**** Mojo **** Uncut **** The Independent **** The Independent on Sunday **** Rock n Reel
“like Björk and Sarah McLachlan singing Robbie Burns, backed by Sigur Rós..singular and unforgettable, Hamilton is quite a find.” - The Guardian.
“In a world of La Roux, Little Boots and Lady Gaga, this is an unashamedly grown-up record that dares to step out of the boxes we have reserved for our female singer-songwriters." - The Independent on Sunday
“When Jo sings, something thaws that I didn’t even realise was frozen.” - Sweet Billy Pilgrim (Mercury Music Prize Nominees 2009)
"Awesome" Janice Long, BBC Radio 2
“A staggering voice that can brush softly against your soul or fill you with the intensity of an earthquake” - Scott Matthews (Ivor-Novello award-winning singer/songwriter)
“Gown could well become the blueprint for the progression of folk and it sets quite a standard” Dave Adair - Glasswerk
“Sophisticated, sensuous, complex, layered and utterly beguiling, there’s a song here called Paradise. A better description of the album would be hard to conjure.” - Mike Davies (netrhythms.co.uk)
“...intelligent, uncompromising material, gentle, muscular, and deeply appealing. [Jo Hamilton's] work deserves your attention, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get just that; if not today, then tomorrow." - Robin Valk (Radio To Go)
“ That has got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever heard” - Stirling University Radio
"Hugely impressive". themusiccritic.co.uk
“Fearlessly unique...a remarkable album; heady and addictive” Rock n Reel
"Quite enchanting...the British answer to Bjork...Fascinating woman...brilliant artist" Andy Howard – BBC Bristol
“At this time of recession and great uncertainty, Jo reminds us what it is to wonder at the world” - Nishwa Ashraf - Society Today magazine
Discovered and produced by Jon Cotton, producer of Scott Matthews' Ivor Novello Award-winning 'Passing Stranger', Gown is a mesmerising work of left-of-centre pop, threaded-through with hope and surmounted by the uniquely stunning voice of Jo Hamilton.
Jo's music is elemental, an empathatic commentary reflecting our hopes, our glories and our tragedies. She unflinchingly reworks and applies the nostalgia of the old Gaelic lullabies of her childhood to a multicultural world of iPods and urbanism, often with devastating effect. As the TV flickers out and credit cards are declined, Jo reminds us what it is to wonder at the world, and that while we can still do so, there’s always hope.
Stemming from a nomadic family with roots in both Kenya and Jamaica, Jo Hamilton was brought up in a house two miles from the nearest neighbour in the wilds of northern Scotland. Her parents moved constantly in her youth, which saw her spending periods in Turkey, UAE, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
In her late teens Jo studied viola in Edinburgh and at Birmingham Conservatoire. During this period the first hints of a solo talent began to emerge; she quietly recorded an early 3-track EP with the help of guitarist/drummer/producer Tom Livemore (the Ripps/Carina Round/Glen Ballard), and then went on to create a self-produced album of early songs (Palace Place) with the help of other musicians. It was during the recording of Palace Place that she first met producer Jon Cotton (subsequently producer of Scott Matthews' Ivor Novello winning Elusive), with whom she remained in touch over the next four years.
In the meantime, Jo began performing more widely, supporting Damien Rice and Michelle Shocked, and touring with Colin
Vearncombe (Black) in the UK. She contributed viola and vocals to Kirsty McGee's first album, and was invited by Fairport Convention founder (and discoverer of Nick Drake) Ashley Hutchings to sing lead vocals and play viola with first the Albion Band and then his new band the Rainbow Chasers on several European tours.
While welcomed by the folk world, Jo continued to develop her own very different, much darker and more layered material. She worked on developing sounds with Tom Livemore and a live band, and started using a computer for the first time to write. She travelled to Cambodia, making field recordings on a little minidisc recorder which accompanied her everywhere - recordings which were later incorporated into her work.
Back in the UK, the combined songs she'd accumulated with Tom, on her sequencers and in Cambodia began to take shape as an album. On hearing the sketches, Jon Cotton signed her to his production company Poseidon, and over the next two years they developed the songs into the album Gown.
As the album began to take shape Jo and Jon Cotton developed a short film about it which became her electronic press kit – shot largely by Jo herself in Slovenia, Italy, France and the UK this film became another labour of love, taking nearly a year to complete in its own right. Simultaneously, Jo collaborated with award-winning illustrator/animators Dave Neale and Jordan Cadby on the accompanying album sleeve and animations; many of the animations featuring on the electronic press kit.
EPK film 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192Ex9oqfbY&fmt=22&feature=channel
EPK film 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192Ex9oqfbY&fmt=22&feature=channel
Live footage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty2tHC5MRzw&&fmt=22&feature=channel
Read more...