"Glorious Layers of melody and harmony with swoonsome musicianship,
hypnotic musical delights" TIME OUT
"Musical and lyrical progressions of beauty"SAM HERMITAGE,
Founder of Big Green Gathering
and Manager of Green Futures Field Glastonbury.
"Immaculate songs beautifully performed"
SAM WALKER SHOW, RADIO JACKIE
"It's better than drugs and the effects last longer" Rhythm’n’Booze Fanzine
Semble are Steve James (vocals, guitar, piano, mbira, glockenspiel, drums), Beth Perry (vocals, flute, cello, marimba, synth, piano, guitar), Matt Kelly (guitar, violin, percussion, zither, accordion, saw, mbira, laptop/sampler).
Semble create a diverse, earthy and cinematic sound with influences from Modern Classical, World/Folk and Electronica (influences include Joni Mitchell, Aphex Twin, Radiohead and Steve Reich.) The tunes range from fragile and haunting guitar/cello arrangements to more industrial beats/sample driven tunes. Semble are always keen to experiment, using acoustic and electronic effects and also incorporating less common instruments such as wine glasses, road signs and tin-can telephones. Despite the large array of instruments the sound is never cluttered. In short, Semble produce innovative yet emotionally charged and accessible music.
They've played all over the country including a sell-out gig at the Borderline, 12 bar, Bush Hall & Manchester Cathedral and at festivals including Glastonbury (scheduled performers for six years running), Earth Spirit and Big Green Gathering (Wiltshire). They have released three albums and an E.P. having recently released their third album through Squiggly Records (Brighton) on September 3rd 2005. The band formed after meeting on the music course at Kingston University eight years ago.
Tracks from their albums have been played on several radio stations including RTE 2FM (Ireland), BBC Southern Counties, Juice FM, Resonance FM, Radio Avalon, Cambridge 1350, Planete Indie (Belgium) plus live acoustic sessions on Resonance FM, CRMK (The Garden of Earthly Delights) and Soundradio 1530am/mw.
“That was absolutely amazing..” Gaynor O’Flynn, RESONANCE FM. (Semble live acoustic session)
“By far the best moment since I started doing this show..” Christiaan Faberij de Jonge, SOUND RADIO. (Semble live acoustic session)
“ it’s like a sonic massage” (Semble Live) “I think it’s perfect….timeless” (Semble’s 3rd Album) Intomusic.co.uk
“Bits and pieces of just about everything that has been great about music in (Semble)…beautifully haunting” UV Magazine
“Trance inducing and totally absorbing” TOXIC PETE, Music Journalist
