ELM

QUAYSIDE STAGE - MONDAY 25 AUGUST @ 1.45pm

Elm (Emily Semple and Ellie Lewis) are classically-trained cellists with backgrounds in various disciplines of singing. They draw on their broad combined experiences to create the music that they love. 

Elm write their own songs to sing both a capella and with cellos (and often other accompanying instruments) and arrange covers of songs that suit their interests. Their songs focus on a shared love for the natural world and seasonal change, and protest songs about nature. Further to this, they like to find old traditional folk songs that carry this love for the natural world. 

Since beginning to play music together in 2023, Elm have played at many local venues in both South Wales and in Leeds, including as part of groups with other local musicians. Most notably, they played as part of the How The Light Gets In Festival in Hay-on-Wye in May 2024. In Leeds, they often sing at folk nights and open mic nights, as well as being part of ‘Boar Lane Carols’ in Leeds Holy Trinity Church. Most recently, they performed at the Forests in Motion event at Open Source Arts in Leeds.

Elm draw on a very broad collection of musical and poetic influences, including but far from limited to This Is The Kit, Lady Maisery, Leyla Mccalla, Karine Polwart, Rufous Nightjar, Adrianne Lenker, and Landless, and also like to weave in influence from genres like punk and reggae. Most of all, they love to explore traditional songs and stories, as this traditional folk material will always be at the root of the musical influence that Ellie and Emily bring into Elm.