"Whatever you’re expecting, put it to one side. There are a million and one female singer-songwriters out there, and most of them are lovely. But then there are some that are trying to break out of that mould, or were never in it. That’s where Clara Kousah comes in."
Raised in East Anglia by a Lebanese father, Clara Kousah played piano, violin, organ and flute from the age of 7, before pestering dad to get her an electric guitar at 13. After learning a few AC/DC riffs she quickly gave up covering other people's music in favour of writing her own songs.
In 2001, on returning to Cambridge after 3 years of studying Physics in London, she performed at The Boat Race and was taken under the wings of experienced local musicians including Rob W Jackson (Boo Hewerdine, The Broken Family Band) and Sam Inglis (Sound On Sound magazine, The Morning People).
Late in 2006 Clara was invited by the Arts Council funded group ESCALATOR to join their mentoring scheme on the strength of a demo EP, which in turn lead to meeting acclaimed Napalm Death producer Russ Russell. The pair connected immediately and started work on Clara’s debut album. Some initial recording was carried out at Foel Studio in Wales, with the remainder produced at Russ’s new home Parlour Recording Studio in Kettering during 2007 with the help of drummer Ross Andic and bassist Richard Bullen.
To promote the record - which was released August 18th through small indie label Imprint Records - Clara is performing both solo and with band members Richard Bullen and David Gane throughout the UK and beyond.
Her gig highlights over the past year include supporting Mark Morriss of The Bluetones on his acoustic tour, and Tina Dico of Zero 7.
She has also supported internationally acclaimed artists such as Toni Catlin, Doug Hoekstra, James Apollo and Cherry Ghost, and shared gigs with up-and-coming Cambridge troupe Hamfatter and celeb-turned-singer/songwriter Tara Palmer-Tomkinson!
For more info /pics, see www.clarakousah.com or to arrange interviews, please contact Rosie Wilby at Piranha PR
[email protected] 020 8299 1928 / 07956 460 372
REVIEWS
Review of Dark To Light by RoomThirteen.com - August 2008 (11/13)
"Whatever you’re expecting, put it to one side. There are a million and one female singer-songwriters out there, and most of them are lovely. But then there are some that are trying to break out of that mould, or were never in it. That’s where Clara Kousah comes in. The album art, in fact, everything about the packaging suggests that this is just another bit of acoustic caterwauling. But put ‘High Stakes’ on, and it’s a half-decent rock song. It’s a song you could imagine doing really well live. Check the credits out, and the reason behind this curious rock-out is clear: the album’s produced by Russ Russell, most famous for working with Napalm Death and The Wildhearts.
Of course, there’ll be acoustic moments. ‘It Takes Time’ is nice enough, and the cutely observed ‘Orange Cat’ has rings of Cat Stevens-esque songwriting in its strange subject matter. It’s a close-run thing: the lyrics and musicianship are excellent, but it’s the overall superb production and general putting-together of the album that lifts it above the average. Kousah also demonstrates a superb range, from the whimsical, to the rocky, to the slightly darker territory of ‘Holy Angels’. There are some fantastic moments where the pulse races at the bassy, throbbing intro of ‘My Last Breath’, and you hope upon hope that it’s going to turn into an out-and-out rocker. Which, sadly, isn’t quite the case, but it’s still excellent.
Kousah’s voice is phenomenal, with a subtle power behind it. More importantly, it doesn’t have any off the affectations that a lot of singer-songwriters pick up from trying to copy their idols. The influences are there; in the hints of Joni Mitchell in ‘Underground’ to moments that would make Tori Amos proud.
For all of this, ‘Dark To Light’ is still a debut album, and sounds very much so. It’s testing the ground, and very often staying in the middle of the road with tracks like ‘Underground’. They’re good tracks, but nothing outstanding. If she evolved the rockier sound she might have something truly unique. Right now, it’s crossing a lot of ground, maybe too much, semi-appealing to the acoustic singer-songwriter buying public, and also going for the rock audience. But you get the feeling that this is an artist who will never stand still. And long may that last."
Review of Dark To Light by Subba-Cultcha.com - August 2008 (3.5/5)
"Having toured supporting the likes of former Zero 7 vocalist Tina Dico and Bluetones front man Mark Morriss, Clara Kousah was an artist I expected to be a little breezy and light, but this is a record of depths, with a real flavour of melancholy that, whilst surprising, really works with Kousah’s soft vocals, at once this is both sad and strangely comforting. The songs here are stripped back, the spaces as important as the music that rushes to fill them. It’s definitely strange to flick through the booklet and find something this subtle and, dare I say, cosy, was produced by Russ Russell, a man well known for his work with Napalm Death! There’s a long line of female singer/songwriters in the UK, never hugely famous but always respected by their peers, names from Linda Thompson to Thea Gilmore, Rosalie Deighton and the excellent Polly Paulusma. Clara Kousah deserves to stand alongside them, her velvet vocals and strong song writing fitting in perfectly in such esteemed company."
Review in The Sunday Mercury - Aug/Sep 2008
"IT is the most unlikely
musical marriage
you’ll celebrate
this year
– festival folk-pop
favourite Clara
Kousah and producer Russ
Russell, best known for masterminding
albums by brutal Brummie heavy metallers
Napalm Death. But the result is a
consummate album that subtly showcases
Kousah’s writing skills in songs such
as the Joni Mitchell-like It Takes Time,
pop-tinged Orange Cat and High Stakes,
which sets out stall somewhere between
the pitches occupied by Imogen Heap
and KT Tunstall. See her live at Birmingham’s
Kitchen Garden Cafe on October 5."
QUOTES
"...The first thing the listener notices is her voice, a big but nonetheless soft and slightly spacey instrument that alternately suggests she’s Julianne Regan’s long lost sister or Dar Williams cousin. Fortunately she avoids the feyness of the one and the breathy seriousness of the other by undercutting her vocals with a bit of steel and plenty of heart...." -- Americana-UK '08
"Fantastic! Beautiful!" -- 209Radio.co.uk '08..
"AT LAST, a slightly different sounding British female singer-songwriter." -- Morning Star Online '08
