Capturing the same bewitching melancholy and ethereal drama that possessed some of the great English folk artists of the 1960s and '70s, New Zealander Aldous Harding has marked herself out as a uniquely haunting songwriter since arriving on the scene in 2014.
Born in the town of Lyttleton in the South Island, Harding's parents were both singers and she began picking on a nylon-stringed parlour guitar at the age of eight before featuring on her mother Lorina Harding's album 'Clean Break' in 2005. Inspired by the likes of Neil Young, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen she wrote her first song when she was 15, and after accompanying her songwriting school friend Nadia Reid to gigs as emotional support, began performing with the string band The Eastern and working with producer Ben Edwards and guitarist Delaney Davidson.
Harding also caught a break when pop songwriter Anika Moa saw her busking and invited her to open for her, after which she went on to release her self-titled debut album on the small independent label Lyttleton Records. A committed performer, Harding's songs have been described as 'gothic fairytales' and are filled with death, religion and heartbreak and delivered with a soaring, antiquated vocal style. It led to her touring the US with Deerhunter and signing a deal with UK label 4AD before her second album 'Party' was recorded with PJ Harvey's producer/collaborator John Parrish in 2017 and won acclaim for Harding's emotionally wrought, mystical folk ballads and delicate, mesmerising aura.
