Folk, World, & Country

Julia Toaspern is a multi-talented musician from Berlin who combines classical training on violin and voice with a wide interest in genres such as jazz, baroque and traditional music. She has released two albums of original songs and has performed in both classical and singer/songwriter modes on both sides of the Atlantic. On top of all this, her skills as a guitarist are prodigious and make an exciting fit with Tony's work. On this ''Live'' album she sings, plays guitar and violin.

Tony and Julia's guitar treatment of traditional music is unique and each supports the other in exploring the harmonic possibilities of these old and not so old tunes. Each of the pair both flatpick and fingerpick at the highest level but always at the service of the tune rather than a display of technique. Julia's violin can effortlessly morph into a fiddle as she weaves from Italian madrigal to Scottish reel. Her songs go to the heart of love and loss, hope and survival and are inflected with a musical input from a wide and eclectic experience of musical life. Tony and Julia's arrangements are rooted in deep musicality and heartfelt expression.

Having met over a conversation in Berlin about J.S. Bach, together they play and sing music that speaks to them and hopefully through them to a wider audience.

The album was recorded ''Live'' during a German tour by the duo in the early part of 2019 and the German Folker Magazine said of them: ''Breathtaking duets…..''.

Hiraeth, a Welsh word meaning a nostalgic longing for something that may never have been, encapsulates the emotions pulled apart throughout the releases thirteen tracks. Despite the subject's pain, the couple lean on each other's love more than ever as the fragile songs shiver the spine.

Stone is known for his honest, heartfelt lyrics and on this release he lets us into the deepest corners of his soul. At times the songs are like wedding vows, reiterating love, finding comfort in the companionship (''Hiraeth'', ''Go Take Me''). He reveals his love for his new homeland of Canada, having moved from the UK (''Pick Up Our Boots''). We share a tear, as their relationship risks crashing on the rocks off ''Brighton Beach.''

Throughout, the vulnerability of the lyrics and the delicate instrumentation, with flourishes of violin, cello, bass, steel (played by Steve Dawson) and piano, create an album to cherish. Light breaks through on ''All We Have'', ''Old Haunts'' and ''Seeds'' where you're left holding on to the line ''An open heart is hard to find,'' and the realization that in Hiraeth, you've found one.

WCMA winner. Canadian Folk Music Award Nominated.

The lyrical narratives of I Need Sound explore the dramas and farewells and Erin's attempts to not to lose her joy for life. Whistful lyrics such as ''How I wish I could gather my lovers together / Make it all better / How I wish wish I could take it one day at a time / But I keep falling hard for all I can not find'' are delivered with a wry tongue in cheek, and the melodies seem to effortlessly flow out of Erin. On the theme of Little Turns Erin explains, ''the song is about an inner struggle experienced by someone in a relationship where they have been left powerless and somewhat desperate'', these explorations of identity and relationship strife are presented alongside tracks such as The Tooth Song, which, in context, compares the pain of human relationships going bad in contrast with the pain of tooth ache. A rich vein of candid, confessional narratives runs through I Need Sound, the hilarious I Have A Knack is lemon sharp, ''I have a knack for faking things are fine / when everything's a mess''. Frame To Freeze wrestles with the attempt to gain control over rampant negative thoughts and emotions and to find peace of mind. As well as ten original tracks, the album also features Erin's first cover Chills, a moody and somber rendition of You're The One That I Want by John Farrar, from Grease. And throughout I Need Sound Erin artfully treads a line between self-deprecating irony and heartbreakingly direct candor.