Salty Water

As a multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, composer and songwriter, Beth has a passion for creating, an ear for listening, and a pure, unaffected voice that delivers beautifully original, understated yet powerful songs. Imagine Joanna Newsome goes to Nashville and writes a song with Anne Briggs and David Byrne from Talking Heads. She is a member of The Bookshop Band, Spell Songs (with Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever) and Red Carousel string quartet. Beth’s cello can be heard on hundreds of recordings, including the Oscar Nominated, and British Animation Award winning film score Robin Robin (Aardman/Netflix) which she composed with Ben Please.

Picked for her songwriting and cello playing, she is one part of Spell Songs (a project inspired by the book Lost Words by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane) with legends of folk including Karine Polwart, Kris Drever and Julie Fowlis. They had a sold out tour in 2019 and were one of Songlines Magazine’s Best Albums of the Year 2019. It was also part of a BBC Prom at The Royal Albert Hall where Beth sang a solo piece with the Southbank Sinfonia. Beth has also toured and recorded with Eliza Carthy, The Unthanks, The Winter Wonderband and many other folk artists. 
She is also one half of literary duo The Bookshop Band (with her husband Ben Please) who spend much of their time writing songs inspired by books and playing them in bookshops and book festivals across the UK, Europe and the States. They have made fourteen albums and are currently recording a new album with Pete Townshend of The Who. 
Beth and Ben wrote the musical score for the Aardman Animation film Robin Robin which was awarded a British Animation Award for the music and was nominated for an Oscar and an Ivor Novello Award. They also wrote music for the audio book of Jackie Morris’ The Unwinding. Other film credits are Far From The Madding Crowd (2015) and BAFTA winning animation The Eagleman Stag (2010) 
In the pop world she has toured with Newton Faulkner, The Heavy and Peter Gabriel and has worked with hundreds of producers and engineers such as John Parish, Boo Herwerdine, Tchad Blake and Stuart Bruce for recording sessions over the last 20 years. Artists include The Proclaimers and Petula Clark as well as Maximo Park and Enter Shakiri. Studios include Real World, Rockfield, Yellow Arch, Castlesound, Moles and Invada. She also does remote sessions from her home in Scotland. 
She plays with Bath based string quartet Red Carousel, who write their own compositions and have been awarded funding to make their debut album. She has also recently joined the The Galloway Agreement, based in her now home county of Dumfries and Galloway. 
She also writes songs under her own name and has also made an album under the band name Marshes. Beth’s own songs are characteristically quirky, charming and ethereal and carried by Beth’s pure and unaffected voice.She has been likened to Cat Power, The Beatles, REM, This Is The Kit, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Radiohead, The Incredible String Band and The Kinks. With a classical background, a venture into folk music, and a love of simple pop songs, there’s nothing quite like Beth’s songwriting.

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