New Music: Lizzie Nunnery – Company of Ghosts

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I met Lizzie Nunnery while I was a student at Oxford, and I’m still a little bit afraid of her.  Lizzie is one of those quiet, unassuming people who, once you get them going, just explodes with sound and light.  I met her while working on one of her student plays, and I have followed her over the years as she tours the U.K. with her music and her drama.  She is most prolific.  As her biography notes: “…her most recent stage play “Intemperance,” receiving a 5 star review in the Guardian. Her play with songs, “The Singer”, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 08 and she co-composed the soundtrack to her short film, “Monkey Love”, broadcast on Channel 4 in September 2009.”  Gosh, it’s a long way from sitting around in Oxford and thinking up comedy sketches (which, of course, I will use to blackmail her when she’s rich and famous.  Don’t tell!).

But what’s best about Lizzie is that her art always speaks to something inside you that you weren’t quite aware of.  Her voice carries a sincerity of purpose, and a measure of spirit, that is beyond compelling.  Indeed, I suspect that you will spend most of the time that you listen to her debut album Company of Ghosts (out now on Fellside Recordings, Amazon, and others) looking off into the distance for something that you suddenly sense but can’t quite see.  Lizzie has released two EPs previously – Monkeys & Devils and Hungry – which are, sadly, sold out.  Of course, I won’t leave you hanging, and you can find a taste below.  And really, I think taste is the right word.  No one passively encounters Lizzie… you take her in deep, or you don’t take her in at all.  Follow me, have a listen, and see for yourself.  Then, hop over to her myspace page for more:

And hey, if you ever see her, ask her when “Llama! The Musical” is coming out.  Seriously.

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