Buy your tickets NOW for my pre recorded live stream from StudiOwz featuring my good friend @EdHarcourt – it’s THIS Thursday 10th December at 8pm!!https://t.co/8c2PqfiBuh@caru_music @CarmelRecords @WeTheDee @dicefm pic.twitter.com/s8DXs86cYD

— Jodie Marie (@JodieMarieMusic) December 8, 2020

The gig at StudioOwz (formerly the Carmel Welsh Baptist Chapel in Clarbeston) will include soulful renditions of four songs from Jodie Marie’s upcoming album The Answer, which is due for release on February 12th 2021. The Narberth songstress’ October single Carageen – named after a distinctive seaweed that grows in South West Wales – will feature among the new tracks on the setlist.

The dulcet ballad (co-written with Harcourt) fuses a sweet vocal not dissimilar to Marie’s compatriot Mary Hopkin and the kind of laid-back folsky-pop vibe you might associate with noughties’ Norah Jones. The haunting melody and its gentle acoustic (and later, electric) guitar accompaniment also evokes some of the understated, stirring power of James Dean Bradfield’s solo work.

Carageen‘s repeated powerful refrain – “The ocean’s waiting for your call” – is captured brilliantly in the video, which is set against the mysterious and beautiful backdrop of the West Wales seashore. On her website, Marie says: “…(the video) really shows why I spend so much time outdoors and on the coast, and why it inspires my music so much – whether for lyrical ideas or just to blow the cobwebs away.”

Last week Marie – who was once described by The Independent as “the shy singer who became a folk-pop sensation“- surprised fans with a Christmas single: (I Don’t Wanna Be) Alone This Christmas. The song is a lovely throwback to Motown and 1960s doo-wop, with a few neat lyrical homages to other festive favourites, including Mud’s Lonely This Christmas and Darlene Love’s All Alone On Christmas. Addressing her followers on Twitter, the Welsh singer-songwriter said: “We’ve all had a bit of a rough year and I thought, what better way to spread Christmas spirit than releasing a Christmas tune before the year ends.” The new tune is accompanied by a homemade video packed full of childhood yuletide nostalgia – watch below.

Meanwhile Ed Harcourt, who has previously worked with Paloma Faith and Marianne Faithful, has also been busy this year. In September the Wimbledon-born multi-instrumentalist released his tenth album, Monochrome To Colour. The LP was hailed by The Up Coming as “…positive and euphoric, striking and magnetic…both a meditative self-exploration and a radiant expression of wonder at the magnificence of the world.”

Harcourt has also been working with longtime collaborator Sophie Ellis-Bextor on a new prog-influenced LP. The Murder On The Dancefloor icon, who entertained fans in lockdown with her livestreamed Kitchen Disco sessions, has hinted that it might be some time yet before the record hits the shelves. Ellis-Bextor told the Official Charts website: “I’m really pleased with the way it’s taking shape. I also want to take my time with it because it’s cruicial I get it right. I want it to be really positive and I’m enjoying the process, so I’m not in any hurry.“