We all have a person like her in our lives, travelling through towns, wandering the streets. Time to listen to her story.
In this world we are all strangers in each others stories. Merely faces on streets to people we will never see again, their lives an uninteresting enigma, their existence barley rendered in our minds. We are all no one to nobody, as eye-catching as cracks in the pavement, a discarded cigarette on the street floor. perhaps that a little harsh, perhaps these nameless faces have an inspiring story underneath their blank expressions. After all, aren’t we all nameless?
The Redroom’s latest addition to their Neo-Soul ensemble explores some of the stories we may never hear from the perspective of a nameless woman.’ The Woman From Nowhere’ weaves an intriguing tale of mystery and woe that moves you like the swish of a skirt in the breeze, captures your ears and gets you wondering about all of the people you see but never really meet.
It is through music that we meet each other, we meet more of ourselves, who we could be and we get inspired, with songs we invite people into our world. Through music we explore ourselves, encourage change and weather internal conflict. Strangers are our friends, our lovers, ourselves, we are all those that we see and that is why the streets are an inspiring architect to pop culture, it is the people that make the art. The have stories to tell, perhaps if we just lend them an ear, and you can lend us your ears by listening to the podcast episode I did with The Redroom.
Keen people watcher, lyricist and lead singer Jess Lewis-Ward became inspired to write The Woman From Nowhere explaining how it “is a story based on a short real-life encounter. It’s a complex take on a simple interaction. A passing conversation with an interesting woman at a music festival, led to a burst of inspiration that I had to see through. The song itself encapsulates the way in which my mind works, where I’ll often create whole worlds and stories for strangers that I meet or observe along the way. I think TWFN accurately captures the variety of musical influences (from Louise Verneuil to America) that guide our
songwriting”.
Formed in late 2019, the band consists of the 20-year-old Jessica Lewis-Ward on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Jake Elliot on lead guitar, Dominic Aldridge playing bass guitar, Matthew Dodds on keys and Charlie McDonald behind the kit.
Causing an Indie storm in the north The Redroom combine their distinctive blues, jazz and psychedelic rock elements in ‘TWFN’ with contemporary elements to usher in anew era of songwriting. Songwriting that has seen them hit over 85,00 streams, Air Play on BBC 6 Music and sell out their headline gig in the Night and day cafe in Manchester, now their home base, success that ultimately lead them to open for Stereophonics at Hardwick live in 2022 and then playing the same festival as music giants, Madness at Lindisfarne Festival. This year they’re heading to Leeds Fest! Listen to the tracks that got them there, here.
Last year the band moved from their homebase Newcastle to Manchester,Jess describes how the move has influenced their music career “Life in Manchester is great! We’ve met some amazing people and gained some great opportunities from the move. The music scene here is a lot bigger and more diverse in comparison to Newcastle. It definitely feels like a natural progression for us. We all absolutely love the city and can’t wait to see what’s in store for us over the next year.”
We are all people from nowhere searching for our somewhere and it looks as though The Redroom has found that somewhere; from sharing the stage with industry icons, to sell-out headline shows in both their hometown of Newcastle and their new home of Manchester, it is clear that 2023 is shaping up to be a stellar year for the quintet.
Evolve Music 