As part of the lead up to Eliza Carthy's new album, Dreams of Breathing Underwater, FolkRadio.co.uk will be featuring a track from the album each hour. The album will be released on 23rd June 2008. Eliza has never been one to sit still and she has carved out some wonderful new ground in this album which is unlike anything she has done before. A brilliant album that has silken threads of originality running through it....you'll see.

Extract from Stewart Lee's review of "Dreams of Breathing Underwater"

While not explicitly embodying English Folk, Dreams of Breathing Underwater is subtly informed by it. Eliza uses the tracks Follow The Dollar and Two Tears as examples of this approach; “Follow The Dollar takes melodies from traditional songs and messes with them. There’s traditional American fiddle tunes in there. But those tunes are also our tunes. I think you can see, in English pop music, an unbroken line from traditional music. And with Americana people forget about the links to English traditional music. There’s lots of British traditional music in The Blues, for example. I wanted to play with people’s ideas of what a classic tune is. Two Tears resembles romantic love songs from the tradition, without actually being one. And it’s good fun to sing.”

But isn’t this likely to arouse the ire of purists? “In a way it’s like sampling. All the classic songwriters – Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, - indulge in a form of sampling. Creating new stuff out of the air is fantastic, but often great music is not about who is the most original, but who has the best memory. Folk music is pop music. How else can a classic tune survive, other than being popular? How else can a classic tune survive being collected by a knobhead like Cecil Sharpe? I’m already been doing this for a long stretch, and I’m only 31.

Folk music is pop music. How else can a classic tune survive, other than being popular? How else can a classic tune survive being collected by a knobhead like Cecil Sharpe? I’m already been doing this for a long stretch, and I’m only 31.

And how will Dreams of Breathing Under Water sit on Topic records, probably the world’s oldest indie label and the home of traditional music? “ ..I was surprised when Topic wanted to put the album out. It’s not a traditional record. But Topic have always supported me as an artist.”

Eliza’s albums always have a very distinct identity, the mysterious, opaque feel of Anglicana, the baroque, magical flavour of Rough Music. How would she characterise Dreams Of Breathing Under Water? “It has a circusy feel and it’s a watery album. It makes me think of broad-walks and the sea.”

Read the Folk Radio Interview Here

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Bio

‘A gloriously natural singer’ – Q Magazine

Eliza Carthy is undoubtedly one of the most impressive and engaging performers of her generation. Winner of 2 Nationwide Mercury Prize nominations and innumerable other accolades over a 15 year career, Eliza has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists from Paul Weller to Rufus and Martha Wainwright, from Nick Cave to Joan Baez.
'Dreams of Breathing Underwater' is Eliza’s latest album and her second which is self-penned (bar one track,’Hug You Like A Mountain’ by Rory McLeod). Due for release via her long standing (and truly independent ) label, Topic Records, it has been co-produced by Ben Ivitsky in Edinburgh.

The 12 tracks not only showcase an inventive, innovative singer and fiddle-player, but also reveal Eliza as a gifted musical conceptualist. Powerful, vital and exuberant rhythms, absorbed from her travels around the globe, characterise 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater', a highly original album. Percussion, bass, brass and a chamber orchestra weave a rich tapestry against which to display her incomparable voice. A range of accomplished performers and fellow musicians, including Eddi Reader and Toby Shippey (Salsa Celtica), provide excellent support.

From an early age Eliza was championed by John Peel and Billy Bragg. She featured on Billy's Grammy winning album with Wilco, 'Mermaid Avenue'. In 2006, she appeared on 'Rogues Gallery' an album created by Hal Wilner and Johnny Depp and most recently, contributed to another successful collaborative project, 'Imagined Village' (Realworld).

Touring on and off since the age of 14, Eliza has performed, recorded or appeared on the same stage with a startling array of musical heroes from around the globe including Damon Albarn, Chango Spasiuk and Bryan Ferry. She's appeared at a huge number of live events, benefits and multi-artist concerts including, Patti Smith's Meltdown (with Marianne Faithful, Yoko Ono and Kristin Hersh), played a significant part in the 'Daughters of Albion' concerts and in October 2007, led the BBC Electric Proms concert celebrating the songs of her aunt, 'A Tribute to Lal Waterson'.

Yorkshire-born and bred, Eliza recently relocated from a Scottish farm house to her new home, a Gothic Arch in a forest in the Midlands. She grew up immersed in the world of traditional music. She still divides her time between touring and recording with her legendary parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson (as Waterson;Carthy) as well as engaging in numerous pioneering solo and band projects, currently including work with Pere Ubu and an artist in residence in Antarctica.

In what has become something of a parallel career, Eliza has co-presented the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards with Benjamin Zephaniah - an event that was broadcast on BBC Four. She was a regular guest-presenter on the BBC Radio 2 Mark Radcliffe Show and has made many appearances on BBC TVs 'Later with Jools'. In addition, Eliza has presented her own four part series on the history of English Folk on BBC Radio 2, was a guest presenter for BBC Radio 3 and featured prominently in the BBC Four Folk Britannia season. She was recently the subject of an hour long ITV documentary('Heaven & Earth') and on 27th April 2008 is the subject of another TV documentary, this time on Channel 5 ('My Music').

Describing herself simply as a 'modern British musician', she has become one of the most dazzling musicians of a generation. She has more than most, revitalised folk music and captured the most hardened of dissenters with intelligent, charismatic and boundary-crossing performance.
Fearless, colourful and maverick in the best tradition of English songwriters, 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater' presses Carthy's many and varied skills into action.
‘Seriously impressive’ – The Telegraph

FOR TOUR & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION : www.eliza-carthy.com

Read the Folk Radio Interview Here