Introducing Northern Sky

Photo by Marc Bessant

A few days back I was invited to like a facebook page for a new band called Northern Sky. Closer investigation revealed that Northern Sky is the new outlet for the hard to categorize but mostly folky music of Molly Tilston and her partner (guitarist from the Coral) Lee Southall.
So far there are only the briefest of snippets available to listen to online, but they suggest we could have a new favourite on the way.
I had a chat with Lee to find out what the story is.
"We've been working as a duo for two years now. We've been pretty prolific the whole time. As far as writing goes, we are currently in the writing process for album two." says Lee. "Our debut album is being produced by Ali Staton and Alex Pilkington in Real World studios. Everyone working on the project is in it for the music. All the songs that will be on the record represent every aspect of our lives at this moment."
Early promo has suggested Kate Bush meets Pentangle as a starting point for their sound "We're huge Pentangle fans, Bert Jansch is a hero of mine. We recently moved from Merseyside further up north to a town called Hebden Bridge. The scenes are stunning and dramatic up here. Our songs,words,name and overall project are all massively influenced by our surroundings".
While the name Northern Sky has obvious Nick Drake connotations, it actually came from elsewhere; "Northern Sky happens to be a lyric from one of our songs, although we are fond of Nick Drake."
And Lee admits that it's an entirely different process than working with the Coral "From my point of view it's very natural and more fulfilling as I am in complete control of the instrumental side of things. I write the tunes and Molly writes the words, it's the best way for both of us to work, and it works well. It's been great to learn new styles and really push myself, this project is acoustic and I'm playing folk guitar which is something I've always wanted to do."
Northern Sky have support slots for Martha Tilston and Turin Brakes lined up, and you'll be hearing a lot more from them after that "We're going to be performing as much as possible from now. The album is scheduled to be released early next year."

Follow Northern Sky on Facebook to hear new music as it surfaces and keep up with live dates.