INTRODUCING: Rhiannon Hope

Leeds-based folk artist Rhiannon Hope returns with “Magpie,” a sprawling and deeply personal new single that marks a bold evolution in her sound. Trading the accordion-led intimacy of her debut EP All Things, Rising And Returning for looping keys, auxiliary percussion and drifting saxophone, Hope delivers a seven-minute meditation on memory, identity and the objects we carry with us. Written during a period of personal upheaval and recorded live with her band, “Magpie” is both a love letter to collectors and a reflection on the comfort found in the things that make us feel at home. The single arrives on 23rd April, ahead of a hometown headline show at the Brudenell Social Club.

1. “Magpie” feels like a shift in sound from your debut EP — what led you towards this more expansive, loop-driven approach?

Magpie is actually more in line with how I used to write songs. When I first started writing I always wrote more jazzier songs; the folkier stuff has been a more recent development in my writing style. On record the song sounds even more proggy though, probably because of the band’s influence. I think we all got a bit giddy when we were deciding which instruments to include, so we just decided on all which we could either play or knew someone who could.

2. The track centres on collecting objects and memory — when did you realise that theme was something you wanted to write about?

I’ve always been very sentimental about objects so I always knew I wanted to write about that experience. I can’t remember one specific moment when I realised I wanted to write about it, but I remember I started writing it when I was away at a festival and feeling a little lost. I’d just gone through a big life shift and I was questioning my sense of self a lot, so I guess I turned to the things that I knew I loved to remind myself who I was. With Magpie I just wanted to honour my things and how they helped me through a difficult period.

3. You mentioned combining two shorter pieces into one longer song — how did that process shape the final structure of “Magpie”?

I had the two sections as full songs, but I thought both of them sounded pretty lacklustre on their own. I’d written them both within a week or two of each other which is a pretty fast turnaround for me but wasn’t sure what to do with them next. I didn’t want the songs to go to waste because I really liked them both independently, so I just combined them. Now, I see each part as representing two sides of a coin of how I was feeling at the time, kind of the processing a difficult time in my life, the before and after. Also I just thought it would be fun to have a super long song in the set.

4. Your music often touches on identity and place — how did moving to a new city influence this track in particular?

Moving to Leeds definitely made me question who I wanted to be and thought I was. So again, I turned to the things which I knew I loved to remind myself that I am a real person. It also gave me a lot of material to write about – most of my songs are about identity and place. So in a positive way, if I never had that challenge, I never would’ve written these songs or formed a band or done any of the amazing things I have.

5. “Magpie” was recorded live and has already become a favourite in your set — how important is that live energy to the way you write and arrange your songs?

Incredibly. The two worlds are completely interconnected. With the band, I bring a song to them, we play it a few times until we’re ready to perform it live, but a song doesn’t stop getting written there. All of the songs on the set, even the ones we have released, are continuing to develop and change every time we play them. And it’s because of this that we always record live. There isn’t one specific or a ‘perfect’ take because.