Alison Cotton (Glitterbeat Records)
“Cotton may expand folk’s raw emotions into more avant garde territories, but they still feel possessed by a blood-red muscle memory that goes back centuries.” – The Quietus
“Her exquisite voice calls to mind both the chill of the best British folk…and the psychedelic detail of Occitanian traditional song” – Uncut Magazine
Enthusiastic Eunuch Presents
Alison Cotton (Glitterbeat)
with special guest tba
Thursday 3rd December
Bello Bar
Doors 8pm
Tickets €20 via https://billetto.ie/e/alison-cotton-glitterbeat-tickets-1958027
Alison Cotton is a London‑based composer, vocalist, and multi‑instrumentalist whose music centres on viola, harmonium, and layered vocal drones. Originally from Sunderland, she first emerged in the UK underground in bands including Saloon, The Eighteenth Day of May, and more recently, The Left Outsides before beginning her solo career in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WqdFcsAF7E
Her debut, All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre introduced her long‑form, place‑inspired approach to composition. This was followed with Only Darkness Now and The Portrait You Painted of Me, both acclaimed for their immersive atmospheres and emotional depth. All three albums appeared in The Quietus’ End of Year lists, with Only Darkness Now topping their New Weird Britain chart and The Portrait You Painted of Me was also Folk Record of the Month in The Guardian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmeo0bEkEgs
In 2024, Cotton released Engelchen, a work inspired by the lives of Ida and Louise Cook and their efforts to help refugees escape Nazi Germany. The album deepened her interest in narrative composition, blending historical research with her distinctive drone‑based sound.
Her music has received regular airplay on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 6 Music, and she has recorded sessions for Late Junction, Riley & Coe, and The New Music Show. Cotton tours widely across the UK and Europe and has appeared at festivals including Le Guess Who?, Roadburn, Krankenhaus, Supernormal and Acid Horse. Her records have been released by Rocket Recordings, Feeding Tube Records, Cardinal Fuzz, Bloxham Tapes,Clay Pipe Music and now Glitterbeat.
Alison Cotton’s fifth solo album is a mesmerizing weave of haunted atmospherics and avant-folk songcraft. Built around her viola, harmonium, and transportive vocals, the album moves between stark drone passages and more layered arrangements with piano, percussion, and synths.
