Harpist Georgia Ruth chats to Buzz about her burgeoning career and the forthcoming release of her debut album .
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Harpist Georgia Ruth chats to Buzz about her burgeoning career and the forthcoming release of her debut album .
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You ‘ ve played the harp since a very young age , what inspired you to play such a unique instrument ? Well it wasn ’ t really a conscious decision ; I didn ’ t directly choose to play the harp . When I was in primary school , everyone had to learn an instrument , and they did it down the register . Initially I tried the violin and I was really quite atrocious at it . They hadn ’ t found anyone to play the harp and I remember going home to my parents and saying “ oh I ’ m going to learn the harp ”. They both just looked at me and kind of went “ what ?” So yeah , I didn ’ t mean to play the harp , it just kind of happened .
When did you feel your career as a musician was really taking off ? I started writing songs quite late on . It happened when I was about 19 . I had gone to Cambridge and it occurred to me that maybe I would take my harp with me . I wrote a few songs and I just demoed them in the holidays . It was about 2008 when I started writing songs and Adam Walton liked them and played them on the radio . It ’ s been quite a long journey for the first album , I haven ’ t felt ready to write and record an album until the last couple of years , so in a way it has kind of just started in the last two years .
Have you faced any difficulties in becoming a recognised harpist ? The difficulties are that you ’ re more easily pigeonholed because people have quite a narrow idea of what the harp is . They either think of the classical musicians and all the connotations of that classical style , or they think Joanna Newsom , so I found that I had more to prove than if I had just been playing the piano or guitar because of people ’ s impressions of what a harpist was . But in a way that ’ s been a really good thing as well , it ’ s nice taking a harp to Green Man and dragging it through the mud . It ’ s nice to take a classical instrument to a more unusual location .
What was the inspiration behind your forthcoming debut album , Week Of Pines ? I sort of knew that I wanted it to be different from the In Luna EP . I wanted to go out of my comfort zone a bit more . I was really lucky because the band I have on the album is the three brothers from Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog . At first they just followed in whatever direction I gave , but they piped up a little bit about the arrangements they thought might suit the songs . I am quite indebted to them in a way . Really they were my biggest influence .
Week Of Pines is out on Mon 20 May . Album launch : Sat 1 June , Chapter Arts Centre , Cardiff . Info : www . georgiaruthmusic . co . uk
“... it ’ s nice taking a harp to Green Man and dragging it through the mud ”
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