Newsletter June 2016

Hello Ethryllites everywhere.

Ethryll have been having a couple of quiet weeks whilst Martin is helping his students through the exam season and Hannah has her annual hayfever explosion. However, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes, so we felt a quick newsletter was in order to tell out all about it.

We have just enjoyed a fantastic run of gigs, which have each been unique and fun.

Well done to the organisers of Roof Raiser for Refugees, the event raised over £800 (some still to come in when I last spoke to them) and has enabled them to continue their work. Thank you to everyone who came along and dug deep.13178754_1735700950009839_274947299526684320_nThe Royal Standard was a great venue, and we can heartily recommend the bar food.

Taste Sessions in Doncaster was a fantastic night. As the guests of Tony Nicholson we were just one part of an awesome night. There was even some extra exuberant partying thanks to a Birthday Boy in one of the bands. We discovered several other fantastic artists we had not met before. The food, as always, is fantastic.
13312790_1079990412062653_6120589927778564085_nThe quirkiest moment has to go to our “gig on a tram” as part of the BBC Music Day “Sheffield Makes Music” events. Turns out that being allowed to ride around the steel city on the rails singing your heart really puts a smile on your face.

Releases

Starlight and StarlingsThe last month say Ethryll’s first proper releases with a demo version of “Starlight and Starlings”.

wtigyhNot even a fortnight later we had the release of our teaser single “Wait ‘til I Get You Home” which will be on the upcoming Murmuration Album.

They are available to stream and download on most platforms including Google Play Music, Amazon, iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, Reverbnation. Just head to your favoured platform and search for Ethryll.

Upcoming Gigs

13062257_813253982139667_3321314534091563056_nSaturday 23rd July 2016 – Tramlines Festival, Sheffield
The Bird Table Stage, The Folk Forrest, Endcliffe Park, Rustlings Road, Sheffield. 1-2pm (times are approximate).

Ethryll are chuffed to bits to have made it in to the 2016 Tramlines Festival. We will be performing on the Bird Table Stage at 1pm on Saturday. This is the free stage in the market area, so you don’t need a wristband to get in. However, there is so much going on that we can highly recommend getting your wristband to enjoy the other artists and activities happening throughout the city. Just remember to make it to the Folk Forrest! We are looking forward to seeing you there. https://www.facebook.com/events/1793069960914104/

Friday 5th August 2016 – West Street Ale House, West Street, Sheffield

In August we return to the excellent West Street Ale House. How could we turn them down. The beer is magnificent! Exact times will be announced a little nearer the day. https://www.facebook.com/Studio54Sheffield/?fref=ts

Sunday 11th September 2016 – The Flying Scotsman Tap, 69 Silver Street, Doncaster DN1 1JL

A new venue for us. In September we will be at the Flying Scotsman Tap in Doncaster. The Sunday night session involves a regular host, a featured artist (that’s us) and some open mic slots. https://www.facebook.com/Flying-Scotsman-Tap-1540022736242558/?fref=ts

Other News

Evening StarlightWe are well on the way with the recording of the first album “Murmuration” and this is occupying a lot of our time and energy just now. Kris is doing an awesome job producing our handiwork as it comes hot off the microphone. We are thrilled to have been granted permission to use the painting “Evening Starlight” by Jane Tomlinson for the album artwork. It has now been incorporated into the design of our refreshed website.

Even as we are recording Murmuration, the Jeanie Johnston suite continues to take shape, with new songs such as “Ten Miles a Day” which tells a remarkable love story that involved some of Jeanie’s passengers. You can look forward to hearing it in our set list later this year.

13315516_10154919028202782_1630344012723599504_nWe have also been considering our on stage look (and how to make sure people can spell Ethryll to google it). Thanks to a bit of painting and sewing and some salvaged curtain fabric we now have a shiny new backdrop banner.

That’s all for now. We look forward to seeing you all and folking your world in July.

Lyrics Insights 4 – Starlight and Starlings

Hello Ethryllites everywhere. This Sunday we have an insight into the lyrics of Starlight and Starlings, which is now available to buy for download and to stream from Google Play Music. You can find it by following this link Google Play – Starlight and Starlings. 

You can hear us perform Starlight and Starlings along with other songs from our album in progress “Murmuration” at our upcoming gigs;

Thursday 26th May 2016, 20.00 – Taste Eatery, 36 Kingsgate, DoncasterDN1 3JU.
Friday 3rd June 2016, 11.00-12.00 – Sheffield Supertram (Details on routes TBC).
Friday 5th August 2016, 20.00 – West Street Ale House, West Street,Sheffield.

Starlight and StarlingsStarlight and Starlings

Starlight and Starlings is about genius not recognised, appreciated or duly celebrated within the lifetime of the discoverer. It uses the metaphor of the apparent drabness of a starling until they fly in “Murmuration. The first verse refers to artists and performers and the second to scientists and engineers. It tries to convey hope to any artist or scientist that someday their contribution may be recognised and their name remembered, even if they don’t live to see it. The title of the song was inspired by a birdwatching and astronomy event held jointly by the RSPB and Mexborough and Swinton Astronomical Society at RSPB Old Moor

In the first verse an artist character sings in the first person, plaintively of the fear of being unrecognised*. The second verse is in the third person and names several scientists. Ignaz Semmelweis was the father of infection control and medical hygiene. He was hounded during his lifetime for daring to suggest that, through their practices, physicians were in fact spreading disease., Alfred Wegener, who first suggested the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift, had his theory laughed at until it was accepted as late as the 1960s. Alan Turing, due to the highly secret nature of his work during WW2 and anti homosexual discrimination, was recognised in his field, but did not become a household name until well after his death. Ludwig Boltzmann was a 19th century physicist who determined how we could predict the properties of matter from the atoms which form it. Although he received academic recognition, and a chair at the University of Munich. Boltzmann was forced to defend his work from (sometimes vicious) peer criticism, until he took his own life in 1906 aged 63.

We were incredibly lucky to come across the brilliant artist Jane Tomlinson www.janetomlinson.com who is kindly letting us use the beautiful image “Evening Starlight” for our album artwork. When I first was the picture I thought “If I saw that on an album it would make me want to listen to you music”. It also beautifully captures the mood of the developing album. The glorious greens and purples are perfect for Ethryll too. We highly recommend having a look at her other work. Her Map of the Plays of Shakespeare is a beautiful and witty must have for any English teacher’s classroom wall.

Evening Starlight

Much of the recording of this track was done during the Easter holidays 2015. We were very grateful to be allowed to use the facilities at Sheffield High School as, at the time, the recording equipment we owned was becoming somewhat antiquated. Our PC hardware and software to mix and master the track was likewise ancient and not up to the job. In 2016 we have finally been able to upgrade to using the excellent and simple Audio Evolution for Android for recording, and SONAR for the mixing and mastering. The real gem has been having Kris Hudson-Lee’s producers ears and technical know how in the band. We finally feel we have the means to produce a recording to a standard we feel happy to put out there. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we have enjoyed the journey bringing it to you.

(*Tip for any artist who feels unappreciated: Make an edible cake sculpture. Everyone loves cake, and your art will sell, especially if it’s chocolate flavoured).

Starlight and Starlings

I’ll try to sing a song for you, But I can only squark,
I try to strut upon the stage, When I can merely walk,
You’ll never see my colours, Until you catch me in a ray,
Of golden light, as I spread my wings,
At the close of day.

 

But then there’s
Starlight and starlings in the evening sky,
A million wings around Venus
And the watcher wonders why,
Each silhouette against the setting sun,
Is a transient work of art,
The flock so much greater than
The sum of every part.     

They tried to explain the world for you, You thought they only squarked,
Semmelweis, Wegener, Boltzmann, Turing and folk,
You never saw their colours  ‘ til you caught them in a ray,
Of golden insight, as they spread their wings,
At the close of day.

 

Chorus x 2

The flock so much greater than
The sum——— of every part.