Two more delightful songs from the magical Bity Booker. A lady who tells a wonderful story, as her new EP, The Frog, The Mouse, the Ship, The Cabin Boy, ably demonstrates.

Release Date:  2nd May 2025

Label: FreakFolk Records

Format: CD / Digital

REMEMBER BITY BOOKER?

Remember Bity Booker?  She’s the lady who thrilled us to little mint balls with her 2022 EP, Dreaming In The Morning.  Back then, we described Bity’s music as: “…as soft, gentle and contemplative as anything you’ll ever hear – and I do mean EVER.”  With her new EP, The Frog The Mouse, The Ship, The Cabin Boy, Bity offers up a couple of traditional songs, and the Thrillometer is still tilting at overload!

YOU’LL BE CHARMED…

The two new songs that constitute The Frog, The Mouse, The Ship, The Cabin Boy were recorded and produced (by Bity) on her own four-track cassette tape machine and mastered by Bon Holloway at High Peak Recordings.  If you think that process infers a lo-fi, home-made kind of product, think again.  The sound quality on The Frog, The Mouse, The Ship, The Cabin Boy is exemplary, allowing the listener to concentrate on Bity’s unique storytelling talent.  You’ll be charmed. 

Describing the background to this new recording, Bity says: “The Frog And The Mouse and The Weep Willow Tree [the EP’s two songs] are two traditional folk songs.  I came across The Frog And The Mouse via Sing Yonder, who asked me to make a version for his compilation, Sing Yonder 2.  I came across the Weep Willow Tree when I was asked to sing it at a storytelling session at West Horsley Place in Surrey.  The beauty of folk songs is in their various interpretations of meaning, melody and tone.  I hope you like my arrangements!” 

We certainly do, Bity. 

MYSTICAL INTRIGUE

Listeners to Childrens’ Favourites will, no doubt, recognise The Frog And The Mouse as a version of Froggy Went a-Courting. However, I’m sure that none will have heard a version of the song as engaging as this one.  There’s a magical intensity to Bity’s voice as she sings to the sole accompaniment of an acoustic guitar.  I’m reminded of Nico as Bity sings the song’s “Ding-dang-dong” refrain, except Nico never put a tenth as much expression into her singing as Bity does here.  It’s delightful, and when the funeral bells toll at the end of the song, it’s even a touch scary! 

And there’s more delight to come with Bity’s encapsulating interpretation of The Weep Willow Tree.  It’s here that Bity shows us what a marvelous storyteller she really is. She recounts the tale of the fated cabin boy with such mystical intrigue that you won’t be able to resist playing the song again.  And again. 

The Frog, The Mouse, The Ship, The Cabin Boy is magnificent.  Bity Booker has done it again.

Get a taste of the Bity Booker magic – watch her performance of her song, Rain, filmed at London’s Electric Elephant Cafe, below:

Bity Booker online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp

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