“Her riveting and sometimes shocking lyrics are getting the recognition they deserve” – Time Out Magazine
Minnie Birch, the folk singer best known for her 2017 album ‘Tethered’, is back with her new record ‘You’re Not Singing Anymore’.
This new record, released on 13th June, sees her mix her passion for folk music with football, and asks the question “where else do people all sing on mass together, other than at worship or a folk club?” The answer is at a football ground. Minnie started “collecting” and reworking songs that are inspired by football or can be heard sung on the terraces.
The result is a Traditional Folk record like no other, which will have you both singing along and pausing to think as she weaves in audio recordings of people’s memories of the terraces.
She said: “I wanted to capture that feeling of being on the terraces, so I collected some memories to weave in along the way. I wanted some recordings from the terraces, and I am so pleased to have been given permission to use one here and to have had the chance to record my own at a local ground”.
Recorded by Nick Harris at Spare Room Recordings, it’s an ode to the power of the beautiful game and its intrinsic relationship with music. It is both a folk record and a look at what it means to be a football supporter; and the social, historical, and political messages behind the songs they sing in the stands.
“Football chants are one of the lasting oral traditions of our time, they are sung by hundreds of thousands of people who do not consider themselves ‘folkies’, ‘musicians’, ‘historians’ or ‘social commentators’.
“Terrace songs are designed to encourage your team on to a win, or discredit and distract the opposing team. Some of them are mean, angry, and offensive, some of them are encouraging, social commentary, heartfelt, proud – just like the people who sing them-they have their light and their dark.”
Having dabbled in Sunday league football herself Minnie’s live performances come with many a tale of what it means to play, support, and fall in love with your local football team.
Birch continued: “I have loved working on this project and I really hope you enjoy the concept and the songs. There is something about familiar lyrics and melodies that feels like home, and when a gathering of people all start singing something you instantly recognise then that feels really magical to me”.
Minnie’s previous albums gained rave critical reviews and plays on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 music. She has previously been Huw Stephen’s Introducing Artist of the week, and Buzzfeed’s ‘one to watch’. Minnie has toured relentlessly with stints all over the UK, Europe, Iceland, and America – including slots at the Edinburgh Fringe, supporting Joan Armatrading and at festivals such as Standon Calling and The Great Escape.
She is also part of folk Super Group The Company of Players, who released their debut album in January 2018 with two sell-out nights at the Maltings Arts Theatre and was named as one of the Sunday Times top 100 albums.
“Minnie is quite the wordsmith, knowing not just when to sing, but when to leave phrases hanging to concentrate on the meaning, silence can say so much and Minnie knows how to use it, almost as an instrument to contrast against not only what is being sung, but what is being played” – Fatea
‘You’re Not Singing Anymore’ is released on Sound Cloud on 13th June. For more information and the latest tour dates, visit www.minniebirch.co.uk. For all media enquiries, contact 07871212845 or minniebirch@hotmail.co.uk.
