The Melodic emerged as a British folk-rock ensemble whose wide-ranging absorption of global musical traditions alongside strands of contemporary folk-rock and indie rock brought them both critical praise and a steadily expanding listenership on either side of the Atlantic. Huw Williams and Rudi Schmidt, the band’s chief songwriters, formed the group after spending their formative years in the South London district of Brixton, where each developed a strong affinity for folk music. Williams’s early exposure came through his father’s collection of Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Bert Jansch recordings; as a teenager he delved further into English folk origins by consulting the archival collections of musicologists Francis Child and Cecil Sharp. Schmidt, raised in a household steeped in music, counted musician and songwriter Nick Pynn among his stepfathers, while his biological father produced recordings for Jah Wobble and Jerry Dammers; additionally, his adolescent girlfriend’s family maintained an extensive library of vintage folk and world-music albums that left a deep impression. At sixteen the pair began performing on guitar together, and the multicultural atmosphere of Brixton introduced them to sounds from many regions that would later shape their compositions. Through friendships with South American musicians, Schmidt acquired several stringed instruments, among them the charango—a Bolivian lute-like instrument—and traveled to Bolivia to study with its foremost practitioner, Ernesto Cavour. Upon his return to Brixton, Williams and Schmidt assembled the initial lineup of The Melodic, eventually adding multi-instrumentalist Lydia Samuels and bassist John Naldrett, the latter of whom had previously joined Schmidt on electronic-music endeavors. In 2010 the group constructed a modest home studio inside a South London residence where Schmidt had spent part of his childhood, converting his former bedroom into the primary, soundproofed performance area. Following well-received appearances on the British club circuit, the band secured a recording contract in May 2013 with the American independent label Anti and issued its debut EP, drawn from those home sessions and titled On My Way, the following month. Subsequent tours across the United Kingdom and United States preceded the November 2013 release of the full-length album Effra Parade.
