Hello everyone. It is an absolute pleasure to be able to share our news with you once again. Positive changes behind the scenes here at Seahouse have given us all sorts of new things to share with you, and much of this is down to our fab new Website wonder woman Paula. Thanks Paula! 

So, how’ve you been? Good. How about that weather eh? 

We’ve been very busy. Let me tell you about a few things going on here. 

We ran a project called Next Wave, which was funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and this enabled us to recruit some new artists, put on workshops, buy a PA system and set up our own venue! Lots of hard work from our directors (Deb, Jonny, Mark and Matt). 

The culmination of Next Wave is the release of debut singles from our three new artists. They all sound fab and they’re all released today! 

First up is Firefly from Brass and Blaise. This duo teamed up last year and found that they worked rather well together. Dom writes and performs the music, while Lou adds her voice to the trip-hop influenced sounds they produce. 

Firefly is a great example of what they can do together, an instant groove of a bassline, laden with subtle synths and live sax and trumpet, with super melodic vocals on top. 

Brass and Blaise have plans to release much more music. Listen to Firefly here

Sylanna is the artist name of Anna Garstang, and her first offering is Marcus. Anna presented this song during the First Wave workshops and it made an impression on us all. Presented initially as a piano and vocal stomp, the track was fleshed out by Seahouse guest musicians Jonny Swift (drums), Kerry Simpson (bass) and Emker Cel (guitar) who also provided Anna with a backing band for the live debut (see more later). Marcus shows Anna’s soulful and jazz-influenced writing and performing so well, that she’s already recorded another song! 

Listen to Marcus here  

Our third single out today is Not Sorry by She Becomes, aka Barrow singer-songwriter Sherri Bell. A self-confessed “teenage goth trapped in the body of a thirty-something-year-old, armed with a piano and a notebook full of poetic angst”.

Stylistically different from the other two new singles out today, She Becomes is firmly set in the indie-pop-rock world with a sound reminiscent of a DIY Paramore. Not Sorry is the first of many songs written by Sherri over the past few months, and is again performed by the Sea-house band of Jonny, Kerry and Matt.

Listen to Not Sorry here

Speaking of Jonny Swift (and we often are), last week he released his FIFTH album on the label in as many years. The End Is Now shows a maturity in Jonny’s writing and playing, and gives us a glimpse of the darker side of his psyche, as well as some lovely playful moments along the way. 

This album is absolutely recommended, a mixture of singles and album tracks, instrumentals, spoken word tracks and guest vocalists, and we are very proud to have it in our releases. 

Read more here

Jonny released his album last week to a packed house, along with debut live sessions from Brass and Blaise, Sylanna, and She Becomes, at the first event at our brand new venue at the Nan Tait Centre in Barrow. This is a joint venture with Community Women’s Matters, and we are so happy to offer this as our early evening, alcohol-free live music venue, where the music is the focus and young people are welcome to attend. We had a fabulous night, and big thanks go out to all the performers and directors, to everyone who helped out, especially Graeme Park our sound engineer and Rebecca and Steve from Women’s Community Matters. We plan to do many more events here, and you are all very welcome to attend. 

That’s it for now. It’s great to be talking to you all again! We’ll be back soon, as I’ve heard mumblings from Mark Docherty, Prater Monks and Emker Cel about upcoming releases…

TTFN! Love from all at Seahouse Records. xxxx