Smoke Fairies

Dark, lustful, blues folk from London. Lovely two part harmonies.

At school in rural England during the mid-late‘90s, best mates Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies hoped they’d one day escape their home town and dive headlong into the landscape and myth of America, the promised land of their dreams. Little did they know that by 2010, they’d have lived in New Orleans and Vancouver, recorded with 21st century icon Jack White and toured across continents. And now they’re releasing a debut album that fulfils the promise of their earlier singles. 

“Through Low Light And Trees” is an exquisitely shivery blend of alternative 
folk-rock and a more humid, bluesy brand of Americana, a sound both eerily ancient and thrillingly modern, with beautifully interlocking harmonies and guitar parts behind the spectral melodies. “Instead of learning how to sing or play individually in a conventional way, we’ve learnt by bouncing off each other, and fitting in with each other,” says Katherine. “It’s a connection we wouldn’t have found anywhere else.”

That connection began in the school choir, and deepened by picking up their parents’ guitars and obsessing over Jessica’s mum’s vinyl albums collection, dominated by American ‘70s classics: “The first time I heard Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, when those harmonies kicked in, there was nothing else like it,” Katherine grins. “Those old records sounded so otherworldly.” A year spent in New Orleans in 2002 also helped shape their sound which evolved even further when, back in England, they discovered more British folk at the Sidmouth Folk Festival. “Sometimes the way you find out who you are is by first leaving it behind,” says Jessica. Read More