Music
Press
"A unique sound and a lot of potential. Fantastic! An excellent and different voice! There is a need for someone like you in the Welsh scene!"
- Elin Fouladi, singer/songwriter (Regional Judge, Welsh National Brwydr y Bandiau, Battle of the Bands contest 2010.)
- BBC Radio Cymru
“This extraordinary ‘Chanson de Tristess’ sounds like it’s from the French tradition in a way like Edith Piaf… I can imagine the song being performed in a smoky nightclub in Berlin in 1929 at the end of a cabaret… it goes somewhere really special I think, like Bjork, like PJ Harvey or Kristin Hersh: these heroines who have innovated, who have defied the established order. And the words are also worth paying attention to, there are some pearls there. God damn they’re good lines! 9/10”
- BBC Radio Cymru C2, Rhodri Llwyd Morgan (Cerrig Melys)
Review of the song ‘Beth bydd byth?’ in the semi-finals of BBC Radio Cymru Brwydr y Bandiau, Welsh National Battle of the Bands contest 2010. - BBC Radio Cymru
"I would be in my element listening to a whole album."
- Hefin Jones, Welsh Music Foundation (Brwydr y Bandiau, Battle of the Bands contest 2010 Regional judge) - BBC Radio Cymru
Discography
Jess Hall Demo, released January 2013
Photos
Bio
SHORT VERSION - 100 words:
Jess Hall is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Llandrindod. Her distinctive songs, in both English and Welsh, combine inspirations from Welsh music, world music, folk and trip-hop with an avant-garde approach. Her many influences include Bjork, PJ Harvey, Edith Piaf and Meredith Monk.
The Jess Hall Project is a collaboration with percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Noel Doak including layers of lushious industrial beats, double bass, piano and synthesizer.
Jess is one of eight artists to have been selected for the trac/ Womex legacy Artist Development Programme 2013.
In 2010 Jess was a semi-finalist in the BBC Radio Cymru Battle of the Bands.
****************************************************************************
FULL VERSION - 416 words
Jess Hall is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Llandrindod, Mid Wales. Her distinctive songs, in both English and Welsh, combine inspirations from Welsh music, world music, folk and trip-hop with an avant-garde approach. She creates lyric-driven songs, embracing the timeless emotive power of traditional music and the vibrant eclecticism of contemporary culture. Her many influences include Bjork, PJ Harvey, Portishead, Massive Attack, Edith Piaf, Joni Mitchell and Meredith Monk.
Jess draws on her Welsh folk roots with a maverick magpie approach to songwriting that is influenced by her conceptual performance-art background.
In January 2013 she released her first demo of four songs with a four-piece band. She is now working on The Jess Hall Project as a duo in collaboration with percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Noel Doak, incorporating layers of lushious industrial beats, double bass, piano and synthesizer.
Jess is one of eight artists from Wales to have been selected for the trac/ Womex legacy Artist Development Programme 2013 “an advanced training programme that will involve intensive and detailed work with some of the world music industry’s top managers, producers and marketers.”
Jess Hall was a semi finalist in the UK song-writing contest in 2006. In 2010 she was a semi finalist in the BBC Radio Cymru C2 Brwydr y Bandiau, Battle of the Bands. She has performed around Wales, appearing at Welsh music festivals as well as on the S4C programmes ‘Bro’ and ‘Wedi 3’.
Based in Llandrindod, Powys, Jess has Welsh/ American roots. She was born in Cardiff and grew up in a cold rectory in rural Mid Wales, miles from the nearest village. Welsh-medium education gave her an early insight into Welsh folk songs, and while English was the language of home and community, Cymraeg came to inspire her creative imagination.
Jess studied Music and Fine Art at Oxford Brookes university where she felt immediately at home, delving the depths of her inner psyche and questioning the meanings and ethics of everything, in conceptual performances, installations and videos, as well as creating electro-acoustic compositions and vocal improvisations taking inspiration from world music; alongside regular trips to the best of London’s drum ‘n’ bass club scene.
Returning to Mid Wales she worked at her local arts centre, programming exhibitions, films, live music, theatre, dance, comedy etc. She now works at Oriel Davies, one of Wales’ key contemporary art galleries.
In 2013 Jess hopes to reach a wider audience in Wales, the U.K. and internationally to develop her career as a performer and songwriter.
Links
