Gwyneth Herbert

Between Me and the Wardrobe

'Between Me and the Wardrobe' is the new album from critically acclaimed English jazz-folk songstress Gwyneth Herbert.

Just turned 25, it's her third and most personal album, released on her own 'Monkeywood' label.

It was born out of an intense period of creativity that followed the discovery that she wanted to sing her own songs, rather than be renowned as an interpreter of other people lyrics.

The album, produced by Polar Bear's Seb Rochford, draws from a diverse pool of influences including Janis Ian, Dorothy Parker, Arthur Miller and Rufus Wainwright.

Her songs are touching, powerful and often witty stories and observations, drawing on personal experience or sketched from Herbert's imagination. 'The album title', she explains, 'was hallucinated in the grip of a high fever, but it seems fitting as many of the songs explore the relationship between inner and outer worlds.'

In 'The Woman Meets the Wiseman', three different selves - the woman with a ticking biological clock, the girl hungry for adventure and the questionable 'Wiseman' - meet head to head in no man's land.

The piano duet 'Sweet Thing' tells the story of an unexceptional young woman who finds a sense of inner purpose in collecting discarded objects.

The wardrobe even has a cameo in 'Whisper Low' as the mind of an emotionally tongue-tied little girl and Herbert's poetic tales make this her finest album yet. Herbert's first album 'First Songs', recorded for tiny indy label Dean Street Records, was produced by renowned vocalist and producer Ian Shaw.

Herbert's cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing's 'Most Beguiling Eyes' was a surprise radio hit and it wasn't long before the big boys came sniffing, and Herbert signed with Universal.

The resulting record, critically acclaimed 'Bittersweet and Blue', was an opportunity to explore her own eclectic musical passions. From Porter to Portishead, Neil Young to Neil FinnŒ all songs she grew up with, united by her love for words. Herbert remains sanguine about her major label experience.

"Universal taught me a lot - about how record companies operate, their priorities and expectations. And mainly that I really wanted to be in control of my words and music! But also, with their support, I was able to tour extensively, playing all over Britain and in Cannes, Montreal, Vienna, Copenhagen, New York...for me, there is absolutely nothing that beats the buzz of live performance. It's the biggest adrenaline rush I've experienced.

I'm a communicator - singing for me is a dialogue; a two-way process. And throughout this time I was learning my craft, feeling inspired and developing my artistic vision.' The vision developed so much that Herbert was no longer the artist Universal had signed.

'They signed me predominantly as an interpreter and marketed me as a jazz artist; I'd been writing non-stop since Bittersweet and Blue, nurturing my own sound, and finding that I wanted to tell my own stories.'

Universal were keen for a follow-up album, but their vision of Herbert simply no longer chimed with her desire to find her own voice. An amicable split followed, and her new album 'Between Me And The Wardrobe' is the result of an intense period of writing, performing and searching. An opening salvo from a singer who has found her own voice.

A snapshot of an artist continuing to develop. 'Although this is my third record, it feels like my first - the first time Iove been able to present my songs, my way."

The album's opening track, 'Slow Down, Brother', with its playful inversions and intriguing textural changes, is the plea of a sister to her wayward, extravagant sibling who seems intent on a path of self-destruction. 'Lay You Down' paints the picture of a leafy utopia where two lovers meet, tucked out of reach from the buzzing urban sprawl beyond the wall.

The album's first ballad, 'Midnight Oil', is a smoke-drenched lament of a relationship's tragic but inevitable breakdown. The more whimsical 'Morning After' describes the journey home from a night of passion, when the whole world appears to have stopped mid-motion to turn and gape.

A continuing jazz sensibility is evident in 'Turn It Off', one of 4 tracks co-written with pianist Tom Cawley (Acoustic Ladyland), whom Herbert describes as significant influence on her development as a songwriter: 'working with Tom taught me so much about harmony, and gave me the confidence to write my own songs.'

'Between Me And The Wardrobe' was recorded mostly live to tape in one big wooden room, to capture the essence and energy of Herbert's live performance.

It was produced by Seb Rochford (drummer with Polar Bear, Acoustic Ladyland and Fulborn Taversham), recorded by Robert Harder (Babyshambles, The Littl'uns and Acoustic Ladyland), and played by predominantly jazz musicians.

So how would Herbert define her music? "I'm not really sure. Genres and labels seem to have been created by record companies in order to make categorisation easier in the shops to me, they're artificial definitions that appear artistically redundant.'

And, with the advent of the internet making Vashti Bunyan as accessible as Coldplay, it seems that these boundaries are becoming less and less valid.

Like many of her contemporaries, Herbert refuses to be pigeonholed, choosing instead to draw from a wide range of influences: "I grew up listening to everything from Muddy Waters to the Smashing Pumpkins.

"Janis Ian has been a huge influence on me, both as a singer and a writer. Rufus Wainwright's harmonies make me weep. So, I don't really call my music anything. To me, it's just my music!'

See the video of Gwyneth singing 'Lay You Down' from Between 'Me and the Wardrobe'.

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Gwyneth Herbert

Between Me and the Wardrobe