Album - Paperclips & Sand
27th February 06
Lo-Five Records (LO 001)
‘Compellingly beautiful...a Scottish artist destined for bigger things’**** - The List
February sees the release of ‘Paperclips and Sand’, the stunning debut album from Glasgow based singer songwriter Jo Mango. With her striking, child-like vocals and eclectic use of instruments (kalimba, toy piano, flute, squeezebox), Jo is most comfortably bracketed alongside the likes of Stina Nordenstam and Emiliana Torrini.
Together with a band that includes her twin brother Jim on bass, Jo mixes up the intensity of Damien Rice (particularly in the impassioned melancholy vocal interplay with Alan Peacock on the epic ‘Gomer’), the quirky Scottishness of Isobel Campbell and the quiet contemplation of Kathryn Williams. ‘Paperclips and Sand’ explores themes of time, acquisition of knowledge and loss of innocence – wrapped in quirky metaphors and yearning arrangements that evoke both her love of Celtic folk and her time spent playing in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra under the directorship of Nikki Yeoh (pianist with Courtney Pine and the Buena Vista Social Club).
After considering offers from Island and Polydor subsidiary Fiction, Jo has ploughed her own independent furrow –releasing the acclaimed Antidote EP on her Lo-Five label, reducing audiences to tears and /or silence at gigs around Scotland and festivals all over the UK, and picking up a few notable fans.
After Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody heard her version of Ben Folds’ ‘Evaporated’, he invited her to appear on the next Reindeer Section album. While her appearance at this year’s Darvel Scottish Music Festival saw Jo perform her own set and then later duet with Willy Vlautin of festival headliners Richmond Fontaine. The reaction was so great that the band persuaded her to follow them on tour to Newcastle for their next gig.
Look out for the owner of this hypnotic voice in action in 2006.
For more info, please see www.jomango.co.uk or contact Rosie Wilby at Piranha PR on 020 8299 1928; rosie@piranha-pr.co.uk
back to Jo Mango >>> |
