PEOPLE might label New York bandHem's genre as folk, Americana, indie, country-meets-classical or even chamber-folk, but the only thing worth knowing is that Sally ellyson has a spectacular voice and her bandmates compose breathtaking tunes.
The band formed in 1999, when songwriter Dan Messe teamed up with producer/ engineer Gary Maurer.
The two then enlisted friend Steve Curtis (guitar, mandolin) but they needed a singer and so placed an ad in The Village Voice newspaper.
After being urged to respond to the ad by a friend who loved Sally's voice, she did just that and Hem was born. "To me that's such a good statement about the way that life works, because I really wasn't looking to become a singer," says Sally. "It just changed my life in an extreme way and I'm so thankful for it."
Sally and her band will play a long-awaited Irish gig later this month, when they play the elmwood Hall in Belfast as part of the Festival at Queen's.
They first play london on october 11, then play three gigs across england, one in Glasgow and then Belfast on october 19. Sally says their last Irish gig was in Dublin in 2005. "We're all really looking forward to all these gigs. I know it will be an amazing experience to be back there. "The best shows are when you feel like you're sitting around in a circle sharing a moment with people. over here (in the US) people are a little more self-conscious and maybe uptight. "I think over in Ireland and england it's different because you guys have such a musical identity and you really love music." Hem's new album [Departure and Farewell] is a brilliant addition to their collection, following on from Rabbit Songs, eveningland, No Word From Tom and previous studio album Funnel Cloud.
Standouts include the title track, Gently Down the Stream, Things are Not Perfect In our Yard and the stunning last Call. "We all really love this album. last Call is one of the best songs to do live. obviously we have a chorus on the album but we can't tour with one, so we get the audience to do that bit," says Sally. "It's just a dream to be enveloped in that sound. It's this beautiful cloud of voices and I'm duetting with the whole audience at one point. It's a highlight of the show for me." Hem recorded the album live with the core members - now numbering nine - and then brought in the orchestra and the chorus.
So how many will be on stage in Belfast? "We're still trying to work it out. As far as I know, we'll have drums, bass, violin, guitar, mandolin, piano and me."
Sally lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children and says she was a happy onlooker when the rest of Hem provided music a couple of years ago for an open-air production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, featuring Anne Hathaway in the role of Viola. "It didn't have anything to do with me - it was just the guys - but it was spectacular, insanely beautiful. "Sometimes I think of stopping touring or whatever, but every time I hear new [Hem] songs I just think 'I don't want anyone else to sing those'." n Hem play the elmwood Hall in Belfast on Saturday October 19 at 7pm as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen's. Tickets £12/£14 (BelfastFestival.com / 028 9097 1197).