Singer-songwriter Lewis Barfoot hits the road but there’s no place like Home

Folk Radio says singer-songwriter Lewis Barfoot has “vocals to melt the hearts of angels” – and Cambridge audiences can hear it for themselves when she returns to the city next month.

Following the success of her debut album, Glenaphuca, in 2021, the contemporary folk artist is hitting the road in September in the run-up to the launch of her second album, Home, in November.

As part of the tour, Lewis is set to appear at The Elm Tree in Orchard Street, Cambridge, alongside Argentinian clarinettist Gabriel Buffa and Spanish percussionist and ukulele player Jordi Sanchez Campanario. She performed at Stapleford Granary, with Scottish multi-instrumentalist Elisabeth Flett, in 2022.

Born in London (her mum came to the capital from Ireland in the 60s), Lewis grew up in Walthamstow, on the edge of Epping Forest. She now lives in Cork in the Republic of Ireland.

“I’ve just thrown myself into creating this new album,” explains the singer. “I came back from the tour and then I think it was September I really decided on the songs.

“And then from October onwards I was getting demos down. I started going into the studio in Clonakilty in West Cork and getting the guitars and rhythm section down.

“I don’t know where the year’s gone but I’ve spent the year working on the new album, which I literally just sent to print this week. It is an incredible relief and an incredible sort of triumph to bring something together.”

Set for release on November 17, Home sees Lewis exploring her Irish heritage and delving into the narratives of her Cork-born female relatives.

“I’m touring it to the UK before it’s released,” says Lewis, “so it will be available as a CD and a cassette on the tour, but it won’t be formally released until November – and then I’ll be touring Ireland at the end of November/December.”

In the creation of Home, Lewis collaborated with Kerry Andrew (aka You Are Wolf), who provides backing vocals on two songs. Additionally, Ben See lent his arranging talents to create a choral arrangement. The album was recorded at Wavefield Studios in Cork and in Lewis’s home studio.

Lewis describes it as “the next stage of immersion into my relationship with Ireland, and healing the past, healing myself – and all of the energetics of what I have held around Ireland and my relationship with it, with the church and what happened to my family here”.

She continues: “Then halfway through the album, it turns direction, so it’s like, ‘OK, I’ve gone through the mill, the grinder or whatever, of having to process all of these challenging things and now on the other side this is who I’ve become, this woman of power that has her voice, using her freedom, and who is as wild as the sea and as free as the sea’.

“It’s a very potent journey for me, in terms of thematics, about a coming-of-age and finding power. And musically, I’d say I’ve got my folk palette in there – I’ve got a beautiful English folk song called The Snows They Melt the Soonest at the beginning of the album, and I’ve introduced a little bit of Irish song as well, sort of what I see as a lullaby.

“But I’ve introduced much more rhythm and a slightly jazzy feel to some of the songs – particularly one song that was quite hard to write.

“It ended up as a light, bluesy song, in terms of the style, but actually the content is really hard; I thought I had choice but that’s how the song arrived!

“There’s a lot more force, a lot more ‘colour’, I think, in the musical styles that I’ve ended up using. Not sure [it was] conscious decision-making, it’s just what emerged when I was writing the material.”

The album ends with an a cappella piece with a choir, something which Lewis had never tried before.

“I collaborated with my wonderful friend Ben See,” she notes, “he’s a choir leader. It’s called Ancestors and it’s a non-religious prayer of freedom.”

The current single from Home is Dublin City Bells. It was inspired by the bells ringing and the streets of Dublin filling as the lockdown was lifted. Lewis describes the song as “deeply joyful – two minutes of happiness”.

Lewis Barfoot will be performing at The Elm Tree on Thursday, September 14. For more information, visit facebook.com/TheElmTree Cambridge/?locale=en_GB. For more on Lewis, visit lewisbarfoot.com.