Hull-based folk collective Pavey Ark sit in a space between alt-folk and modern chamber folk, with finger-picked guitar and intimate vocals surrounded by string quartet and brass arrangements . They have built a reputation for lush, layered live performances, from the Glastonbury Acoustic Stage and closing Cambridge Folk Festival (Stage 3), to four official showcases at SXSW 2025.

Their their second album More Time, More Speed lands on 21st November. The album is a concept record built around time, how it bends, distorts, and shapes our lives, with songs that range from pandemic reflections (The Go Slow), to climate collapse (Epoch), to the digital age (All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace).

Neil Thomas – vocalist, guitarist and songwriter – has talked of all kinds of influences on their upcoming album, they’ve mentioned all kinds of things from Andrew Bird, Aldous Harding, Rodriguez, even more modern licks such as Jacob Along with whom they recently shared a stage at SXSW. He joins us for a Why I Love that zones in on  New Zealand indie folk singer-songwriter, Aldous Harding.

THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

There are lots of artists I really like, then there are a small handful that I really love. Aldous Harding is one of those artist. I first heard her from a random Spotify suggested song. Streaming services are pretty terrible toward independent artists and that’s another debate entirely, but there’s no denying they can be great for music discovery. 

Every now and then I hear a song that just blows me away on first listen. A song that I simply must play again as soon as it’s finished, then again and again. The Aldous Harding song that had this effect on me is called Stop Your Tears. 

It’s such a haunting and beautiful song, above all it’s her voice and the intensity of it that blows me away. The song sounds like it’s of another era so I was excited to find out she was a new artist and the song is the first track on her debut album. Watching YouTube clips of her playing with just vocals and guitar was equally impressive. I remember a clip where she’s playing in a bathroom using the natural reverb and it’s stunning. Her performances are so intense and you believe every single word that she spits out. Her self-titled debut is a great album but her follow up album Party is one of my favourite ever albums. 

INTENSITY

Her vocals explore new territories and the intensity again is turned up a notch. I use intensity quite a lot when describing her music. Her voice seems to morph and change between songs. Almost sounding like a different artist entirely on some tracks. Exploring her vocals like a guitars might explore different effects pedals. It’s such a beautiful album. 

My favourite tracks on Party are Imagining My Man and Swell Does The Skull the vocals on both of those tracks are sublime. 

I was lucky enough to see her live just after she released the third album Designer. It was at quite an intimate venue, The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. She was playing with a full band. They were so tight musically that if you closed your eyes you could be listening to a studio recording. What struck me the most though was her mannerisms and onstage presence. Like she had been transformed into another person on stage, an almost theatrical presence. Her facial expressions and movements are avant-garde and perhaps so intense at times that it felt unsettling. 

A POWERFUL PRESENCE

She has an awkwardness about her but at the same time a really powerful presence that controlled the room. I felt quite scared of her. You could mostly hear a pin drop and the occasional clink of glass behind the bar but at one point someone was talking in the crowd. She’s stopped playing and stared at the culprit with such an intensity that I thought they might burst into flames. They didn’t say another word after that and neither did anyone else 😊 

Aldous Harding is one of a number of artists that inspire me and perhaps subtly inspired our new album. I would certainly love to channel some of her on stage intensity and powerful vocals into my own live performances. The power to burst people into flames with a single glance could get me into lots of trouble though.

Our thanks to Neil for an eloquent insight.

Here’s a taste of the new album:

Pavey Ark online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Youtube / X

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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