Kristin McClement’s debut album The Wild Grips has been steadily gaining attention since it’s release in February 2015. She has performed both solo and with with collaborators Jools Owen, Emma Gatrill and Martha Rose across the UK and Europe alongside notable acts such as PJ Harvey, Benjamin Clementine, Sam Lee, Kathryn Joseph and The Weather Station. The 405 describe her as having “a particularly soulful voice; very low and sensual, it washes over you and insinuates itself into your brain without you even realising.”

 

Kristin spent her early years travelling the vast shapeshifting landscapes of South Africa, an experience that would leave a deep and lasting impression. Leaving Africa behind she moved to Kent aged thirteen where she picked up her first classical guitar and began to write songs. Whilst studying Fine Art in Brighton she caught the attention of the local folk scene. After a handful of early performances she was eagerly adopted into The Willkommen Collective whose many members can be heard on The Wild Grips.

 

Produced by Christian Hardy (The Leisure Society, Benedict Benjamin), The Wild Grips features the graceful tones of cellist Becca Mears (Peggy Sue, The Mariner’s Children, Eyes & No Eyes) and the sensitive patter of drummer Tom Heather (Racheal Dadd, Eyes & No Eyes). Mixed with an undercurrent of atmospheric piano and synth, the arrangements are delicately spun around McClement’s earnest guitar and voice.

 

Alongside artists such as PJ Harvey and Gillian Welch, Kristin is inspired by the songs of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen. Her music reflects a mood of displacement, the feeling of being adrift in a complex world. But there is also a call for help and a reach for hope in the acceptance of our fragile nature. What ultimately holds her work together is its perspective – that nature is all powerful yet we will forever seek to defy it.