MARA CARLYLE - THE LOVELY
released on Accidental Records July 2004

Lovely by name, lovely by nature? Well, yes and no.

The music certainly sounds lovely, so lovely in fact that it'll make you swoon and laugh and cry all at once. The voice is undeniably lovely, but then those of you who've been paying attention will already know that, from Mara's work with Plaid and Matthew Herbert. But listen a little closer and a rather darker voice can be heard, telling tales of love and loss, death and courage and of nightmares...

Mara's musical journey has been a long one. Having formed a punk band with her brothers while still at primary school, it's safe to say that she's been making music all her life. In various ensembles Mara has sung her way through church music, jazz, bluegrass, opera and electronica, elements of all of which can be found sitting harmoniously side by side on this album.

Recorded at home (a fairly Herculean task that involved, amongst other things, squeezing a string quartet into her front room) 'The Lovely' began life as a bunch of 4-track recordings known collectively as 'Mara's Album Ha Ha Ha'. This was not in homage to the book by Roddy Doyle, but a reference to the fact that Mara didn't really think that these songs would ever be anything more than musings for herself and her friends, particularly as she had (and still has) a full-time job.

But as more and more songs were born during nightshifts in the hospitals and hostels where she worked, and her sweet-but-sharp stories began to take shape, completing and releasing an album became happily inevitable. Mara signed to Matthew Herbert's Accidental Records at the beginning of 2004 and put the finishing touches to 'The Lovely' in March.

Arranged and produced by Mara, with additional production and mixing magic from her old buddies Plaid, the album is equal parts sinister and serene. The haunting opener, "Saw Song", demonstrates Mara's saw playing skills and swooping vocal range. "I Blame You Not", a loose arrangement of a piece of Schumann, has the feel of a jazz standard. "Bonding" and "Bravely Born(e)" are both awash with sweet forties-style harmonies. Conventional instruments such as piano and guitar appear alongside more unusual ones: ukuleles strum their way through quirky fairytale "Baby Bloodheart" and an mbira (African thumb piano) provides the pulse for the uplifting album closer "For Me".

'The Lovely' is an assured debut by one of the most talented and original singer-songwriters to emerge in recent memory; a collection of dark tales sung with a smile that will stand the test of time.'

The album's luxury packaging was designed by London design agency Ekhornforss/Non-Format , designers of The Wire magazine, and described by Creative Review magazine as 'delicate, layered and sumptuous'.





MARA CARLYLE - BABY BLOODHEART EP
Released on Accidental Records November 2005

Like most people Mara Carlyle enjoys a wide range of music - Purcell to punk, opera to electronica, bluegrass to jazz. Most people however, don't try and cram all these influences into one four-minute song. But Mara Carlyle is not most people.

Carlyle's star has been steadily on the ascent since the release of her debut album The Lovely last year. An album of such musical fearlessness, it baffled yet charmed critics, The Lovely showcased not only Carlyle's astonishing vocal range and her innovative mix of musical styles but also her penchant for a dark and sinister lyric. Follow up EP, the wittily titled I Blame Dido (a clever play on two of the EP's song titles not a comment on her feelings about the singer "honest") was met with similarly rave reviews and before long Carlyle found herself name-checked alongside more established artists such as KT Tunstall, Emiliana Torrini and Jem.

On her forthcoming 4 track EP Carlyle forgoes her usual choice of classical themes to take on more contemporary artists. Kicking off with the self-penned Baby Bloodheart (taken from The Lovely) the EP includes Carlyle's home-made mash-up of Hey by the Pixies and One Thing by Amerie; her cover of Robert Palmer's (S)he Makes My Day and her Ukulady remix of Game Of Fools by Jamie Liddell.

Meanwhile Carlyle has been establishing her live credentials around the globe whilst mastering her ukulele playing - supporting an eclectic mix of artists including Bebel Gilberto, Maximo Park, Willy Mason and most recently Will Young. It's typical of Carlyle too that she is now introducing different languages to her music in addition to different styles, having set herself the task of singing a song in the language of every country she plays in, most recently in Cantonese following a visit to Hong Kong.

With yet another intriguing collection of songs under her belt and a passion for musical adventure apparently still unquenched, it seems without question that the future for Mara will be full of weird and wonderful surprises.