A Lily for the Spectre

While 'New Young Pony Club' was clearly an act far too metropolitan for the Sunrise Arena at Latitude 2007 it is actually also difficult to imagine an act for whom it could be a setting so absolutely perfect...

Her nu-folk songs - a genre I rather like anyway - are mostly trans-Atlantic rather than obviously British or American so that they are largely without place or time. Add to this the fact she is an artist who also has the folk-tradition of 'patter' between songs - it veered randomly but effortlessly between musings concerning disturbing the owls in the woods and the various hazards of festival toilets - down to a fine art and you can imagine this gig had all the potential to be a memorable one.

While she had swapped the sylvan glades of her native Wisconsin for those of rural Suffolk on a sunny Saturday lunchtime she clearly seemed quite at home there. The other thing is that I had never even heard of Stephanie Dosen until I bought my 'Festival Programme' when I arrived on the Thursday evening.

She is now signed to UK label Bella Union and her début UK album A Lily For The Spectre is available now from all good independent music stores.

While this is her UK début she has previously released an album, Ghosts, Mice and Vagabonds, in the US that is not currently available on Amazon.co.uk or seemingly even from the usually ever so dependable independent UK establishments. I have found four copies available from Amazon Marketplace sellers but the cheapest of these is GBP 25 and all are sent from the US anyway. Amazon.com, for what it is worth, is little better either.

You could however try buying it direct from her website: http://www.stephaniedosen.com/buy.htm It is currently available on CD for US$ 12.00 (about GBP 6.00) but do check whether you will incur shipping and also customs charges as these may well be very significant extra costs. [This information is provided in good faith but I can offer no warranties or guarantees - it is solely your responsibility to ensure that you are confident in the supply of the goods offered and of the security of the services provided by this seller.]