Laura Cannell

The musical explorations of British fiddler and composer Laura Cannell range across early music, folk traditions, and earthy avant-garde improvisations. Born in Norfolk, she trained at the London College of Music and the University of East Anglia, then established the inventive folk ensemble Horses Brawl in 2003 alongside guitarist Adrian Lever and cellist Jonathan Manton. After the group’s 2005 debut, Manton exited, leaving the project as a duo for the subsequent albums Dindirin in 2007 and Wild Lament in 2011. Multi-instrumentalist Andre Bosman took Lever’s place for the fourth Horses Brawl LP, Ruminantia, issued in 2012; later that same year Cannell began a fresh partnership with experimental harpist Rhodri Davies. Setting the fiddle aside, she concentrated on recorder and vocals for their recording Feathered Swing of the Raven.

Her first solo album, Quick Sparrows Over the Black Earth, appeared in 2014 and contained ten live improvisations captured in single takes inside a Norfolk church. The haunting collection blended overbowed fiddle compositions with eerie double-recorder pieces, several of which later resurfaced as remixes on the Black Earth Remixes EP. Issued a year afterward on the Front + Follow label, Beneath Swooping Talons stood out as a rare release not appearing on her own Brawl Records imprint. Simultaneous Flight Movement, released in 2016, advanced her development through more deeply nuanced performances shaped by her wide-ranging influences and fertile imagination. Beyond solo endeavors, she launched the collaborative project Oscilanz featuring Ralph Cumbers (Bass Clef) and drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat, About Group). Her fourth solo album, Hunter Huntress Hawker, followed in 2017.