Sealionwoman

Baba Yaga's Hut Presents:

Sealionwoman

“Sealionwoman’s music flips folk music on its head, taking traditional Scottish music and moving it into a darker, more atmospheric direction...” - The Quietus

“Björk, Billie Holiday and The Anchoress come to mind while listening to Kitty Whitelaw’s exquisite vocals… It’s Mercury Prize bait, this – haunting, monolithic soundscapes…” - Prog Magazine

In 2018, Kitty Whitelaw of jazz duo Sealionwoman had just completed the dark, atmospheric debut album ‘Siren’ with double bass player Tye McGivern, inspired by the Scottish folk tale of the selkie – a creature that can shapeshift between the forms of human and seal. That was an oceanic album, but Whitelaw’s growing fascination with yew trees – and a visit of her own to Crowhurst – saw them return to the land. Five years on, their astonishing second album ‘Nothing Will Grow In The Soil’ arrives: exploring the role these ancient, strange trees occupy in our culture, spirituality and imaginations.

Kitty Whitelaw’s forays into the deeper end of her register and the dark churns of McGivern’s double bass – strengthened by a raft of digital effects – build a crushing, nightmarish landscape.

At its heart, this album is an enquiry into how these strange long-living, perennial plants relate to our culture and history. “There’s discussion about their role in pagan worship, which was adopted into early Christianity,” Whitelaw notes. This forms the basis for ‘It Rides A Horse’, on which she intones: “Bark is the flesh / Heart wood is blood,” echoing the consecration of bread and wine in Catholicism. “In my mind, when we were creating the track I wasn’t singing as a human being,” she says, “but perhaps from the tree’s point of view.”

Presented by Baba Yaga's Hut.

All ages