Hailing from West Yorkshire, HerOrangeCoat is a definitive example of the sum being greater than the parts.
Her music – original, soulful and heartfelt – is a beguiling mixture of her life experiences to date, woven into a rich tapestry of sound. Armed with her ukulele, she crafts songs that show a remarkable ability to turn melancholy into an enticing musical journey that demands to be heard.
The much-anticipated EP Ballads for this Age simultaneously outlines the difficulties of HerOrangeCoat’s early twenties whilst providing a micro-study of some of the most pressing societal issues of the present day. In this way, it is at once introspectively individualistic and universal.
Tracks are being released to the following schedule:
26 July Ballad 1 (Sorry)
6 September Ballad 2 (Skin Off My Back) You can find it here: https://kycker.ffm.to/ballad2somb
18 October Ballad 3 (Jamaica ’59)
20 November Ballad 4 (Second Nature)
29 November Ballads for this Age (full EP with the above four tracks and additional track, Postscript)
Ballad 1 (Sorry) is not a cry for help, but rather a resolute, resigned defeat. It speaks to the vast mental health emergency, whilst detailing HerOrangeCoat’s own personal journey with anxiety. Pencilled between counselling sessions, etched into her skin, the mournful track opens the EP with what feels like an inevitable end, but, just like life, somehow we stumble on.
Ballad 2 (Skin Off My Back) Written to highlight the lack of safety for women, this is an intimate, imagined account of the very real situation faced by many. These are the fears women and femme people live with daily, the potential situations we are forced to face, the legacy we are obligated to carry from mother to daughter.
Ballad 3 (Jamaica ’59) is HerOrangeCoat’s response to immigration policy that has dominated the UK news during her adult life, through her own specific lens. The song’s repetition of Jamaica ’59 is a reference to the year when her grandmother moved to England to become a nurse.
Ballad 4 (Second Nature) plays on the absurdism of the response to the climate crisis, or rather the lack of response. Written around the heatwave of 2022, the song comes from an acute anger at the inaction of those with the power to do something about it.
Postscript is a note to round this off, marking that, whilst things are difficult, it is much better to be aware of it all; that there can be power in this.
HerOrangeCoat “says she specialises in sadness, but lament would be a more accurate description” – Richard Lee.
Upcoming performances:
St Wilfrid’s Folk Mini Fest 4 August
Weird Garden, Lincoln 10 August
Northern Green Gathering 15 August
Bunkfest, Oxfordshire 30 August – 1 September
Otley Folk Club, headline 4 September
Circle Social, Leeds 13 September
Saltaire Festival 21 September. Supporting Bella Gaffney at the Topic Folk Club 14 November
