The songs are populated by a living, breathing cast of beaten-down dreamers, jaded
city-dwellers, and women in a quandary. There is a beautiful prostitute with a split
lip, pining to be free to return to mother Russia. There is also a wicked, myth-enshrouded
temptress, luring in young men with drink and drugs. And there is a Mini, the same
age as the singer, as human and ‘real’ in its wheezing everyday tasks as any of the
other folk. These, simply, are songs about people, about life, as the singer has
precociously learnt to understand them at her tender age.
In the run-up to the release
of ‘All The Ghosts’, Gwyneth has been performing across the UK, as well as incubating
some intriguing side projects. She recently worked with the London Sinfonietta on
a project called ‘The Art Of News’, alongside Simon Munnery, John Hegley and Nathan
Penlington. She has also been commissioned to write a musical about Phyllis Pearson,
the eccentric British artist who walked every street of London and invented the A-Z
map. Recorded at Real World Studios and mixed and mastered by Robert Harder. All
The Ghosts features: pianist Steve Holness double bassist Sam Burgess, percussionist
Dave Price and guitarist Al Cherry.
‘A voice that's a knowing mix of honey, steel and gravel... Her voice vibrating over
the lyrics in a way that
makes your toes curl’ - The Observer
‘The jazz folk-diva with an awesome voice. Expect beguiling, powerful and often witty
songs that strike
an emotional chord!’ - Time Out, London
‘Intelligent and technically awesome singer’ - The Guardian
‘Herbert is a hugely assured, sensual vocalist who can live a lyric’ - The Times
www.gwynethherbert.com
Gwyneth first broke onto the scene five years ago, when she was signed up by the
Universal conglomerate as a jazz crossover artist. Finding that role too stifling,
she soon struck out on her own, as a singer-songwriter, inspired as much by Janis
Ian and Joni Mitchell, as by Billie Holiday or Nina Simone. In 2007 her Seb Rochford
(Acoustic Ladyland/Polar Bear) produced album was picked up by Blue Note.
Her latest collection, ‘All The Ghosts’, continues further along her own idiosyncratic
path. It carries ten terrific songs, which speak to you directly, without forethought
for genre or category. In their melodic immediacy and observational characterization,
you might hear the Lennon-McCartney of ‘Sgt Pepper’, or the Ray Davies of ‘Lola’,
rather than any jazz stereotype.
