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DaylightSaving

Formed in November 2008 and based in Kent in the UK, DaylightSaving is a songwriting duo with a sound that combines elements of jazz, pop, folk and Latin and features soft acoustic guitar, folksy vocals, flute, penny whistle and melodica. Having been told they weren't 'pure jazz enough' by a UK radio station that shall remain nameless, Richard and Kate delight in describing themselves as 'mongrel dogs of jazz-pop fusion and proud of it'. That half of their songs sound more like contemporary folk than either pop or jazz is neither here nor there.

We met while Kate was studying music at Canterbury Christ Church University as a mature student (Kate studied songwriting with Jack Hues of Wang Chung), looking for a way to 'do' music, rather than study it, and Richard was looking for a singer. Kate took up performing relatively late in life, after the death of her 13 year old daughter Alex in 2005, which made her realise that none of us know how much time we have and that we might as well spend it doing what we love, which for us is music. We write our music together and Kate writes the words, although Richard is very proud of having contributed the name "Johnny Depp" as a rhyme for "watch your step" in 'Shades of Grey'.

We make sunshine for your ears. Richard's musical background is most definitely jazzy, while Kate is more of a contemporary folk singer. We've been described as "Everything But the Girl meets trad folk". Our music is hard to define precisely; some of our songs are distinctly folky, while others are definitely acoustic jazz. We used to worry about that, but then we decided that pigeon holes are for pigeons; we do what we do, some people like it, and some don't. That's life.

A lot of our lyrics are complete fiction, for which we offer no apologies, but a lot of them are based on real events and personal experiences. 'Breathing', and 'Book of Shadows' for example, are expressions of Kate's grief about the death of her daughter.

Kate has bipolar affective disorder and 'up Kate' likes to leave messages for 'down Kate', resulting in lyrics such as, "Give yourself a little time, and then you'll find sunshine is a state of mind". She also tries to write songs that remind her not to leave her umbrella at the library, with less success (three umbrellas down, and counting).

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"A little bit jazzy, a little bit poppy and a little bit folky, Daylight Saving have a bright, summery sound with darker hints of storms behind the sunshine." Wild West Wales Music

"A totally fresh and bright sound, full of sunshine" Clare Elise, The Evening Show, Mansfield 103.2 FM

"Whenever I need to add a bit of joy and happiness to my radio show, I play a song from DaylightSaving. Their music has that warming, summery feel to it and the studio fills with that special glow that you get when you know you have a great song playing." Bill Horncastle, The Fox's Den Show, Vixen 101 "DaylightSaving have created a moving, atmospheric sound, with jazzy undertones accompanied with beautiful lyrics, Kate's voice reminds these listeners of an early Joni Mitchell. Aja and I enjoyed Pretty Blue very much." Aja & Claire Simone, Ketch A Vibe

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