The Welsh harpist, singer-songwriter and her band will play in Ho Chi Minh City on 1 July. Georgia Ruth’s exquisite songs which are “full of longing and melody” and her angelic serene voice will chill out the boiling hot midsummer weather in Vietnam.
Week of Pines, George Ruth’s debut album was out barely a year ago in May 2013 and immediately received enthusiastic praise from critics, hailing the album for its “mixture of soft pop and reimagined traditionals.” It was commended by The Independent as “a dazzling debut, rich with sweet pain and joy” and Georgia Ruth is named “one of the British folk discoveries of the year” by The Guardian.
Inspired by Georgia Ruth’s recent return to Wales, following stints living in Brighton and London, Week of Pines is unique in the way it represents the homecoming spirit through a “varied and intriguing collection of songs.”
This was beautifully described on the website of the Arts Council of Wales, “from the motorik drive of the title track, to the darker Eno-like string arrangements, the stark joyfulness of a Welsh sea shanty accompanied by wheezing reed organ, or the more wistful folk ballads: this is a varied and intriguing collection of songs.
“Having grown up with dad’s Merchant Navy sea stories (he once met Jacques Cousteau on-board the Calypso), a sea shanty was somewhat inevitable” This one, ‘Codi Angor’, was popular amongst the Welsh sailors in the Liverpool docks and if the album is a homecoming of sorts, this conveys the opposite: the excitement of leaving, of sailing out to sea.
‘Dovecote’ – with its clanging bells and mists – maintains the theme, but on a more abstract level: this is the leaving of old love. ‘Winter’, with its slow-march rhythm and redemptive lyrics, brings the album to a fitting close.”
“Week of Pines is a record about joyfulness, and coming home. And reclaiming things presumed gone. And grace, after making mistakes, that element of forgiveness and calm has been integral to this record.”
Georgia Ruth and her band will perform at Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music, 118 Nguyen Du, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on 1 July at 20.00.
Please call 098 987 4517 or 0903 041 959 for ticket booking and delivery. Alternatively, tickets are on sale at HBSO (Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra), 7 Cong Truong Lam Son, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.