Laura Cannell

Cannell was born in Norwich and studied at the London College of Music, before returning to Norfolk to complete a master's degree at the University of East Anglia and to begin her career as a performing musician. == Horses Brawl (2003–2011) ==

Cannell founded the trio Horses Brawl in 2003, with guitarist Adrian Lever and cellist Jonathan Manton. Their eponymous debut album was released in 2005. The group was reduced to a duo (Cannell and Lever) by the time of the release of their second album, DINDIRIN (2007), which also featured veteran early musician Philip Thorby as guest performer on viol. Their third album, Wild Lament (2009), received favourable reviews from publications such as The Times and The Independent. The group reformed as a duo of Cannell and André Bosman for their final album to date, Ruminantia (2012). The wide range of music on which the group drew included Bulgarian wedding music, songs from Renaissance Spain, besides regular appearances at the Norwich Arts Centre. == Solo career ==

Following the end of Horses Brawl, Cannell began working on solo improvisations, initially based on fragments of medieval music, such as the work of Hildegard of Bingen, looped and varied, and performed in churches in rural Norfolk. Cannell subsequently combined her material with these early sources, resulting in "music that has one foot in the loops of Steve Reich and John Adams, the other in the melodies of moorland England and medieval Europe". She has also performed at venues and festivals including ATP, Café Oto, the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Centre. and with fellow improvising violinist Angharad Davies as Mythos of Violins. Other collaborative work has included projects with the BBC Philharmonic, and a series of new music and spoken word performances, Modern Ritual, which Cannell curated on a UK tour in 2018. == Recordings ==

Cannell's recordings frequently exploit the acoustics of resonant spaces, such as the ruined St Andrew's Church, Covehithe, Suffolk on her album Hunter, Huntress, Hawker (2017), Southwold Lighthouse on her album Simultaneous Flight Movement (2016) and St Andrew's Church, Raveningham, Norfolk on The Sky Untuned (2019). Her discography also includes a collaborative album with improvising harpist Rhodri Davies, Feathered Swing of the Raven (2012) and a collaboration with East Anglian singer and performer Polly Wright, Sing as the Crow Flies (2019), inspired by the lost voices of women in the folktales of Norfolk as well as its marshland landscapes. This was Cannell's first release featuring her as a vocal performer. These recordings also form part of an installation at the annual Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail in August 2019 at Raveningham, where the album was recorded in the village church. In November 2019, Whistling Arrow, a sextet comprising Ex-Easter Island Head, Laura Cannell, André Bosman and Charles Hayward, released an album via God Unknown records. In 2020 Cannell released the album The Earth With Her Crowns, recorded inside the disused Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. == References ==