WOMAD

Lou Rhodes

From United Kingdom

Lou Rhodes doesn’t do things without a strong sense of commitment. When the singing half of dance duo Lamb decided to de-clutter her musical existence and reinvent herself as a folk singer, she also downgraded her way of life, opting to call a commune deep in the Surrey woods home. “I don’t lead a rock’n’roll lifestyle,” she explains. “I live out in the countryside with a vegetable garden and chickens.” It was clearly the perfect environment to handcraft her new folk sound, one that would be premiéred on her gorgeous 2006 album Beloved One. A shortlisted candidate for the Mercury Prize, it surprised and disarmed everyone who’d only previously encountered Lou on the Glastonbury dance stage with Lamb. And the accolades flooded in from near and far – The Guardian called it “a stunning debut” that “plays with the traditional female singer-songwriter mould as if it's made of jelly”. With a new album on the horizon (tentatively answering to the name Bloom), it’s perhaps understandable that Lou’s so smitten with – and so adept at – folk music. “My mum was a folk singer,” she reveals. “I think I’m kind of carrying on the legacy.”