Party: The Staves

Party: The Staves

Emily - vocals
Jessica - vocals, guitar
Camilla - vocals, ukulele

The Staves new album, If I Was, will be released on 2 February (Atlantic Records).

Recorded over five trips across the Atlantic to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and produced by Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), If I Was takes The Staves' original blueprint of sublimely harmonised British indie-folk and gives it an injection of muscle and a much-heightened ambition.

Just one listen to the Autumn release of their Blood I Bled EP will tell you The Staves have changed since their 2012 debut album, with a scale and confidence that can only come after three relentless years on the road. 'Blood I Bled' is also the opening track on the album. The song lay dormant while they performed all over the world, including appearing alongside Mumford & Sons at Glastonbury and tours with Bon Iver.

The album is as stunning as the snow-covered landscape it was recorded in; at once deeply personal to each sister, fuelled by heartbreak and individual turbulence, it's also full of hope, redemption and positivity for an uncertain future.

"It was magical," adds Jessica. "The snow was neck-high outside."

"The amount of time we've spent away from home has affected all our relationships," continues Emily. "And I don't just mean boyfriends, but relationships with family and close friends and wider groups of mates, who you just have to get used to never seeing. It can be difficult. Writing about it all is necessary therapy in making sense of quite an unconventional life."

Invited: Jonathan Collins, Maddie Jones, Jen Wren Lister, Lisa Caryl Evans, Lewis Williams, Livi Gregory, Richard Hawkins, Nia Ann Thomas, Rachel Heath, Steve James, Jessiemay June July Green, Mike Santiago, Laura Robinson, Emily Banham, Emma Garnett, Samantha James, Emma Charlotte Brown, Sam Heath, Tamsin Isaac, Becky Watkins, John Stuffins, Christopher Tweed, Elizabeth Jane Williams, Andrew Skelton, Ellie James, Josh Hicks, Erin Mai Williams-Jones, Sam Smith, Julian Luxford, Jonathan Winter, Richard Moore, Hannah Collins, Beth Morris, Anthony Birdseye, Sarah Gupta, Paul Lewis, Carey Beor, Duncan Brown, Olive Angelique, Ian England, Duncan R Brown show more »