Artist of the month: Isobel Campbell

Biography
Ballad of the Broken Seas

Isobel Campbell's album Ballad of the Broken Seas was recently nominated for a Nationwide Mercury Prize.

Biography

Isobel Campbell was a founding member of Belle & Sebastian, and remained with the band until 2002, when she left to pursue a solo career.  The following year she released Amorino, an album which featured Scottish jazz musician Bill Wells.  Isobel had previously collaborated with Bill on a collection of Billie Holiday songs entitled Ghost of Yesterday (Creeping Bent).

During her time as co-songwriter, cellist and singer with Belle & Sebastian, Isobel was also working on another project, her band The Gentle Waves.  They released two albums on the Jeepster Records label, The Green Fields of Foreverland (1999) and Swansong For You (2000).

Ballad of the Broken Seas

Isobel’s album Ballad of the Broken Seas was released in January 2006 on the V2 label.  The work is a collaboration with Mark Lanegan, formerly of Queens of the Stoneage and Screaming Trees.  The partnership began when Isobel was working on the Time Is Just The Same EP in 2004.  She needed someone whose voice suited the song Why Does My Head Hurt So and she contacted Lanegan's label, having been listening to one of his solo albums and feeling his voice was right for the song.

During a Queens of the Stoneage tour to Scotland, Lanegan suggested they record an album together.  They sent each other ideas via email, and the final product was created across two continents, Campbell producing the album in Glasgow and Lanegan recording his vocals in Los Angeles.  The combination and contrast of the pair's voices has earned them critical acclaim for the album, and a coveted Nationwide Mercury Prize nomination.  The winner of the 2006 prize will be announced on 5 September.

For more information, visit Isobel Campbell's website.

Isobel Campbell received support for Ballad of the Broken Seas through the Scottish Arts Council’s Creative Development/Recording fund.