Bryde
+ Emma Miller + Eve Simpson
Guitarist and vocalist Sarah Howells has been making music for over 20 years, ditching Uni in favour of bombing round the UK on a battered old sofa wedged into the back of a transit van. Raised on 90s grunge and 00s emo early biographies mentioned influences like Deftones and Hole, Tori Amos and Jeff Buckley later shifting to Bon Iver, Cat Power and The National.
In 2016, Bryde emerged. An electric guitar-led solo project described by the Sunday Times as “sensational, feral guitar” which seemed to reflect these influences in a way that previous projects hadn’t.
Early Bryde EPs were produced by the likes of Jolyon Thomas and Bill Ryder Jones and quickly supported by Spotify and tastemakers at Radio. In 2018, Debut album Like an Island saw Bryde nominated for the Welsh Music Prize and gracing the stages of festivals such as Latitude, Boardmasters and Live at Leeds. It was a record about emancipation and learning to exist alone again.
What followed was The Volume of Things, Written and recorded between London, and various friends’ studios in Berlin and produced by Thomas Mitchener. An album about the bombardment of modern life, the avalanche of news, notifications and advice we have access to each day and trying to sift meaning from the white noise. Stand out track Silence gave nods to Bryde’s passion for meditation as a chosen method of sifting.
In 2021 Bryde finally honoured her 14 year old self and covered Tori Amos’s ‘Silent All These Years’. Released in the context of International Women’s Day it had added poignancy. A quietly defiant tribute to women, or indeed anyone who has found their voice in recent times.
“Smartly written, well arranged pop.” Pitchfork “Bryde's voice, equally stunning and chilling.” NPR “..hers is a voice that deserves attention in and of its own right” – Consequence of Sound
“a piece of symphonic, drum beating melancholy “ - Born Music
"Bryde invokes the ambience of Warpaint and emotion of Laura Marling.” Dork
“An electrified singer-songwriter with Buckley’s hypnotic, chiming spaciousness.” Total Guitar
“Bryde isn’t afraid to bare her soul.” The Line of Best Fit
“There is so much beauty in Sarah’s voice: the huskiness of Gemma Hayes, lightness of Laura Marling and sensitivity of Jeff Buckley — beauty that is hard to define, which is a big compliment.” - Fresh on the Net
Line Up
Bryde grew up in the Welsh seaside town of Milford Haven, and plunged straight into the world of music the moment she hit double-digits. Being from a fairly sleepy town, Bryde – or Sarah Howells, to her friends – made their own musical entertainment growing up, out of necessity. “Musically, my influences were determined by what I could get my hands on CD-wise,” she says. “I was endlessly scanning the racks in shops seeking out pictures of women on the front of CDs, to try and track down female singers I could identify with.” “In my teenage years I played way more gigs than I went to see,” she adds. “When I was about 16 my dad drove three of us to see Radiohead at Cardiff International Arena. I lost my friends and shoved my way to the front with my sharp boney elbows and stood a few rows back from Johnny, getting thrown about in this weird crowd sway. My pink Adidas gazelles were completely black by the end of it.”
Many of Howells’ earliest gigs were played alongside Nia George, her band-mate in the four-piece JYLT. Early recordings were promising, and the band had signed a record deal when tragically Nia passed away from Leukaemia at the age of 20. Then, in 2008, Howells formed Paper Aeroplanes. The indie outfit quickly built up an ardent live following and released four albums; their final record ‘JOY’ was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize. When the duo decided on an indefinite hiatus, Howells says, it felt like the perfect time to step out alone under her solo moniker Bryde. “It was more exciting than daunting,” she says, “like being given a pass to run the halls. I had ideas that I wasn’t previously able to fully realise, just because it’s always a slight compromise to be in a group of any kind. And I was able to embrace the electric guitar again too which was the beginning of a bit of a love story between me and my Burns guitar.”
Bryde’s debut album ‘Like An Island’ followed in 2018 – written amid a break-up, it was a record about emancipation and learning to exist alone again. The album was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize. The musician is also active on the live circuit, playing alongside the likes of Fatherson, Rufus Wainwright, The Joy Formidable, and joining the bill at Dot to Dot, Green Man, Sen, Live At Leeds, The Great Escape, Latitude, Boardmasters and 2000 Trees.
In the year after ‘Like An Island’s release, “I learnt a lot more about myself,” Howells explains. “I had my first real experience of emotional burnout and quite a paradigm shift experience in terms of how I treat myself.” All of these paths led her to ‘The Volume of Things’. Written and recorded between London, and various friends’ studios in Berlin, the album is produced by Thomas Mitchener (Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, The Futureheads and BlackWaters). Howells describes the record’s expansive feel as being like “the calm before the storm – before the true calm that I’m working towards.”
Emma Miller
'Eve Simpson has a voice as pure as a mountain stream, and boy can she write' - The Crack Magazine
Releasing her debut Shelter EP at 17, Eve juggled her last year of A Levels with opening the Northern leg of The Martha Reeves & The Vandellas tour, and supporting the likes of The Lake Poets, Cattle & Cane and American Young, adding to an extensive list of support slots that already included Beth Nielsen Chapman, UB40 and Nikki Lane. 2018 added to the chart success of Shelter EP; Eve’s sophomore release: ‘Gloria, I’m Home’, reached the no.2 spot on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. Gloria gained Eve frequent airplay on Nick Roberts’ BBC Introducing show, advancing on her opening slot at the 2017 Evolution Emerging BBC Introducing stage, a spot which earned Eve airplay on Tom Robinson’s BBC 6 show for ‘Austerity’. As well as her solo project, Eve writes and gigs throughout the UK as 1/6th of ‘Kathryn Tickell and Superfolkus’. Collaborative writing has seen Eve appear on Tickell’s ‘Water of Tyne’ release; and, compose a score on South Shields’ shipyard women for Shona Thompson’s: ‘A Kind of Seeing’ film, which received a FOCAL International Film Award for ‘Best Footage on Innovative Platforms’.
