Vinyl Review By Mark Doughty

You know it’s not often that I’m really moved by something but I want to share with all of you the way this has unfolded over the last week. Some of you may remember me posting on a wonderful singer/songwriter I had the pleasure to see Sunday morning in the Latitude Sunrise Arena. You know, one of those Festival mornings when you are tired from the length of the whole thing? So the scene is set – it’s the third morning and you want something to ease yourself into the day. Tallullah Rendall was such an experience. Her set started gently and built to a fitting crescendo that really moved me.

So the story moves on and she contacted me offering to send a copy of her limited edition vinyl single ‘Only You’. We conversed via e-mail and the more she told me the more impressed I became with her determination and sincerity. I want to try to convey some of that to you all, so forgive me if this post is longwinded! Below is a transcript of our conversation:

Mark:
Tallulah, the single is an awesome recording can you give me a little background on the idea behind doing it with a download link etc.Also could you give me a little background on the inspiration behind the song and also a little biog on yourself just make it a complete post.Im just listening to time fades at the moment and remembering actually just how good you were at Latitude not often im blown away coming in cold to an artist

Tallulah

ah that is very kind of you to say!
I think Vinyl looks and sounds so fantastic and for me the artwork element to a record is really important, but people dont really have vinyl anymore so it seemed a really practical idea… this coming from someone who has just booked a holiday leaving in two hours and travelling via amsterdam to get to france!!!! so if this is a little garbled sorry!!! thinking fast…
Plus because there is only me and Jon pushing this forward it seemed the only real way to get the track out into the world, by putting it in the hands of the audience and asking them to play a part. And it really seems to be working slowly but it is.

But when you get the record you see the beautiful artwork, we have used my friend Beshlies paintings for each track on the record and when the album is eventually released all 10 songs will be there with there paintings in a beautiful book.. that is the plan in anycase. If you got one of the EPs at latitude that had three of here paintings in the inside booklet.

so to sum up that question… about why the download… mmm creating something unique, and beautiful whilst practically trying to appeal to this wierd and wonderful music chaos we are living in….
the song itself… was thinking about this last night.. when i was writing the song everything in my life was fairly turbulent and i was definitely feeling pretty isolated, but i met someone who was really supportive in telling me to get of my ass and focus and more importantly believe in myself ….. so i guess it was a song to myself telling me to just be strong and believe in what i was doing. It is amazing how much strength you can get from shifting your mind set to actually believing in yourself. it has taken me a really long time. I had also recently seen a band called Hush the Many that i really liked and lyrically i guess that is where ‘hushing the few’ came from.. i wasnt really playing to many people so …. this wee description makes it sound like a negative song.. but it really isnt.. it is a ode to how difficult things can be but there is such strength to be found inside yourself, you just have to acknowledge it.. which is why the ending is so euphoric.. well it is too me it is this huge release out from the chaos and the darkness and the sense of being alone to suddenly everything just rising all the harmonies all the guitars everything is just getting bigger and bigger there is a sense of explosion and positivity eminating.. just like the ending of black seagull which i think is my next single.. which i wrote when i was definitely more on my path.. about myself…. well.. i am completely unpredictable, and chaotic but there is an enormous sense of passion that holds it all together.. I have been writing for years and years and playing all round..on my own and with a band.. I have never really found the right management and record labels never seemed that interested in my style of music.. for a female artist it is not a Duffy esque thing so not what they are looking for right now… That is why i thought it was so amazing that Jon put Sigur Ros on- to me they were the best live show i have ever seen and i was completley mesmorised by the beauty of it all and i love it when people get behind the unusual.
it is fantastic.. i write how i do and perform the way do.. and i think i have been really lucky in not being signed because it has forced me to really do exactly what i want to do and not compromise on any level. This album is full of songs that i needed to write and not have anyone telling me what style or how many singles were needed. It is a lot smore downtempo than i thought it would be and i know the next record will be much heavier and grittier.. because that it was feels like is coming next!
there are so many elements to me that are important, visual as well as sonic.. which is why i have spent so much time working on getting the artwork right. I had a great graphic designer called Joe Lattimer who has worked on beshlies painting for the last year for free and cups of tea and i think he has done the most fantastic job of incorporating the lyrics into the pictures.

but live as well.. when we played a bush hall we transformed the entire venue into a garden with 15 foot red paper lantern tulips and vines.. it was so beautiful and we lit lanterns all the way along .. i also work with a VJ who has put together visuals for each of the songs so all together it is a pretty detailed experience. I have also just finished getting merch done.. a friend makes these beautiful silk camisol tops which i have screen printed my logo (which is beshlies Fairy Queen ) onto the front they are beautiful and i am really pleased they worked.. it took me months to find someone who could print onto silk but it worked ..
so i guess i love trying to find unusual and beautiful ways of getting everything out there…
i could rant about this for hours but i am in my pyjamas and i need a shower and i have half an hour to get out the door to heathrow so i think best to leave it there god knows what i have written no time for a re- read … i will go online at airport if you have anymore questions..
xx Tal

So that was Tallulah’s reply on her way to the airport. She actually took the time to include a beautifully hand-written letter covering a lot of the stuff again, with the single. The artwork on both the sleeve and inner sleeve make this worth buying alone, but the song is wonderful as well. So please, visit the website and buy a limited edition copy! You will then be given a unique code that can be e-mailed as many times as you want to spread the word!!! The Jon she refers to is Jon Dunn, the music curator of the Latitude Festival and Live Nation fame. I know that Jon – whom I consider to be one of the most switched-on people in the UK industry – has great belief in Tallulah as do I!

MP3: [listen] Tallulah Rendall – Hope Tonight

VIRAL VINYL DOWNLOAD LINK

- Mark