Helen Penycate-Ward is a songwriter, singer and music producer from Suffolk, England. She honed her skills sound engineering in London, working for several years alongside the late Andy Gill (Gang of Four) as his assistant engineer, working on recordings by artists such as The Futureheads and The Young Knives. During this time she was busy developing her own sound at the more extreme end of dance music, writing and producing for cutting-edge dance music labels Skyride and Defiant Records, and playing live electronic sets on the London club scene.
After running her own recording studio in Brixton for several years she eventually left London and moved to Spain for a while where she set up a makeshift recording studio in a shed on an Andalusian mountainside and began to imagine, write and record what eventually evolved into her atmospheric, dreamlike and yet vibrant debut album ‘The Lake’.
"A collection of confessional songs of raw emotion and compelling imagery moulding the delicacy and craft of folk with the grooves and atmospheres of electronica. With a captivating voice and ethereal, yet erudite words, she tightrope-walks across an abyssal musical landscape of enchanting melodies, intricate guitar, and angular, lurching grooves... this is an album informed by an intimate knowledge of the far reaches of human experience"
Returning to London she gigged extensively at some of London’s iconic venues such as the Troubadour, The Spitz, The Bedford (Balham), The Cobden Club and Hootananny (Brixton) both solo and with her band. She then took the decision to take time out of the music business and retrain as music therapist; work which brought her back to her roots in the Suffolk countryside – the inspiration for her ambitious new album, ‘Somewhere In The Nighttime’.
The 10 songs that make up ‘Somewhere In The Nighttime’ deal with loss, death, love, war, family, separation, rebirth and reconnection through nature.
"Her voice captivates and engages and her lyrics take you on a journey that evokes visions and emotions that make you feel like you're actually watching beautifully shot cinematography." Richard Flack, producer