Origin Huddersfield, UK Years active 2009–present | Genres Folk, chamber folk Labels No Masters | |
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Associated acts Lucy Ward; Chumbawumba; Anna Esslemont and Cormac Byrne; Jackie Oates Website www.ohooleyandtidow.com Members Belinda O'Hooley, Heidi Tidow Profiles | ||
O hooley tidow two mothers minster studios
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow (pronounced Tee-doe) performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (now The Unthanks). They were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album, Shadows, was given a five-starred review in The Guardian and three of their other four albums have received four-starred reviews in the British national press.
Contents
O hooley tidow just a note official video
History
Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow, who were both brought up in Yorkshire, met in Huddersfield and started songwriting and performing together in 2009. They share a traditional Irish music background and have family in County Sligo and County Galway. Tidow also has a German heritage on her mother's side.
Silent June
Between August and November 2009 at their home in Golcar, Huddersfield, they recorded an album, Silent June, which was released on 22 February 2010 to critical acclaim, including a four-starred review in the Financial Times. It was one of MOJO magazine's Top 10 Folk Albums of 2010 and won "Best Debut" in the Spiral Awards, organised by Spiral Earth. O'Hooley & Tidow also won the FATEA Innovation Award 2010, an award for music which broadens the appeal of roots-based music.
Silent June was mixed and mastered by Neil Ferguson of Chumbawamba and also featured Anna Esslemont and Cormac Byrne (both from Uiscedwr), Jackie Oates and the Solo Players string quartet. Its title refers to the words of one of the songs on the album, "Que Sera", about the execution during World War I of the British nurse Edith Cavell. The album also includes a version of the song "Spancil Hill" and a new song, "Too Old to Dream", incorporating a segment of "When I Grow Too Old to Dream", a popular song with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1934 and recorded by many artists, most notably Gracie Fields.
The Fragile
O'Hooley & Tidow released a single, "The Last Polar Bear", in November 2011. The song was taken from their second album, The Fragile, featuring Andy Cutting, Jackie Oates, Anna Esslemont and Cormac Byrne, which was released in February 2012. Northern Sky music magazine's reviewer described the song as "utterly beautiful", saying "This is how love songs should be written." The track was issued in November 2012 as a double single with "Gentleman Jack"; this song, also from the album, is about Anne Lister, an early 19th-century Yorkshire lesbian gentlewoman.
The album also includes a cover version of Massive Attack's "Teardrop", voted by Guardian music critic Jude Rogers as one of the best tracks of 2012.
In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian described the album as an "intriguing, ambitious set".
The Hum
Their third album, The Hum, was released on 17 February 2014 and received a four-starred review in The Irish Times. In a four-starred review for The Guardian, Denselow described it as the duo's most experimental album to date with "thoughtful, inventive songs about industry, migrant workers and war alongside a sturdy tribute to Pussy Riot; an exquisite lament about motherhood and sacrifice; a mystical love story about a fox who becomes a woman, and a haunting treatment of Ruins By the Shore, the Nic Jones song of time and decay. Surely one of the albums of the year".
Two songs from the album – "Summat's Brewin'" and "Peculiar Brood" – were released as a single on 20 July 2014. On 7 September 2014 they released a video of a live performance of "Peculiar Brood", a portrayal of suicide bombing from a mother’s perspective, using bird imagery. It was filmed by Minster Studios at Holy Trinity Church, Leeds.
"The Pixie"
In November 2014 they released a video recording, filmed by Minster Studios at Holy Trinity Church, Leeds, of a brand new song, "The Pixie", that had been commissioned by Billy Bragg and 14-18 NOW to commemorate World War I at Glastonbury Festival.
Summat's Brewin'
Their fourth album, Summat's Brewin', was released in August 2015 in a limited edition of 1,000 signed copies. The songs on the album explore society’s fascination with drink, drinking and real ale.
David Kidman, for Folk Radio UK, described it as an "exceptional recording" that faithfully captures the "sheer ebullient inventiveness of the duo’s musical settings, their committed sense of fun, their consummate, enviable musicality, their serious ability to grab your attention and carry you through the experience".
Shadows
O'Hooley and Tidow's fifth album, Shadows, was released at the Cambridge Folk Festival in July 2016. It received a five-starred review in The Guardian. Colin Irwin, reviewing the album for MOJO, said that "the overriding tone of this album is as deep and subtly dramatic as the piano instrumental that gives the long-player its title.
Live performances
The Guardian's Jude Rogers described O'Hooley & Tidow as the weekend's "best band" at the 2012 Cambridge Folk Festival. Colin Irwin, reviewing the acts at the 2014 Cambridge Folk Festival, praised O'Hooley & Tidow's "fine set".
Other musical contributions
O'Hooley & Tidow also feature on Chumbawamba's album ABCDEFG (2010) and DVD Going, Going (2012), Lucy Ward's debut album Adelphi Has to Fly (2011) and Patsy Matheson's Domino Girls (2014).
Songs
Gentleman JackThe Fragile · 2012
Two MothersThe Hum · 2014
The Last Polar BearThe Fragile · 2012