Surrey-based songwriter Chloe Reynolds has forged a strong musical reputation since her 2012 debut, earning comparisons with Joni Mitchell and Alicia Keys. Her music has been heard on the BBC, Eagle Radio, UCB Ireland, Premier Radio and more. She has sold out headline concerts, and appeared at the 2014 Great Escape Festival - the UK’s largest music industry showcase.

Chloe’s second EP, Through Your Eyes, was released in March 2014 to instant acclaim. These are bold, moving songs - vivid tales of redemption that are unafraid of taking the listener on a journey through life’s darker moments.

Chloe Reynolds is represented by This Is Promotions. Throughout 2014 she will be touring as a solo artist and on dual-headline dates with gospel collective Out of the Ashes. To enquire about bookings, please contact:

e // info@thisispromotions.com t // 0114 3279464

“Chloe has a powerful, soulful voice which hooks you in and this, combined with her exquisite piano playing, is an absolute delight to witness.”

- Chris Maddocks (General Manager, Farnham Maltings) -

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A self-taught musician, Chloe Reynolds played piano and sang from an early age, before penning her first song at the age of 15. Music became an outlet, her way of expressing what was on her heart to the world, and her honest and vivid lyrics remain central to her music today.Her debut EP Unresolved drew on over a decade of songwriting experience, and was launched in December 2012 with a sell-out gig at Farnham Maltings. Her impassioned live performances then saw her invited to support acclaimed Canadian songwriter Jane Siberry in May 2013. Chloe also has a growing partnership with human rights charity Hagar International, for whom she has raised over £1,000 in 2014 at her events.Chloe kicked off 2014 with a return to the studio alongside producer Andy Baker (Philippa Hanna, Daughters of Davis). The result was Through Your Eyes, a three-track EP released with another sell-out event in March 2014. Chloe appeared as a showcased artist at The Great Escape Festival 2014, and is currently preparing for a tour of fans’ homes and summer festival stages alike.

Biography

EP Review

The second EP from Surrey songwriter Chloe Reynolds, Through Your Eyes packs a great deal into its three short tracks.Chloe has a voice that recalls the classic jazz and soul vocalists: Deep, mature and slightly husky, it perfectly compliments the piano-led soul of her music. Opener

The Lady with the Dove Around her Neck is a sparsely arranged showcase of Chloe’s storytelling talents: She draws on the everyday details to paint a vivid picture of the song’s character, to draw the listener in and make the hopeful message of the chorus all the more powerful.The marvellous couplet “She’s got the mouth of a sailor but the heart of a saint” sets the scene for Love Overcomes. Again the lyrics are both visual and intensely personal – presenting a portrait of a woman who has “done a whole lot of living”, who offers a listening ear to the struggles of others. The arrangement is much fuller than the previous track, with some tasteful drums and a middle eight drenched in vocal

harmonies and guitar. There are undercurrents of the singer’s Christian faith throughout much of her material, and this is most apparent in the EP’s final track The Prayer. The lyrics focus on the question of suffering and justice, posing a real challenge to the listener: “Why is it Lord that there is suffering in this land? / Is it because we ignore their cries?” sings Chloe, with a delivery that clearly comes from the heart. It is a challenge that rings long after the record has finished, and makes for a fitting end to a short but impressive second outing for this talented songwriter.

Through Your Eyes is available from:chloereynoldsmusic.com/shop

DescribeD as “a true priestess of artistic integrity”(Daniel benisty), surrey-baseD songwriter chloe reynolDs has been builDing a strong reputation in her region as a powerful anD charismatic performer. we caught up with chloe to chat about her backgrounD, musical inspiration anD the recorDs Unresolved anD ThroUgh YoUr eYes.

A self-taught musician, Chloe has played piano for as long as she can remember. Seeing the film Sister Act II at the age of nine inspired her to take singing seriously and become a musician: It was many years later that Chloe found herself on stage at Wembley Arena, singing a solo in the song Joyful Joyful from the very same film! A shy child, she turned to writing and singing: “Singing for me was a way of making noise to the world - a way to say what I had to say,” she explains. Listening to her music, it is clear that this is still very much the case. “I can only write the songs which are on my heart,” she smiles.

So does she recall the genesis of her first song? Chloe chuckles, and tells us that when she was 15, her younger brother Tim asked her to set a poem to music. Inspired, she took to the piano and composed, unaware that the lyrics belonged to Green Day’s hit Good Riddance! Chloe then challenged Tim to write some original lyrics for her composition. He chose to write from her perspective, giving voice to many of the feelings his sister had bottled up. She smiles affectionately. “He saw me for

who I was, and wanted to help show that to the world.”

Though her lyrics do not deal explicitly in Christian terms, her journey from believing herself “unlovable” to the realisation of being unconditionally loved and accepted by God underpins many of Chloe’s lyrics. She shares a little of her testimony with us: As her frustrations came to a head at the age of 15, she ran from home early one morning, and found herself sat high on a hill at Frimley Rec. “I prayed for the first time ever. I didn’t know what to do, and I needed someone - if He was real - to help me out.” Chloe holds out her hands: “And He did.” That moment, a brass band appeared, walked up the hill, and began warming up with hymns around her. Unbeknownst to the young Chloe, it was Easter morning, and she had found herself in the midst of a local church’s dawn service. A member of the group invited her to come and listen, and join them for bacon sandwiches. “If someone who doesn’t even know you takes you in, talks to you, makes you a cooked breakfast - just because they believe in this God?” she says, “well, that’s a game changer.”

Chloe released her debut EP, Unresolved, in December 2012. The EP drew on a decade of writing, with lyrics offering the listener a glimpse of the singer’s life, faith and inner struggles across the EP’s six tracks - Open Window even sees Chloe addressing her ‘inner child’. The EP’s oldest track is Runaway, written at the age of 17. A candid look at the difficulty of shedding bitterness about the past, we are told that the song is actually half of a two-song set she calls Journey to Forgiveness.

The follow-up record is 2014’s Through Your Eyes. Recorded mainly

Interview

“I prayed for the first time ever. I didn’t know what to do, and I needed someone - if He was real - to help me.”

in Sheffield alongside Sound Consultancy (the team behind acts like Philippa Hanna and The Gentlemen), Through Your Eyes was released to instant acclaim in March 2014. Showcasing the singer’s increasing maturity, the EP is marked out by it’s vivid portraits of characters in the songs. “All of my songs are based on real life inspirations, and friends,” explains Chloe. “For example The Lady with the Dove Around her Neck is so titled because the friend asked me to change the line! Initially the song had her name in it but she was too embarrassed to have me perform it in public... So it was named after a necklace she always wears.”

As well as her recorded output, Chloe Reynolds is an experienced performer across Surrey. She has clocked up over 100 gigs in the last year alone, and has performed as support act to enigmatic Canadian songwriter Jane Siberry. Another live highlight was the launch of Unresolved, selling out the 200-capacity Farnham Maltings. With fans queuing out in the December cold, how did it feel to pack out a venue like that? “It was a great encouragement,” Chloe says, “though I felt bad for everyone who was turned away!” Her latest live project is a series of ‘House Concerts’. Launched with a tongue-in-cheek video advert, the tour sees Chloe taking her trusty keyboard in to fans’ living rooms and gardens to play. What makes this kind of tour special? “For me,” says Chloe, “the joy is in being able to interact directly with my audience. There are no barriers!”

Chloe also keeps an “Inspiring Encounters Book,” to which fans are invited to contribute their accounts of how they have been affected by the music. “People ask me for my autograph,” she explains, “and I use the book to say ‘of course you can! And can I have yours please?’” The book then becomes a record for her of the many inspiring people she has met on her musical journey. Chloe goes on to tell us that though her lyrics are strongly shaped by her own life experience, she is cautious about telling too much of her story during performances: “I want to help people relate to the emotions and journeys in my songs , but I don’t want to impose too much of myself on them, otherwise my

audience won’t be able to hear their own story in them.”

Chloe also has a growing partnership with human rights charity Hagar International. The link began when she attended a seminar run by Hagar founder Myriam Harley at New Wine, a conference in Somerset: “I was moved to tears,” says Chloe, “as was she.” Since, she has begun raising funds and awareness at gigs: Already over £1000 has been raised for the organisation. In the autumn of 2013, the singer also undertook a trip to Cambodia with the organisation, visiting some of the projects that her music has helped to support. This passion for social justice also feeds back into her music. Tracks like The Prayer and Hide are impassioned rallying cries against apathy and empty words: Certainly Chloe Reynolds is not a singer who is afraid to challenger her audiences.

So what does the future hold for this gifted performer? Quite simply, to go wherever she feels led. “Everyday life changes,” she muses. “If you pin all your hopes and expectations on one specific goal, you can get very disappointed if it doesn’t happen - and then you fail to see all the amazing things on the way to where you’re actually supposed to be! Music is my life, and as long as I can share my songs with people who like to hear them then I’m happy,” she smiles. “Where this journey will lead me, I don’t know, but the sky is the limit and I am ready for the adventure!”

Photographs by Photocillin PhotographyWords by Ian Griffiths

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