ALVA LEIGH
Mothers are expected to transition into their new role with ease and poise, but in reality, it is pretty messy. Singer-songwriter Alva Leigh became a mother in 2017 just three weeks after a career milestone performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Her band, Lewis & Leigh released their debut album Ghost to critical acclaim and wrapped a UK/Europe tour.
But, once she was thrust across the threshold of motherhood, the paradoxes began. Love and fear, loneliness and expectation, loss and hope, grief and magic. Alva processed the only way she knew how songwriting. Alva left London during the pandemic with a newborn and toddler, returning to Tennessee to make a new home. Somewhere in between nap time and the nursing chair, she kept writing songs as a sort of reverse magic trick - how not to disappear into caretaking. These songs became her new album, Wilderness: playful and dreamy pop music with vulnerable and piercing lyrics. Turns out there was hope and catharsis in the making.


ME FOR QUEEN
Since the release of her sophomore album, Microclimate, in June 2023, Mary has relocated with her family to the east coast of Fife in Scotland. A collection of songs about lockdown, motherhood and loss, charting a turbulent period in the songwriter's life. The album saw Erskine move towards a more ambitious, electronic sound: meditative, joyful then vulnerable, underpinned by resilience.

Now with a new record coming later this year, The Island of Longing is a song cycle inspired by the world of IVF. In her own words, "I wanted to reflect not only my own journey, but create something that feels like it can be shared, opening a door into a world that is often hidden, and can therefore feel lonely, not to mention deeply surreal and strange. And, as ever, I promise it's not too much of a downer."