon Snow who chose her dreamy Bowlface en Provence as one of his Desert Island Discs.
Carlyle’s work continues to straddle many different musical worlds. In recent months she’s appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House as part of the Ignite Festival and performed as a guest on Jamie Cullum’s Radio 2 show. Radio 3 invited her to take part in their recent Schubert season, which saw Mara perform a live reworking of Du bist die Ruh to a rapturous reception.
Mara has also been spending time in the East, having been commissioned by British Council/Musicity (alongside fellow genre-blending artist Jon Hopkins) to compose a piece of music for Singapore’s new botanical construct Gardens By The Bay. This has necessitated several trips to the island but she’ll be returning from her latest oriental mission to play at the Hay Festival on Friday June 8th.
Ahead of the single release on July 9th Mara will play at London’s Lexington on June 19th with further dates to be announced.