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Young folks focuses on the best, fresh folk, acoustic, singer-songwriter indie folk & alt-country jams. Turn it up Folks!

***qhicħâ mhuɣcâ=14 (Muisca numerical system)***

Laura Rafetseder

‘What Will It be’

[folk]

Press Notes:

Laura on Laura:

Once upon a time a little songstress fell in love with music listening to her songwriter dad’s piano (he used to put music to anglo-american poets’ poems), her mum singing lullabies and generally being raised on her parents records (dylan, stones, joni mitchell,…). At 8 an old tape of a radio show called „the roaring 60s“ made a lasting impression – she decided to become a revolutionary (the tape started with „hippies, beat, riots, revolution,…“ and sounded very exciting). She also went on to inhale pop music history, became a beatles freak at 13, wearing only grey (it was the early 90s,you know), reading emily bronte and climbing trees. At 14 though she hijacked her dad’s guitar, learned how to play and started writing songs (well… she didnt write her own lyrics at first but exploited her dad’s poetry books and put new musical clothes to w.h. auden, t.s. eliot and the like). The lyrics started to flow at 18, when she moved to vienna and took to the open mic scene there. With her band the comrats she recorded the ep make me whole again in 2006. Laura & the comrats critically acclaimed debut cd” creating memories” was released in April 2010. At the moment Laura is taking a break from the band. In November 2012 she released her solo debut the minor key club on Lindo Records. A second album, swimmers in the arctic sea was released in autumn 2016. “So much for that. As for my songs, they are an attempt to see through the mess that i make out of my life sometimes (and thus embrace it). i love catchy tunes as well as good metaphors and images, there’s nothing better… a constant theme are dialectics and contradictions – good and bad, dream and reality, up and down, bitter and sweet…. always been fascinated by the contradiction of sadness and happyness in popmusic – cos the great songs touch a nerve, make you happy and sad, usually both at the same time.

Angela Harris

‘I Want Them Gone’

[americana/alt-country]

Press Notes:

You know that old saying, ‘you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl’? Well it rings true in the case of Alternative Country/Americana recording artist and songwriter, Angela Harris.

Harris was born in to a musical family, raised by her bootstrapping parents in the rural Chilcotin backwoods of BC, Canada, where hunting, fishing and venturing out in to the wilderness were the norm. Her Dad and Grandpa trapped in the winter months and ran the sawmill in the summer.

As a young girl, Harris recalls living with her family in her Grandpa’s small cabin. The smell of wood smoke, sawdust, beaver bait and diesel filled the air and the sounds of Tom T Hall, The Carter Family, George Jones, Kitty Wells and Patsy Montana echoed through the walls. Harris was drawn to those sweet sounds of harmony and the simplicity of the melody and lyrics and began singing along, learning all the yodelling and harmony parts to as many Classic Country, Bluegrass and Folk albums that she could. At the early age of 9 she began singing harmonies for her mother, who was a well known singer/songwriter in BC at the time, and took to writing poetry at the age of 11. Two years later she picked up her mom’s 12-string guitar and started writing songs. Upon graduating from high school she was fronting her first band and introducing her original material to her fans.

With a passion for songwriting and a burning desire to hone her craft, Harris ventured off to Nashville, TN in 1992 and lived the Nashville experience for the 10 years that followed. In keeping a firm plant on her ever-evolving roots and authentic sound, she began building a strong network in that Mecca of Country and moved to Metro Vancouver, BC with her three daughters in the year 2000 to spread her wings and begin developing her professional music career as a recording artist and songwriter.

TRILLS

‘Super Blue Moon’

[folk/singer-songwriter]

Press Notes:

TRILLS happened by accident. A love of a cappella gospel and folk brought them together, singing archival gems for the hell of it. A busking trip to Slovenia provided fertile ground to write their first original song, paving the way for the band’s future. Since then, TRILLS has morphed and evolved, growing into prolific songwriters with a knack for creating richly textured, harmony-saturated tracks that are both cinematic and sensitive, bold and haunting. From humble beginnings awkwardly bringing their early folk ditties to London’s testosterone-heavy rock venues, the band has crafted a unique sound that has found them gracing the stages of Glastonbury, Latitude, XOYO, and even joining Robyn’s Honey Tour band at Alexandra Palace.

Anna Smyrk

‘Bones’

[folk]

Press Notes:

Anna Smyrk has come a long way since growing up on a lavender farm in Central Victoria. She has toured widely across Australia over the last few years (including appearances at Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Queenscliff Music Festival), juggling her music with her work in international development. In January she toured the UK for the first time, playing to packed out folk clubs and earning herself invitations to return in 2020 for festival and headline appearances.

Fort Gorgeous

‘Round and Round’ 

[indie folk]

Press Notes:

Fort Gorgeous leader Billy Libby’s heady, introspective songs rise and fall on waves of emotion, their lyrics always searching for hard answers, their pop sensibility never forgetting the need for a strong chorus. Though the songs often wind their way through delicate, hypnotic arpeggios, Libby’s songs always emerge with welcoming, heartfelt hooks. And though his contemplative lyrics and winding musical passages conjure up comparisons to brooding art-folk acts like Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, the sequent hooks precede another message: Everyone’s invited in Libby’s voyage to The Bottom of the Sea.

Sam Carlson

‘Time Moves Fast’

[americana/bluegrass]

Press Notes:

From the hills of Pennsylvania, Sam Carlson discovered his passion through traditional Gospel hymns. The years that followed ignited a journey of original Americana music, highlighted by a soulful, Gypsy-Folk vibe. The vintage sound, typically loaded with upright bass, lead guitar, fill strings and distinct vocals, demands attention from the growing audiences that are lucky enough to catch his sets.

Hunter Gatherers

‘Fixin’ to Die’

[alt-americana/alternative]

Press Notes:

After two decades working with world music, jazz and ska bands, guitarist and composer Peter Michaels formed Hunter Gatherers to unite his influences together in one group. Featuring friends on violin, trumpet and backing vocals, the first album was recorded whenever Peter had a spare moment in the studio. Years of patience resulted in The Way Down, ranging across stomping country blues, screaming hard rock, scratchy reggae, intimate folk and gospel.

The songs touch on love and its ending, the catharsis of death, the crimes of modern warfare and social unrest. These threads are tied together by catchy choruses, intense lyrical images, driving beats and ear-catching arrangements. They are also bound together by Peter’s filigree playing on acoustic, nylon and electric guitars.

Mattie Leon

‘Silver Line’

[folk/singer-songwriter]

Press Notes:

Hailing from Toronto, Mattie Leon is a singer/songwriter whose music strikes a beautiful balance between Folk/R&B and Pop. 2019 will see the release of “WHEN LOVE IS STRONG / CAUGHT UP”, a two song single that returns Leon to the R&B roots he cultivated on his debut EP, TERRACE. It’s the first release since 2017’s SIGNAL HILL; a 7-song collection of rhythmic Canadiana that landed Leon a nomination for Emerging Artist at the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Canadian Beats said the record is “Full of emotion and passion” and that “Mattie Leon is onto something brilliant”.

Big Fox

‘All I’m Trying’

[folk/singer-songwriter]

Press Notes:

Big Fox is swedish chanteuse and musical enigma Charlotta Perers.

Inspired by the likes of Feist, Nick Drake and Nina Simone she has toured extensively around Europe, especially Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and France, gathering a large fanbase with her careful orchestrated form of raffinate Indie-Pop. A Pure jewel of female songwriting, minimal piano and string parts mixed with electronic elements, Big Fox creates a delicate sound with melancholic flavors.

Her third album is set to be released March 2020

Musketeer

‘Wolves’ – Acoustic Version

[acoustic/folk]

Press Notes:

Musketeer is a folk-rock project currently based in Hamburg, Germany.

After several years of travelling and busking solo in many cities around Europe, the UK, Australia, & New Zealand – supporting the likes of such acts as Dustin Tebbutt (AU) & Half-Moon-Run (CA) – Musketeer has honed a songwriting craft rich with the pictures of the people, the history, and landscapes of those places wandered.

In 2017, Musketeer released the Debut Studio EP ‘Seven Long Years.’ The independently produced record follows the journey of an 18th century convict sent to the prison camps of Australia; combining old sea tale story telling with a modern musical sentiment.

In 2020, Musketeer will release a second studio EP entitled ‘The North Sea.’ After establishing a working base in Hamburg, the recordings will mark a new era for the folk project – joining forces with some of the most hearty local musicians to bring a vision to life.

Musketeer now shifts seamlessly between a hardened Singer-Songwriter and also as a hot and hearty folk-rock troop.

Photo credits: Ricky Barnard

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Compiled by: Christos Doukakis