Lou Rhodes is an English singer and songwriter from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, now living in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. In addition to providing vocals and lyrics for the band Lamb, Rhodes has released four solo albums: '' Beloved One'', '' Bloom'' and '' One Good Thing'' and ''theyesandeye''. Rhodes has collaborated with

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the "state of mind" the members shared, they released ...

A Guy Called Gerald Gerald Rydel Simpson (born 1967), better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is a British record producer and musician. He was an early member of the electronic group 808 State, contributing to their debut LP '' Newbuild'' (1988) and hit single " ...

Funkstörung Funkstörung (sometimes stylized as Funkstorung) are an electronic music duo from Rosenheim, Germany, consisting of Michael Fakesch and Chris de Luca. History Chris de Luca and Michael Fakesch first met in 1992 at a techno party organised by ...

, Pale 3,

Sugizo , born and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the Rock music, rock band Luna Sea since 1989. Sugizo started his solo ...

, Plump DJs,

Sheila Chandra Sheila Savithri Elizabeth Chandra (born 14 March 1965) is a retired English pop singer of Indian descent. She began her career as an actress in the late 1970s before launching a music career in the early 1980s. Her career ended prematurely in 2 ...

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. Life and career Carthy was born i ...

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also the Art of Noise) were a British avant-garde synth-rock group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and ...

, and

The Cinematic Orchestra The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe and later involving his music collaborator Dominic Smith. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. The Cinematic Orches ...

on '' Ma Fleur'' and the soundtrack to '' The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos''. In 2023, Rhodes formed new project Kiiōtō with Rohan Heath. The band's debut album, '' As Dust We Rise'', was released in July 2024 on

Nude Records Nude Records is an independent record label, established in August 1991 in London. The label was set up and operated by Saul Galpern, who had previously worked with artists such as Simply Red, The Fall, Julian Cope, The Triffids, The Slits ...

Career

Originally from Manchester, Rhodes was born to a folk-singer mother, Annie Burton. She grew up around the English folk scene and worked as a photographer in the early 1990s. Rhodes met engineer Andy Barlow through a friend and recorded a demo tape together, forming the band Lamb. It resulted in a six-album deal with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

in 1995. In 2004, Rhodes and Lamb collaborator Barlow split and both began to pursue solo ventures. Rhodes started her own record label, Infinite Bloom, at the beginning of 2006, to issue her debut solo album '' Beloved One,'' which was shortlisted for the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize the same year. This album explored the folk side of Rhodes's music, which was previously undisplayed while performing in Lamb, although songs such as "Fortress" are reminiscent of her times playing in Lamb. She has been described as following a

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

path as a singer-songwriter. In February 2006, she performed together with other female folk singers at the Daughters of Albion event, which was broadcast by BBC 4. Rhodes has performed at

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

a number of times. In April 2007, her debut was re-released in the US through Cooking Vinyl Records, adding three bonus tracks. Rhodes' second album '' Bloom'' was released through A&G Records on 1 September 2007. It featured Emre Ramazanoglu (drums) and Stephen Junior (guitar). On 24 September 2007, she released the first single from ''Bloom'', called "The Rain". In October 2007, Rhodes began a tour to promote the album, however the tour was cut short after the death of her sister. In 2009, Lamb reunited for a tour. followed by the album ''5''. in 2010. During this same period, Rhodes recorded her third album, '' One Good Thing'', in the space of two weeks. Largely acoustic, the 11 songs were recorded with the assistance of Barlow at his studio. The album was released in March 2010 and distributed by Ninja Tune. In anticipation of her fourth album release, Rhodes released the singles "All The Birds" in April, and "All I Need" in June 2016. A month later, the album ''theyesandeye'' was released through Nude Records. Part financed through Pledge Music, the 11 songs were co-produced by Simon Byrt. It includes a cover of the song "Angels" originally performed by

The xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), ...

. Other contributors include Ian Kellet (guitars), Nikolaj Bjerre (drums), Danny Keane (strings) and Tom Moth (harp).

Musical style

Although Lamb is famous for blending

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and elements of

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

, Rhodes's solo work is more organic and rooted in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. Rhodes expressed a doubt that she will ever return to electronica. She combines finely tuned acoustic guitars—the essence of almost every arrangement—with violin, double bass, and rich percussion. Lyrically, her songs can be described as extremely romantic, soulful and very personal, this is how Rhodes explains the last album's lyrics:

Author

Lou Rhodes is also a published author. Her children's picture book, ''The Phlunk'' (Lou Rhodes/Tori Elliott), published by Strata Books in 2012, received good reviews. Follow-up ''The Phlunk's Worldwide Symphony'' appeared in 2015. In 2012, Rhodes also contributed an essay to ''The First Time I Heard The Smiths'', part of an ongoing series where musicians/writers tell their stories of first hearing the music of an iconic artist or band.

Collaborations

Besides her solo work, Rhodes has provided vocals for a number of other artists. In 1996, she featured on the track "Azura" on the 808 State album

Don Solaris ''Don Solaris'' is a 1996 studio album by the British electronic music group 808 State, and their fifth studio album overall. In October 2008, the album was reissued on ZTT Records ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by the ...

. Released as a single, it reached no. 79. In 1997, she provided a vocal for the song "Kanon" on the album ''Truth?'' by the Japanese guitarist Sugizo. She also co-wrote and featured on the song "Humanity" on the

album ''Essence'', released in 2000. The same year, she also featured on the soundtrack for the film '' The Princess and the Warrior'', performing the song "Escape (Afraid of No One)". In 2004, she featured on the album Disconnected by Funkstörung,

Personal life

Lou Rhodes was married to Crispin Robinson and has two sons. She lives in rural

, England.

Discography

Albums

* 2006: '' Beloved One'' (Infinite Bloom Recordings) * 2007: '' Bloom'' (A&G Records) * 2010: '' One Good Thing'' (Motion Audio, distributed by

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

) * 2016: ''theyesandeye'' (

) UK number 100

Singles

*2006: "Tremble" *2007: "The Rain" (A&G Records) *2010: "There for the Taking" (Motion Audio)

Books

*2013: ''The Phlunk'' () *2014: ''The Phlunk's Worldwide Symphony'' ()

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Lou 1978 births Living people 21st-century English guitarists 21st-century English singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century British women guitarists English children's writers English singer-songwriters English women guitarists English women singer-songwriters Musicians from Manchester Place of birth missing (living people)