Mara Carlyle

Mara Carlyle

Mara Carlyle is an English singer-songwriter and arranger who also plays the musical saw and the ukulele. She was raised in Shropshire, England and now lives in London.

Contents

Career

Carlyle's first recorded appearance was on the Plaid album Not For Threes (Warp Records, 1997). She subsequently sang on Plaid's next two albums, Rest Proof Clockwork (1999) and Double Figure (2001). Having sung on Matthew Herbert's big band album Goodbye Swingtime (2003), Carlyle signed to Herbert's label, Accidental Records. Her debut album The Lovely was released in July 2004. It consisted mostly of original compositions, as well as a few reworkings of pieces of classical music. I Blame You Not is an English-language version of Schumann's Ich grolle nicht. Another track, Pianni, was featured in the IKEA "Happy Inside" television commercial in which 100 cats are let loose in the retailer's Wembley store.

The I Blame Dido EP was released in May 2005.[1] It contained I Blame You Not and a version of Dido's Lament by Henry Purcell. Carlyle has denied that the EP's title is a swipe at the singer-songwriter Dido.[2]

After receiving critical acclaim[3][4] for The Lovely, Carlyle signed to EMI in 2007. She recorded her second album in London with producer Dan Carey (The Kills, Kylie Minogue). The album was scheduled for release in June, 2008, but was shelved during the restructuring that affected EMI after the label was bought by private equity firm, Terra Firma. Carlyle described this as a period of limbo, in which the album "continues to languish pointlessly, like a pirated ship off the coast of Somalia."[5]

December 2008 saw the release of Classist, a collaboration with composer Max de Wardener under the name "Max de Mara". Carlyle contributed four tracks adapted from Handel, Purcell, Walford Davies and Jacques Offenbach. The album was a limited edition of 333 copies available through Stanley Donwood's Six Inch Records.[5]

After protracted legal negotiations with EMI, Carlyle regained the rights to the album. Originally called Nuzzle, she changed the title to Floreat, meaning "Let it Flourish". It was released in August, 2011 to a critical acclaim.[6]

Discography

  • The Lovely (Accidental, 2004)
  • Floreat (Ancient & Modern, 2011)

References

  1. ^ "Accidental Records". http://www.accidentalrecords.com/releases/2024/i-blame-dido/. 
  2. ^ Interview in The Guardian, 20 May 2005 Accessed 2009-01-15
  3. ^ Peschek, David (July 23, 2004). "Mara Carlyle, The Lovely". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/jul/23/popandrock.shopping3. 
  4. ^ Muggs, Jo (July 19,2004). "Pop CDs of the Week". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/3620990/Pop-CDs-of-the-week-Ozomatli-Shaznay-Lewis-and-more.html. 
  5. ^ a b Wears The Trousers, 4 December 2008 Accessed 2009-01-17
  6. ^ "Mara Carlyle - Floreat". www.anydecentmusic.com. http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/3555/Mara-Carlyle-Floreat.aspx. Retrieved 2011-10-10. 

External links


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