The Alchemy Quartet is a collaboration of front woman 23-year-old roots folk singer/songwriter, Nuala Honan, originally from South Australia, Devonian rhythm section Laura Marshall and James Bennetts, and Wilts Lassie Elizabeth Westcott.
The Alchemy Quartet are currently working on their debut album at J & J Studios in Bristol with Jim Barr, renowned producer and bass player for Portishead, which is due to be released Spring 2008. Here are some photos!!
Nuala has just returned to her home-land and Lizzy is heading over in the New Year. They are planning a tour of Adelaide and the East Coast from January to March to promote the current EP and the future album release, before they head back to the UK scene and the festival circuit with the full band.
They play a style that is essentially roots music, drawing on a range of genres from folk to funk, incorporating jazz and blues grooves, that all comes together in Nuala's original compositions.
2007 has been a very successful year for Nuala & the Alchemy Quartet, appearing main stage at several reputable festivals in the UK such as Wychwood Festival and Larmer Tree Festival (for the third year running), Shambala Festival, and have supported some great acts, most recently, UK artists King Creosote, Eddi Reader and Aussie Ash Grunwald. Their fan base has increased rapidly as our music has stretched from Australia to Great Britain, Asia, and Ireland.
Nuala & The Alchemy Quartet offer a show full of personality absorbed in a tight zealous mix of genre bending arrangements. The sassy vocals accompanied by fiddle and the overall percussive style of the music, demands the absolute attention of any audience.
You can find more information at www.nualaandthealchemyquartet.com
"As if that wasn't enough quality for one evening, we had a superb debut from Nuala Honan and her band. You may not have heard of her yet, but you will. Nuala is a really talented songwriter with a cracking young band behind her. Her engaging personality and boundless energy soon had the crowd behind her and it was the perfect up-tempo finish to a delightful weekend. She has the Show of Hands lads acting as personal mentors, so I think we can all assume that she's here to stay!" – Mutiny Music
"The ARC tent drew a massive crowd to watch Nuala Honan and The [Alchemy Quartet]. The lead singers vocal range and ability was nothing short of blinding as happy punters danced the last leg of what was simply a perfectly magical festival." – Larmer Tree Festival Review
“They were a five piece band with electric fiddle, bass, drums, percussiony bits (was the chap on the tom-toms really playing a wok at one stage?) and the charming Nuala herself - all frothy hair, winsome smile and a voice that would smack you round the ear when you least expected it. Part KT Tunstall, part Sandy Denny, with a little bit of early Alanis Morrisette thrown in - the songs were their own, they were varied and delivered with superb confidence.†– fROOTS Magazine
"closing act newcomer Nuala Honan, and her talented Retrobates, who had the crowds screaming for more" – Larmer Tree website
"This is just one of the finest bands anywhere, Nuala is an exceptional songwriter and has one hell of a voice, backed up by guitar, violin, bass & drums, not a name easily forgotten." Priddy Folk Festival Website
"Every year dozens od CDs arrive from well known and not so well known artists applying to appear at The Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival. We listen to them all before drawing up a short list. The 5 track CD received from Nuala and The Alchemy Quartet stood out from the pack and we immediately issued an invitation to appear in Kilkenny. If the band were anywhere as good live, we were on a winner. The band were great, building an immediate rapport with Kilkenny audiences. This, combined with the wonderful voice of Nuala, is an act we will definitely be inviting back again." John Cleere, Festival Director, Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival, Kilkenny, Ireland.
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