Rootsy all-girl ensemble Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo are bringing their cinematic sound to The Cluny, as TAMZIN LEWIS discovers

FANS of Kenneth Branagh’s brooding TV series Wallander would instantly recognise Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo. Or at least they would be familiar with the atmospheric track Nostalgia from the band’s aptly titled second album, Despite the Snow.

The use of Nostalgia by the BBC was a big break for Emily, who was spotted while raising money for recording by gigging at people’s houses.

Emily, 30, says: “I had been doing music cottage industry-style and playing house parties to make my living. The composer Martin Phipps happened to be a party and he asked if he could use the song.”

So it was down to good luck and being in the right place at the right time?

“It was by chance,” she replies, “but we were out so much and working so hard and I think opportunities do come that way. It really lifted our profile.”

At the time Martin Phipps was also working on the BBC2 series The Shadow Line, which featured Christopher Eccleston and was broadcast earlier this year. He also chose an Emily Barker song – Pause – for the conspiracy drama, taken from the band’s latest album Almanac.

And will the TV songs be on the playlist for her current tour and gig at The Cluny or has she tired of them already? Emily answers: “Maybe after years and years of people asking to hear them we would think about retiring a song, but we still really like playing those songs so you will hear them at the gig.”

Emily hails from Western Australia but has lived in England for the last 10 years and recently settled in the Cotswolds.

She is currently touring Almanac, named after a Primo Levi poem which Emily describes as “an apocalyptic glimpse into the future of the Earth if we don’t take care of it”.

The album features a pretty flawless collection of 11 sweetly-sung tunes with dark content, all written by Emily.