Babel

Originally comprising chief songwriter Daniel Coughlan (b. Bristol, England; guitar/vocals) alongside Ben Bird (b. Bristol, England; bass), Ben Marks (b. Bristol, England; drums), Martin Lanchester (b. Bristol, England; violin/accordion), Rick Brown (b. Bristol, England; guitar) and Tegan Thomas (b. Bristol, England; cello), this alternative folk act formed at the University of Bristol, England in 2005. Their sound may have been less country orientated than UK contemporaries such as Manchester’s Bone Box and London’s Viarosa but all three acts purveyed a similar brand of melancholic soul searching. With the release of September 2007’s Pearl Street Raga, a mini-album compiling the best moments from the self-released EPs The Golden Acre and The Arc, they began to feature highly on many of the serious music blogs. The mini-album was issued on the burgeoning People Tree imprint, a folk offshoot of the already notable Acid Jazz Records and home to retro minded, jazz folk west Londoners, Grand Union. Borrowing the propelled rhythm of Nilsson’s classic single ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’ and the pastoral focus of the Sundays, ‘Disarm’ was the highlight of the release and incorporated Coughlan’s simultaneously measured and elegantly wasted vocal delivery. While Marks departed shortly after the release and was replaced by the jazz-trained Daisy Palmer (b. London, England; drums), Thomas went on to join Neil Crossley’s Furlined.